Newsletters

Updates  

Dr. Jim Shortt: President:

This is the time of year the kids have been waiting for. Regatta season begins starting with the Novice Regatta next weekend. We’ve got a sensational rowing site and the coaches have done a great job of encouraging the rowers to their all-time best erg scores. Maureen Borden just led us through a great fun fundraiser in our first erg-a-thon. My thanks go out to all of those parents and friends of Crew who have contributed to our success thus far and I look forward to the Spring season.  

COACHES CORNER: Tom Tiffany: Head Coach, Women’s Varsity Coach:

In January, the Sarasota Crew Girls varsity got back on track after the long layoff of the holidays. Some athletes had worked extra time on ergometers at home over the break and that dedication showed up in improvements and even personal records in a "test" administered in the last week of the month. Captains Jen Nizolek and Lily Guy led the charge by knocking 13 seconds and 8 seconds off their previous best 2000 meter times. Junior Chelsea Balkam also broke through the 8 minute mark for the first time in her life. On the water, the squad was privileged to try out some new shells provided by the Vespoli boat builders of Connecticut. One pair will be leased through the spring and will be an important part of selecting the pairs that will sit in the larger eights and fours. The pair-oared shell is one of the most demanding of all shells to row well, but it does reward focused technical skills, even more than raw power. Additionally, a core group of varsity rowers has been getting more intensive sculling lessons from Sculling Director Casey Galvanek. The introductory sculling practices of November and December will be intensified, both with Coach Galvanek and Coach Tiffany. Another wonderful contributor to our progress is Mr. Jonathan Steel of London, England. He took an active part in highlighting the important role of "flow" in the rowing stroke and the learning process. We hope that Mr. Steel will be able to come back for a return engagement in late March or early May. He has coached some of our athletes before when they were part of the Osprey Oars club, which is now disbanded. The girls varsity will begin to practice in race boatings in the last two weeks of February. Regular attendance is ever more critical, as the combinations that coaches make need time to be tested and mature. Hopefully, we will fare well with no injuries or severe illnesses. 

Mike Taaffe: Men’s Varsity Coach:

We've now made it through the long hard days of winter training and are fast approaching the race season. The boys have worked hard during winter training and have endured some very painful workouts. At times, we have rowed all the way from Spanish Point to the Ringling Bridge -- something that has never been done before at Sarasota Crew. We have also worked hard on weights and ergs, concentrating on long, low rate pieces to increase our base. Many boys have even done extra work at the Y or at home. Casey, as the Sculling and Technical Director, has designed a great workout plan for the boys that is paying off. One the measurements of how successful the training has been is the most recent erg test. In our February erg test, all but three of the boys scored their personal best time on a 2,000 meter erg piece. One of the senior boys scored a time which is fast approaching Sarasota Crew's record, and within the next month, he'll probably surpass the record. One of the junior boys recorded the fastest time ever for a junior at Sarasota Crew. How these scores relate to our success in the future depends on the continued efforts of the boys. As coaches, we are able to predict that we will have faster boats with faster erg times. Erg times also assist the boys in obtaining the attention of college coaches recruiting rowers for next year and the following year. Many Varsity boys have been in contact with college coaches in this recruiting process. If any parents would like more information on how to initiate this process, please contact me, or any of the other varsity coaches. The Erg-A-Thon was a great success, in terms of bringing community awareness to Sarasota Crew, bringing funds to Sarasota Crew, and as all coaches like, getting the boys to do a long, hard workout. Three Varsity boys competed at an extremely high level, producing 46,000-53,000 meters in an approximate four hour period. All the boys should be commended for their hard work and the raising of much needed funds for Sarasota Crew. There are two quotes that come to mind when I think of how hard the boys have worked over the last two months. One is by Vince Lombardi who said, "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." Tommy Lasorda once said, "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." I believe it is possible this team will have one of the most successful seasons so far for Sarasota Crew, and I know Casey and I are very excited about the upcoming race season. We would encourage you to come down, see the new site, ride the launch with us and observe practice anytime you like. Just give us a call ahead of time so we can prepare for it. Please keep your rowers healthy and see that they get enough sleep, enough food (which I know is difficult) and encourage them to keep their grades up. I'll see you all at the first race.   

Randy and Jeff Higel: Novice Coaches

The novice men’s team has grown to 16 members. The Girl’s Novice team has also picked up a few new rowers as a result of the Open House and now number 13. All have had good participation and are preparing for the upcoming novice Regatta. As a point of information, any of our novices may row in the novice events, but only those that are also freshmen may row in the freshmen events. As of now, we have only 8 freshmen men, including Eric Noah who has been our coxswain, so in order to enter a freshmen 8, Eric has heroically volunteered to learn to row and will row the bow seat at the upcoming regatta, if we can get one of the freshman girls to cox. Otherwise all seem to be having a good time and are doing well.

David Delaney: Middle School Coach

We are well along in this year's second session. The eight boys on the team are fortunate to have approximately fifteen middle school female rowers on the team to encourage them. The girls and boys ably represent seven different middle schools in the area. This class of rowers is eager, enthusiastic, cooperative and capable. Yes, parents, these are the same teenagers that sleep in your house and borrow money for the movies! After a few sessions of conditioning and familiarization with the equipment, we began to get the boats on the water. We usually row an eight person plus coxswain shell. Due to the number of rowers on our team, we have to take out two of these shells on Saturdays with sixteen middle school rowers and two middle school coxswains. We are starting to pull it together. Two of our rowers have been chosen to move “up” to the novice girls’ team coached by Mr. Jeff Higel. These two rowers demonstrated the advanced rowing skills and motivation necessary to handle the daily practice sessions which Coach Jeff conducts. These two young ladies will be in their first sprint race soon. Good luck to Carolina and Stevie! Our middle school rowers participated in the recent Erg-A-Thon by putting some meters on the ergs while at practice the other day. I think they learned that erging is not just a “row” in the park. This was the first official activity that our middle school team shared with the “Big Dogs”. The Novice and Varsity rowers have been so helpful to us as we practice; they have taught our rowers how to erg, helped us get the boats off the rack and ridden in the launches with us as we practiced. The older rowers have been positive role models for our newest rowers on Sarasota Crew.  

Laura Riley: Administrator

Next week is the Novice Regatta in Orlando, rowers were sent home with the assessment and a 2008 waiver. Please complete it and return to the office as soon as possible. If I do not have copy of the 2008 waiver, your child will not be able to row. Also the information has been sent out via e-mail. Also, we are trying to update each rowers file. Please take a minute to fill out the attached document, save and reply back to SarasotaCrew@aol.com. I understand that people's information may change (i.e. cell phone numbers and e-mails) through out the year and sometimes we forget to pass along the information, but it is very important that we have this to contact you. Finally, we still have several regattas and the banquette this year. We are always looking for parents to help out. If you would like to participate in anyway please contact me. (941) 266-5543.

The First Annual Spring Break Crew Camp

For several reasons, we have decided to not pursue camp at a remote location (North Carolina) this year. Consequently, the First Annual Spring Break Crew Camp will be held at our new site. Crew Camp will be a great opportunity for all rowers to improve their conditioning and skills as we head into state, regional, and national competition. We fully understand many families have already made vacation plans and they should keep those plans. If you have already made plans, please tell your coaches immediately, so they can plan accordingly. In addition, our rowers in private schools should plan to attend the afternoon sessions. Here’s the schedule. Monday, March 31,2008 thru Wednesday, April 1, 2008 6.30 am to 8:30amMorning Workout; 4:00pm to 7:00 pm Afternoon Workout Thursday April 2, 2008 6.30 am to 8:30amMorning Workout Noon to 2:00 pm Mid Day Work out 4:00pm to 10pmCOOKOUT at the J bar C Ranch.Friday 8:00am to 10.00 am Light Workout and Load Boats Saturday Hood Cup  

Karen Johnston: Parent Booster President Next Parent Meeting is Monday March 10th at 5:30 pm. Please come and hear the latest crew news and regatta updates. Senior parents, be on the look-out for an email requesting your presence to paint your rower's blade. All senior parents will be needed to paint their child's blade. Additional banquet volunteers are also needed. I am still looking for a few signs for the trailer...please contact me if you'd like to advertise your business! Our clothing chairperson has taken a full time job and we now need an individual willing to sell our clothing at the regattas. Please let me know if you can help. Thank you.

Maureen Borden: Erg-a-thon

Erg-A-Thon 2008 was a Spectacular Success

Under brilliant blue skies parents and rowers came together to set up our three satellite locations so that our team could begin erging before 9am. I want to thank all of my volunteers – without you we couldn’t have done it.I would also like to give a very special ‘thank you’ to my team captains Tina and Don White, Roy Dupuis, Judie Berger, Linda Campbell, Laura Leeming and Leslie Shortt. These parents volunteered their entire day and did an incredible job! Our rowers did Sarasota Crew proud – as a team they surpassed their one million meter goal by 11:15 in the morning! One million meters translates to 620 miles, which is the exact distance to the Head of the Hooch regatta in Chattanooga, TN. We blew past Chattanooga and were well on our way to the Nationals in Cincinnati, OH when we finished at 3pm with an incredible 1,438,822 meters!! Our rowers did have help from parents, passerby and coaches who all contributed an impressive amount as well. We will announce all the winners at practice, once all the pledges are returned. Because of the incredible effort put forth by all our rowers, we have added an additional prize drawings. For every 5000 meters rowed, each rower will be given a prize ticket to enter into the drawing. (Special consideration will be given to those who were sick, injured or pulled away from the erg to help with other tasks.) There will be five opportunities to win $50. Five tickets will be drawn and each rower whose name is pulled will win $50. (A rower may only win once.) On Saturday the team raised $2292! With Wal Mart matching $1000 of that amount, our grand total for the day will be $3292. At present, the total amount pledged to the team is $22,280. Our rowers have collected $18,472 of those pledges. For those of you who have not yet turned in your pledge packets or the remainder of your pledges please do so as soon as possible!! During the Erg-A-Thon, and in the days since, I have had the pleasure of hearing from many people who were quite impressed with Sarasota Crew and the team spirit that emanated from both the rowers and the parents. This positive visibility is as valuable to our team as the funds raised. Congratulations to the whole team and good luck as we head into the spring regatta season - Row Hard!!