Novice Camp - BOOM! Success!

My 2nd year of running the PWCA Novice Rowing Camp has come to an end.  I am exhausted but very happy with the way it turned out!  We had 43 kids last year and this year we had 63!  We had 5 Eights the 2nd week!!!  I had to scramble to find coaches, but I did it and it was awesome!  I found the coaches, coxswains, experienced rower/helpers, ran the entire registration, ordered the t-shirts, planned the pizza party and in general handled it all.  Even coached one day as a fill in.

Looks like a centipede under that boat!

Week #1

Week #2

I just love Novices.  It's so amazing to see them on the first day of camp and you think "Holy Shit, what have I gotten myself into.  These kids are never going to be able to get this."  By the last day of camp, they are rowing by all 8, they are laughing and having fun and no longer sitting in the boat like it's going to capsize at any minutes!  It really is crazy how quickly they pick up the skills.  I think it's partly because they have very little fear, compared to adults.  They may be afraid, but if you tell them they can do something, they trust you and do it.  Adults (or maybe it's just me) overthink everything, and don't really trust that they can do it.  Last year, when I was rowing as a novice, it took us close to a month or longer before we were rowing by all 8.  They get it done in 5 days.  Now, I'm anxious for the season to start.  I want to see how many of these kids come out, how many more we can get and get them out on the water.  I'm not as anxious for the rest of everything that comes with being "in season" but I do love being with the kids on the water!

Ted Phoenix Regatta

It all comes down to this for the Novices... Ted Phoenix State Championships!  The exciting thing, was they all got to race twice.  Either they made it to finals, top 3, or they went to petite finals, all the rest.  Again with the self-imposed pressure...  I made cookie medals for everyone last night.  Everyone loves a cookie medal.
My freshman were 5th in their heat, but only 1 second off Langley.  The week before they were 47 seconds behind Langley - so a definite win in my mind.  They were last in their petite final.  I think endurance was their main issue.  I told them that as long as they could come off the water and look me in the eye and say they did all they could, then I didn't care if they were first or last.  At the end, they all seemed reasonably happy and seemed to enjoy the season.  All their parents seem to be very happy as well.  I think pretty much every family came up to me at some point and thanked me and told me how much their kids enjoyed the season. That's really all I can ask for.

BTW - The Cookie medals were a huge hit with parents and rowers.  Many of the rowers said they were better and any other medal!  Can't go wrong with a good cookie medal.  Now that the "official" season is over, I gotta say, I think it was pretty successful as my very first coaching season.  It gives me hope that I'm going to get this. 

More Coaching

I've been spending more and more time on my own with the Freshman 8.  The Novice 8 and Freshman 8 have a hard time staying together, the Novices are just too big.  But it's going pretty well.

Today we did a long row, just trying to get some rowing under their belts.   We rowed by 6's, occasionally by 8's.  Doing some Focus 10s on various things.  Handle heights, posture, head and eyes in the boat, slow slide, early rollups, all those things we've been talking about.  It went well.  Right at the end before we got to the cove, an 8 came up behind us and I noticed it was girls (and so did a few of the boys).  I asked them if they were going to let a girls boat pass them???  That if that girls boat passed them, we weren't going back into the cove, we were going to keep working.  They started grinning and kicked it into gear.  First time I've really seen any fire in some of them.  They made it past the girls with open water and they were grinning the whole way!  It was pretty funny.

The Board bought all the coaches jackets which was pretty nice of them.  Although I must admit, I still feel pretty uncomfortable wearing it and it still startles me when one of the kids (or anyone) calls me Coach Hyzy.  I have to remind myself that they aren't making funny of me or being sarcastic.  Especially for the novices and freshman, since they don't know me as Mrs Hyzy, the way everyone else does.  I think it's still going to take some getting use to.

Coaching for real!

This year we have a Novice 8 and a Freshman 8, so Mike and I are team coaching.   First couple of days we went out together in his launch and worked with both boats.  But today I took my own launch and the Freshman 8 with me.  We were supposed to "stay together" and work together, but that never happened.  We were together for about 20 minutes and then Mike went off to do his own thing. Not really surprised.  I felt decidedly like a fish out of water, but I figured it out and it seemed to go well.

The novice boat, is definitely the stronger boat, it has a couple of juniors that are really big and really strong and he took the rest of the biggest and strongest rowers for that boat, which makes sense, since it helps if the boys are similar in size and ability.  Obviously, he'll want to coach the boat that has the best chance of being successful, which is fine and as it should be. Less pressure on me, if the goal is to get these kids to row by 8's and come together as a team.  Not a lot of expectation that they'll be hugely successful.  I mean my bow seat weighs 98 lbs and the rest aren't much bigger.  Towards the end of practice, Mike found us and we did a couple of 20 stroke races and my little freshman stepped up and held their own.  They may not be the biggest or the strongest, but they have heart.

It must be Crew!

There are not enough fruit snacks in existence to keep this team supplied and satisfied, but I'm going to make a valiant attempt.  I've set up 2-3 suppliers...in an attempt to keep my inventory high without overtaxing any one person!  I'd advise everyone to buy stock in Welchs!

It's March 16th and this was our FIRST day on the water!  They have cancelled the Polar Bear Regatta - since we'll have a total of 5 days on the water, probably not a bad decision.  A little disappointing, but what are you gonna do. It looks like Mike and I will be coaching the Novice 8 and Freshman 8 together.  Tim will take the 2 top varsity boats and Beca the middle 8.  I'm hoping I'm going to just ride along with Mike most of the time and learn and observe.  Still feel totally inadequate at this coaching thing... but I'm going to fake it until I make it.

Mother Nature is a Bitch!

We've been inside for the last two days because Mother Nature is just a flat out bitch, or she hates Woodbridge Crew.  The temps have been in the low 30's with wind so we've been back at school and on the Ergs.  Theoretically,  I know it sucks and we need to be out on the water, but practically I am thankful for a little breathing space and a little stress relief.  At the school, I feel much more in my element.  We split the boys in half, Mike does Erg workouts with his half and I take my half upstairs and we do the "Sticks of Sorrow."

I came up with these a couple years ago for the neighborhood moms to use to workout any time they wanted.  They have all sorts of different exercises on them.  The kids take turns pulling the sticks and we do whatever is on the sticks for 1 min and then we move on to the next stick.  We usually do them for 45min - 1 hour and then we switch and the next bunch comes up and we do the same thing.  I love it, I feel much more in my element and I do the workout with them.  So, it's a great workout for me as well.  

At first I worried that the boys would think they were too easy, but by about 15 mins in they are sweating and breathing as hard as I am.  For the last 2 days, this is what we've done.  I was afraid I was going to be so sore I couldn't get out of bed, but I'm very happy to report that I'm a little stiff, but that's it!  Speaking of being a little fitter than I expected, got on a scale today at practice (we all did for fun) that supposedly registers body fat % as well… I weighed 117 and the scale said 6%… now I don't really think that can be right, but I'm reveling in it for right now! :o)

I'm not sure it's getting any easier

We've had 2 more days on the water.  The last two days I went out with Coach Cox which was a little more stressful and a little less stressful at the same time.  I did drive Monday for him and it was only a little less stressful than driving with Tim, but today I mainly just rode in the launch and listened and tried to frantically absorb as much as I could.  Geez, there is just soooooo much I don't know and I just hate feeling stupid and clueless.  I don't like not being good at something.  What was really nice and less stressful is Mike took the Novice boat out for the last 2 days and that was really beneficial for me.  Mike is taking it really slowly, obviously, with them and that really helps me.  They move at a much slower pace, and each part of the process is broken down and exaggerated, which really helps me understand what they should be doing.  I just don't think there is anyway I'm ever going to learn enough to be a coach, but I'm not going to quit or give up - mainly because I don't want to leave them in a bind, but also because I always tell the kids they need to "stick with it, it will get better."  So, I guess I need to put my money where my mouth is!

I survived, actually everyone survived!

Yesterday was our first day of on the water practice.  I have to be honest I spent most of the day feeling like I was going to throw up!  I rode in the launch with one of our new Coaches - Coach Tim.  Very nice guy, he's Brenna's age, rows at George Mason and use to coach with Mike at Forest Park.  It started out just fine…but then…Tim wanted me to drive so that he could coach better.  It ended up being just fine, but  Oh Sweet Jesus the driving.  What I didn't realize was how FREAKING CLOSE they like to get to the boats.  I didn't drive fast enough or get close enough to the boat for Tim.  He was very nice and encouraging, but the stress I felt.  Couple of times got all turned around and did a little bit of panicking.  The good news is, I didn't crash into anything, I didn't dump anyone in the water, I didn't damage the boat, but I also didn't do anything except stress and concentrate on driving.  We went out with the 1st and 2nd 8's.  That was cool to see them rowing, but I really wasn't able to pay attention or absorb much of anything because I was too busy trying not to crash into anything.  Still everyone was very encouraging and I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  But there is just so much I don't know!

I guess it's really official - although I still feel sort of like a poser.  All I can say, is I am doing my best and working hard has hell.

Step number eleventy-twelve…on my way

Slowly but surely I'm filling all the steps I need to take to become an official Coach, or "Coach in Training" as I'm calling myself.  I've done the Sandy Run Coaches safety meeting, the Oxford House Safety meeting, First Aid, CPR and AED certified, I went to a day long Va State Boat Safety certification and finally this weekend I learned to drive a launch boat.

John has the patience of a saint and is actually a very good teacher.  It wasn't as hard as I thought, but at the same time it was quite overwhelming.  While it's a little bit like driving a car, it's the drifting and wind blowing that freaks me out a little bit.  When you put a car in neutral it stays where you put it, not so with a boat.  It drifts and moves and spins and wiggles.  That's going to take some getting use to.  The first day, we just did the basics - forward, backward, starting, stopping etc…  Then Day 2 we got a little more fancy.  We drove all the way up the race course to the dam.  Ever since my Sandy Run Safety meeting, all I can envision is taking a shell up the course and sending them over the dam! :o)  Fortunately it appears that I would have to make a concentrated effort to do that - it doesn't look like it's something that might "accidentally" happen.  I practiced docking and pretending to switch out rowers into the shell with the launch.  By the end of the session, I felt reasonably competent, but I'm still VERY nervous about this whole thing.  I'm sure I'm not going to be doing anything fancy or tricky in my first couple of weeks, but still it's stressing me out. There is SOOOOO much that I DON'T know and I still can't help thinking that Mike C and John M are just a tad bit CRAZY going with this plan. But at the same time, there's not much choice.  The weather has been so freaking cold that I don't think well get out on the water this week, so I hope I'll get a couple more days to practice before I'm put to the test.

Thrilled, terrified, hesitant, happy, honored, worried, excited, did I mention terrified… really just pick any adjective….

I don't think I've made it any secret, how much I love Crew, our team and the sport in general.  I've been going to Winter Conditioning everyday and helping out wherever I can.  Coach Cox has been gracious enough to include me and let me help wherever they need me.  This is the first year we have not been allowed to pay our winter coaches so some of our younger coaches haven't been able to come and help out.  Which has been good for me, because I've gotten to fill in the empty spots and I've learned so much.  I just love being with the kids and helping them.  Thank goodness Zack seems to be okay with the whole thing, plus I try to stay as far away form him as I can, unless he engages first.

I've been imagining in my dream life some way for me to become an official coach, instead of just "Zack's mom, who hangs around all the time!" Something like a land coach, or a conditioning coach anything along those lines. I'm already one of the only people who will run with Mike and the kids or Erg with them.  None of the other coaches do that.  I get so invested with the kids and how they are doing, that I can't imagine not seeing them everyday and watching their progress.  I have even considered going through Personal Fitness Trainer certification to make myself more marketable.

It's been challenging to find coaches for the team this year.  As you can imagine there aren't many people, especially the younger coaches, who have jobs that will allow them to be at practice everyday from 4-6pm.  Which leads me to the thrilling, terrifying, exciting, craaaazzy adventure that is ahead of me.  Last week Coach Cox called me… he and Coach Meehan have asked me to come on and join the coaching staff!!!!  I'm sooo excited, and terrified.  I know, I know… the one small catch… I don't know how to row! :o)  What they need most immediately is another person to drive a safety launch along side them so that in cold weather they can take more boats out.  Each coach is allowed to take out 2 boats, at a certain temp, but if I'm there - they can take out 3.  So, I will drive along, learn and start making the jump to coaching.  They have promised they won't put me in a position that would make me or anyone else uncomfortable.  This year I will be a "coach in training."  I've repeatedly given Mike the opportunity to change his mind, but he doesn't seem to want to do that.  Apparently this is a pretty common practice among teams.  When coaching needs get critical, they find a parent or other person who is willing and able to help out and then train them.  There is even a US Rowing Level 1 Coaching Course for people with little or no rowing experience, like parents, teachers or personal trainers. If they have an actual course for that, then it must happen pretty regularly.  I'm waiting for the schedule to come out, so that I can go to that.  I've also done the Occoquan Coaches Safety meeting, CPR and First aid certification, Boat Safety certification and I still have a couple more boxes to check off.  I also plan to try rowing with the adult program this summer and fall, so that I will at least have some idea of what I'm doing.  Whatever I can do, I will do.  The most important thing I need to do right now is learn how to drive a launch boat.  Fortunately, this will be John's responsibility since he is the Boat Driver Trainer!  If anyone can teach me to drive a launch boat, it's John!  I just need the freaking weather to warm up so the ice melts and we can get the boat out on the water!!
This is something I've very excited about and I want to make sure that I do the best job that I possible can.  I don't want to let anyone down, not Mike and John who are putting their trust in me, not the kids and certainly not the team or the program.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as supportive as I had hoped when Mike made the announcement,  but I'm not going to let that get me down or derail me.  The people whose opinions I truly value, Mike and John, my John, the other coaches, close friends all seem very supportive.  The rest I'm going to just try and ignore and prove wrong but doing a great job!