Day: August 6, 2013

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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What do you think of “Once a rower, always a rower?” Even if you have to quit not because you don’t like it, but because you have to? There was a conversation that came up with us about how people who quit shouldn’t be wearing their crew gear anymore. What’s your opinion?

The most basic way I can explain is this: we put so much time, effort, money, blood, sweat, tears, etc. into this sport that our racing tanks, unisuits, jackets, tshirts, and anything else with our team logo on it become sacred to us. We can’t wear our medals all over the place so we wear our gear instead to show off the pride we have in our team, our teammates, the sport, and ourselves. If you’re not on the team anymore it’s kind of like they’re on the outside looking in, you know what I mean? I know it sounds kind of stuck up to say that but I can’t think of another way to explain it.

On the other hand, you bought the stuff with your money so technically you can wear it whenever and wherever the hell you want. It’s not like anyone’s gonna go up to you and say “you’re not on the team anymore, take your shirt off…”. If someone had rowed for a few years and had been a fairly dedicated member of the team I wouldn’t have that much of an issue with it but if you rowed for like, a season and then quit? That’d annoy me (and was kinda what I was getting at up above).

College Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I’m going to be a senior and I’m really interested in getting recruited as a cox. I just finished my novice year and I did some rowing camps at universities. The coach at my 1st choice university was really impressed (she approached me at the end of camp and asked about my grades, college plans, etc.) but she told me I was a little late to the recruiting process. She encouraged me to ask my coach to write me recs to help. What are the guidelines for coach recs? When should they email the recs?

As far as I know there aren’t any guidelines they have to follow in terms of how it’s laid out unless there is a specific form that the college coach(es) give you to have them fill out. Some do that and some don’t. Basically all they’re doing is saying who they are, the nature of your relationships (coach-athlete, etc.) how long they’ve known and/or coached you, and then just talking about how awesome you are, what you’ve brought to the team, why you’re an asset and what makes you one, what they think you can contribute to a college team, how well you get along with and lead others, etc.

In terms of when to email them, I would do it as soon as possible but probably no later than the first week or two of September. I’d also email the coaches of the schools you’re planning to apply to and saying you’re interested in joining the team (if you haven’t already) and to expect a letter of recommendation or two from your coaches to arrive within the next week, two weeks, whenever. That way they’re not getting letters from coaches about potential coxswains they’ve never met or heard from before. I’d give your coach a deadline too and say that you’d like to have them sent out by this date since that’s when you told the college coaches to expect them. Otherwise you run the risk of them starting it, forgetting it, and then not remembering it until you mention something in November.