Come-and-try at Centenary

Put a message in a couple of facebook groups offering a come-and-try  opportunity

We had 20 people come and try rowing in 4 quads.

Coaches:

Peter, Tanya, Wayne, John, Dennis, Kim, Frank.

There was a huge range of ages.  From early uni to 70’s.  Mostly women.

After we put the boats away about half the people left and half stayed for a final refresh on the erg. And then some wine and beer on the deck.

After all the come and try people left Peter led an informal meeting on the deck. to discuss and debrief.

The thoughts that came from that included:

  Next time probably two come and trys rather than three.

  Some of the ladies were quite old.  70’s? We (as a club) need to come up with way to handle them.

     An idea floated was that they would continue after the LTR was finished to only row

     Sundays at 3 and

     we will get masters and whatever LTR people who are around to help carry their boat.

We discussed what the LTR program could look like:-

   If we think of a 10 week term, 3 weeks come and try Approx. 4 weeks in quads and 3 in doubles.

   Progression might be staggered and based on rowers skill as observed by the Masters / coaches

   as well as the rowers desire.

We discussed that we are out of sync with the school terms and we normally charge club fees by the term.  Options considered, a few extra $ to get through to the end of term 2.

We discussed considering asking these people to help with the next come and try.  They would be the “experts” by then.  We need to get a culture of being involved as well as simply rowing.  Helping with the next come-and-try would be their first act of service.

On the teaching side, we discussed that we felt there should be a few things that are done the club way and to define those. Like the way we coach.  Things agreed:

a) put the experienced person in the bow seat (rather than the stroke seat which previously would have been what would have done).  This gives the experienced person much more control to steer the boat plus they can see whats happening and help out with coaching.

b) When we roll the boat at the waters edge, Rotate it so the seats are close to the people and the bottom is facing the river.  Far side duck under.  Complete the roll.  The advantages of this are the people holding don’t need to reach out around the hull to grip and the fin is facing the water and less likely to hit the pontoon.