High School denotes both Varsity and Novice
* Coaches may schedule optional Monday Varsity practices at times within seasons.  

Practice Notes

• Practice hours may change as the season progresses due to daylight savings and/or changes in park hours.
• Families, expect to pick up your athlete 30 minutes before sunset, regardless of the practice schedule.

Attendance

All athletes are expected to attend all practice sessions. Athletes are responsible to communicate an unavoidable absence to the coaches before missing the practice session. Emergencies, including fast-developing illnesses, will be excused.

If a schedule conflict cannot be avoided, the athlete must share the absences with their coach at the start of the season, or as soon as the athlete learns of the conflict.

Weather

Rowing is an outdoor sport that requires cooperative weather. TRC prioritizes athlete safety over any other consideration. The coaches will send updates advising of weather issues affecting practices, travel, regattas, and other activities.  As soon as possible, coaches will alert parents and athletes about any practice schedule changes.

Why does my child insist on getting to practice as early as possible?

There are many tasks that need to be completed prior to getting out on the water. The quicker the oars are down the hill and warm-ups have been completed, the quicker they get on the water! It is the goal of everyone that they have as much time on the water as possible. Also, since coaches move rowers from boat to boat, and boats vary in the number of athletes, they want to have a little time with all of their friends before practice begins!

Why isn’t my child ready to go at the scheduled end time for practice?

There are times when the coach will want to talk to the kids after practice as a group to discuss an issue or prepare them for something coming up later in the week. Sometimes your child may have a particular issue that s/he needs to talk to the coach about. When practicing on the water, it may take longer than expected to dock all the boats and to put up oars and boats in the racks. Most parents bring something to read, make calls, or get out and chat with other parents. 

Why is it such a big deal to miss practice?

Unlike most sports that high school kids participate in, a lot of our kids are rowing for the first time and are trying to go from learning basic skills to being competitive at regional and national levels in a few short years. Missing building blocks can cause a rower to fall behind. Secondly, when kids are practicing on the water, coaches plan the line-ups carefully. When a rower is unexpectedly missing, the entire line-up is messed up. Or worst case scenario, short a rower (you can’t row an 8-seat boat with only 7 rowers). This keeps the other rowers from practicing on the water (which can be very disappointing for the other kids because land practice involves lots of running and conditioning drills).

My child is sick - whom do I tell?

It is your child’s responsibility to let the coach know if s/he is missing practice. Ideally, your child will text their coach as early as possible, so the coach will have time to adjust the line-ups. If your child is too sick to do this, you should contact the coach.