FCRC Update February 27, 2022.
Crazy times, eh? Let's try to make things we can control a little better.
Newsletter Archive
First of all, if you want to catch up on any newsletters you feel you may have missed, please check our MailChimp archive here: https://us7.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=714f464ae1159ef3cd2272198&id=c0a04770ad.
Member Town Hall - Tuesday March 7th, 2022 at 7 pm
On March 7th at 7pm we will be having a town hall meeting over zoom. As you may know we have been active at the board level this winter working on a strategy to help the club grow, but not lose it's essential FCRC-ness.
We'd like to share this progress with the membership, and let you know about some of the exciting plans we have been developing. In addition we will also be asking members for guidance on how the Board should proceed with the fee structure for existing members. The Board has increased the fees for new members, and need to decide whether we also apply this change to existing members. This is an open question that we can discuss as a club and then have a straw poll on.
We really want membership feedback on this and will proceed with the majority opinion. During the meeting we will present the planned changes that will have most impact on members for 45 minutes, then spend 15 minutes discussing the fee structure.
A zoom link will be sent to those currently paying monthly and annually shortly.
RCA Membership Fees are increasing slightly
When people come to renew their memberships for the end of March, you may notice that RCA has increased their membership fees from $24/year to $25/year. The fee for FCRC to belong to RCA as a club goes from $400 to $416.
Put A Sock On It
This is something I learned from Victoria City Rowing Club back in 2005... So we have new boats. And we want to keep them all shiny and new, right? If you have a water bottle sliding around in the bottom of the boat it will slowly grind its way through paint and damage the hull.
Could you please put your water bottles in a sock so that it doesn't do that. No doubt there are videos on the internet if you need instructions rolling them on.
RCA sells socks if you need them.
Boat Covers
So we got our boat covers from Burnham Boat Covers. And you are correct that the fin holes don't line up with the fin for some of the boats: new ones are coming. Be that as it may be, when you are putting the covers on the boats, please start with the bow end first as there is a pocket the bow goes into, and make your way to the stern. You can't put the stern in first and then expect the bow end to slip over the bow ball.
Oxford Cambridge Boat Race - Sunday April 3rd
We are lucky that as a sport we have a number of iconic events ranging from the Olympics and Paralympics, Head of the Charles, 2 Henley's, to Venice's Vogalonga... The Oxford and Cambridge Boat race is on Sunday April 3rd at 6:23 am pacific. In the Oxford Women's Boat there are a couple of people linked to FCRC: https://www.theboatrace.org/profiles-oxford-womens-team Julia coached for us briefly before she got accepted to Oxford after finishing her degree at UBC. I understand she's just started her PhD in Psychiatry. Gabrielle was in the double with Andrea (and therefore been within 4' of a FCRC member for several years) that qualified for the Olympics (she got to actually row it there) and is doing a Masters in Water Science, Policy and Management, following up on her degree from McGill.
 
Julia and Gabrielle
Martin Barasko, who went to Brentwood is in the Oxford Men's boat. I don't know him but I know that I'll get emails if I don't mention it. I think he's also Julia's cousin? Thomas Lynch, another UBC Grad is on the Cambridge Men's squad but I don't know him at all but then it looks like he might have grown up on the North Shore so that makes sense: as we all know, you may have family on the other side of Lion's Gate Bridge, but it's rare to have friends over there.
I just want to point out that I'm pretty smart too, even if I end up living in a van down by the river at some point.
FISU 2022 - International University Championships
The International University Championships will be held in China at the start of July this year. UBC will likely have some people there. Which may mean that some of our coaches from last year and possibly this year will be there too. More news on that when we get closer. It's kinda cool that they have a mixed quads racing (see page 99). And if they wanted to get serious about it, they could add a few squatters on the course: then you'll see the FCRC influence really make a difference as athletes would actually have to steer.
Head of the Fort - Fort Langley - Saturday March 19th
Registration is open for the Head of the Fort. I can get a few singles there or hopefully if Vancouver College goes we can bribe them somehow to get boats & oars out there. https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/?job_id=7715&org_id=0 it's a slight different format than before so please read up on the regatta before you sign up.
Saints - College Boat Race - Saturday April 2nd - UBC Boathouse
Our neighbours Vancouver College are fighting dragons at the beginning of April. While I have conflicted loyalties, it should be a good couple of races. And certainly easier to get to than the Brown Cup on Victoria's Inner Harbour the same day.
Canal Boats
So after looking up "canal boats" to travel on after the Paris Olympics for the last newsletter, I am now deluged with ads for Viking Cruises in Europe. The things I do for you people. Although they look pretty enticing. And it's not living in a van, even if it is down by the river. I don't know how The Google connected me to my Norse boating roots from 700 AD, but well done. If slightly scary.
Thank you
Thank you to whoever left a stash of sports drinks on a shelf in the red shed. If you go looking for them, they are now by the outside sink. Keep in mind that being expensive, carbonated water they act like water and they burst when it gets cold. Please feel free to donate to the club via the BC Amateur Sport Fund/Rowing/False Creek Capital Equipment. Thanks. And no, putting a sock around it won't help.
Seems a little cluttered again
So the regatta would have been next week had we held to our original schedule. The weather is a bit iffy and there is still too many boats in the freaking way. Here's hoping the dragon boaters have more luck for their events in May and June.
Rowing Canada Aviron update
If you didn't receive the letter from RCA to the rowing community on Friday, you can see it here: https://mailchi.mp/rowingcanada.org/world-cup-509603?e=0c6ec7faa0
Some of you may have heard about the conditions that have existed in the National Training Centres in terms of how some athletes were treated by one of their coaches in particular. The term "gaslighting" comes to my mind. A few months prior to the Olympics that changed when Michelle Darville was appointed the Head Women's Coach, and the athletes recovered enough that they won some medals. So it's a shame to hear that Michelle is moving to the Netherlands to coach with their national team.
I know that RCA has taken what happened seriously: one doesn't send out updates like that when they want to cover up something. I also know that there are people like Carol Purcer on the Board, amongst others, who have a personal and professional interest in caring for people, as do many of the staff that I deal with on a regular basis. Every rowing club has, as a foundational element, the concept that it cares for its community. And as much as rowing clubs will wrestle with, and complain about, how to implement Safe Sport in their organizations, once they take the courses (see below) it's like "well: duh". So if RCA wants to be leaders and more than just an obligation for obtaining insurance coverage, they have to be better than they've been at selecting high performance coaches.
FCRC is a values based organization (we certainly aren't based on being profitable). People that say that "the ends justify the means", don't understand that rowing and community is something that doesn't ever come to an end. We need to continually meet our values year after year and to do that we are going to lift good ideas from other clubs, take direction from those we respect and have ideas of our own. The member clubs of RCA need to be able to respect RCA. Foundation 2000+ got their own insurance (before they shut down). The largest rowing event in the country operates outside RCA. In my perfect world, they would come to RCA and want to be in the family as opposed to being outside thinking "what's the point"?
In that same perfect world, athletes from around the world should be trying to get onto the RCA national team because it was an awesome place to be. I suspect university rowing coaches know this: in order to attract talent in an environment where people have choice, they have to offer a safe, respectful and welcoming haven before they apply their performance requirements, or potential athletes walk away. Do people row for RCA because that's the only way to row at the Olympics for Canadians? I suspect there are very few people with dual citizenships who were rowing under the coach prior to Michelle.
Row2k had a video of the day on the "Great Eight" of the US Naval Academy focusing on coach Rusty Callow. Yes, it's 58 minutes but it shows how individuals make a difference in creating a culture where safe sport generates results as they went from DFL to Olympic gold in 1952.
Safe Sport
So Lisa at Rowing BC reminded me that I hadn't done the Safe Sport Training from the Coaching Association of Canada. I thought I had but that turned out to be something else. Anyhow, I would encourage everyone to take it - it's useful for work, sport and just life in general. It's free: you can create a "Locker" account and away you go. https://thelocker.coach.ca/account/login?ReturnUrl=%2f The SafeSport training is about an hour.
For those who volunteer at regattas, are a coach, umpire, board member, parent, or administrator it's likely one of those things that you are going to want to have.
Somewhat related: something I learned on a course at work is that if you have principles, you avoid having to make decisions. FCRC's values, which are much like any rowing club's, means that we never have to make a decision about whether or not to hire a coach with great results and a history of breaking people. Or welcoming people who just want to row, but don't look like the people already here. Or releasing someone from the bonds of membership when they are disrespectful of others. We know the answer without having to spend a lot of time on it.
If for no other reason, if you felt concern for Kamila Valieva, the 15 year old skater from Russia put in a really horrible place by nameless others when you were watching or reading about the 2022 Winter Olympics, taking this course is going to be something proactive you can do to make the world a better place.
Coaches
We are finalizing our list of coaches for the coming season. Thank you to everyone that applied and to Sam, Eve and Terry for making the process more professional and repeatable. There are coaches that have great results, and there are great coaches. We look forward to welcoming the next crop of great coaches shortly and lead our club to ongoing success.
Please remember that coaches don't have to be crusty old geezers: Joan of Arc was 17 when she led the French, and Greta Thunberg was 15 when she began to change the world.
Mollie Jepsen
She's not a rower (not yet anyway) and I don't know her (she's from the North shore and we aren't related). Mollie is competing in the 2022 Paralympics for Canada from March 4th to 13th... and the story behind the helmet she wears with the design by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation artist Xwalacktun is kind of uplifting.
This is the 2nd Paralympics that Putin has screwed over by attacking the Ukraine and while there isn't a lot I can do about that, I can at least support people who are doing their best. And there aren't that many Paralympians from BC on the 2022 Winter Olympics team at the moment... so please send happy thoughts to a people out representing our country at a time when world events are doing their best to eclipse their moment of sunshine.
Anne Sproull
So if you have been rowing in the Lower Mainland during the past 20 to 25 years you have probably bumped into Anne Sproull, or gotten an email from find_balance. Anne has been a member and coach at the Vancouver Rowing Club (she started the Monday/Wednesday Masters group), Delta Deas Rowing Club and Burnaby Lake in addition to serving on the Board of Rowing BC - I think she was the VP Coaching Development if memory serves, or on a related committee. And she had Dick McClure coaching her on a run for the national team. She's also donated her oars to FCRC (currently unpainted C2's behind the shower curtain outside) and has been one of those people lurking in the periphery with ideas and advice.
Anne, I know you are heading back East to be closer to family, and hopefully rational real estate prices but I did want to say thank you for all the work that you have done over the years helping people with the concepts of safe sport and fairness.
In particular, I will not forget the 2001 North West Masters Champs at Lake Vancouver where you, Loraine, Richard W and Richard McD let us use the Montreal '76 4x when it turned out we didn't have enough boats for everyone. The row to the start was the first time I think I've ever encountered run on a boat and no one was more surprised that we were. The race itself was unmemorable (which means we came last, or laster), and letting Tom, Darren, Paul and I have that row to the start was kindness itself.
Anyhow, Anne and Charles are heading out to the East Coast at the end of March. I hope it stops snowing for you. |
