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OAR Junior Team
OAR Junior Program
****YOUTH SUMMER ROWING IS HERE****
Register your daughter or son today!
2013 Novice Summer Program Parent Guide
All details and registration information are inside the guide.
Spring Season Parent Guide 2013
The OAR Junior Program is open to experienced and inexperienced high school students (grades 9-12) interested in rowing and coxing. During the summer session, students from middle school, who have completed grade 7, are also welcome. Rowing is a sport for life and many young rowers will learn to love rowing on Budd Inlet and may continue rowing in college or even later.
Rowing is a highly-aerobic sport that develops strength, endurance, flexibility and extraordinary discipline. OAR rowers go out daily in good weather on Budd Inlet, and enjoy a beautiful setting with views of the mountains, the Olympia skyline, and often sightings of seals and eagles.
Rowing practices take place at the OAR boathouse at the north end of Swantown Marina. While the practice may vary a lot from day to day, experienced rowers may expect to row from four to eight miles a day, out toward Gull Harbor, or along the Cooper Point near the Country Club, or down to the 4th Ave bridge. All practices include an experienced rowing coach in a motor launch for teaching, encouragement, and safety. Rowing practices are five days a week, Monday - Friday. In the Fall, Spring, and Winter, the practices are after school. In the summer, the practices are early in the morning.
OAR IS A YEAR-ROUND ROWING CLUB
Rowing at OAR is a four-season sport, but every season is a new start and no junior rowers are obligated to participate in every season. Summer for junior rowers involves early morning practices on Budd Inlet, learning rowing skills and how to enjoy the sport. In the Fall, the emphasis is on longer distance rowing for endurance training. Fall races range from five to eight miles in length. In the Winter, juniors have an optional gym and weightlifting class, coached in an indoor environment such as one of the local gyms. The Spring season is the most competition-oriented. Spring races are "sprints" ranging from 1000 to 2000 meters in length (four to eight minutes duration, typically, depending on the level of the rowers and the conditions of the waterway.) .
Typically, the season dates are:
Mid June to first weekend of August (Summer season)
Labor Day to end of October (Fall season)
November through January (Winter season)
Early February to end of May (Spring season)
RACING
Races are held on our home waters, or at the lakes and inlets of other rowing clubs. Races range from two clubs in friendly dual meets, to a thousand or more rowers in formal multiple-day regattas involving most of the clubs around the Pacific Northwest region. Regattas often include both adult and junior rowing events.
In addition to Budd Inlet, common venues for regattas are Vancouver Lake, Seattle's Lake Union, Lake Stevens, the Willamette River, and Dexter Lake (near Eugene, Oregon). Most regattas start early on a Saturday morning (usually we arrive before dawn) and end early evening of the same day. OAR organizes a food tent, boat loading and rigging, shared rides, and other amenities for rowers and parents. If the weather doesn't cooperate -- winds develop over ten miles per hour or there is heavy fog -- regattas may be cancelled or delayed, or the racecourse might be shortened, or the schedule adjusted to accommodate to the conditions.
Parents are welcome to attend and enjoy regattas. As well, we usually ask for parent-volu
nteers to help prepare and cook food in our portable kitchen. Sometimes we ask for volunteers to help run our home regattas by posting times or other pleasant duties. Regattas are usually a fun community event with lots of excitement around the races, and socializing around the club tent.
Regattas can also be chilly and wet. So, we recommend that parents wear lots of warm and waterproof clothes - and bring blankets in the cold season. Portable beach chairs and mugs are useful (we provide hot water for coffee and tea in the food tent). Binoculars will help you see the race participants better.
HOW TO GET STARTED
OAR offers an annual Learn to Row Day on the first Saturday in June at the boathouse. Everyone is welcome to come and try it out, get in a boat with some experienced rowers and a coach, feel the burn of the muscles on the ergometer and meet the OAR community.
But new junior rowers can join as novices at the start of any of our four seasons. Feel free to contact one of the Junior Program Parent Coordinators (see Contacts Page) for more information about how to begin to row.
We require all new rowers to take a swim test at a local pool - rowers must show that they can tread water for ten minutes in typical workout clothing. All rowers must have a physical exam by a medical doctor when starting to row, and this must be updated annually. There is a code of conduct at OAR that defines appropriate standards for participation, sportsmanship, respect for people and equipment, as well as the obligations of the coaches and club to provide a safe and challenging athletic environment.
Rowing is a demanding sport. Anyone considering rowing should spend some time self-training through running, biking, weight-lifting, or calisthenics. Beginning rowers should be able to run a mile or two at a steady comfortable pace without needing to rest.
You will find that your physical training and abilities will increase as your skills develop. Coaches will provide advice and training programs to help new rowers develop strength, aerobic capacity, flexibility and endurance while they learn to row and train with other members of the crew.
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