OAR Youth Fall Season Guide

Welcome to OAR’s Youth Program!

This season guide is a live/working document and is subject to updates and changes. Use it throughout the season as a resource.

Parent Meeting

Many questions will be addressed at the Parent Meeting on Thursday September 4 at 6:30p at the OAR Boathouse in Swantown Marina. Whether you are a parent who is new to OAR or a parent of a returning athlete who knows OAR well, the meeting is for all parents! At the meeting, we will explain what the season will include, what practices will look like, how the "day-to-day" will operate, racing line-up determinations, practice contingency plans for weather, etc.. Also, there will be an opportunity to sign up for volunteer activities. Without the volunteers, the Club doesn’t function!

Please plan on attending this meeting! Bring a chair, as OAR doesn’t have many!

Youth Team Philosophy

We encourage and empower young people to become capable and confident within the framework of a team-oriented competitive rowing program. OAR rowers learn effective and efficient rowing technique. Good technique paired with physical training helps rowers to go fast and meet their individual goals. Having fun keeps rowers coming back and learning to persevere. We strive for a safe, enriching, team environment, with deep threads of empathy, respect, and responsibility woven into the cultural fabric of the team. At our core, we want to teach, train and inspire; helping young people develop the skills and attitudes to achieve their goals in rowing and in life.

SafeSport

The physical and emotional safety of our athletes is our primary concern. With the help of the United States Olympic Committee and USRowing, we have created and adopted the following Internal Policies and Participant Handbook. We follow the SafeSport guidelines adopted by these organizations.

Season Details

In an effort to be able to provide for everyone’s rowing goals, OAR’s youth program has a high school team with both new and experienced athletes that come together to practice on specific days and a middle school team that practices at a time overlapping with the High School athletes.

High School (HS): This team will have practices 5 days/week and the ability to participate in home & away competitions.
Middle School (MS): This team will have 3 afternoon practices during the week, meeting M-W-F. They will also have one end-of-season competition opportunity. Returning athletes from 2024-25 School Year may also have the option to row in the home race on 9/21.

Location

OAR Boathouse in Swantown Marina

1210 Marine Drive NE, Olympia, WA 98501

Parking locations are highlighted in yellow. The “NorthPoint” Boat Launch Parking is recommended.

Standard Practice Schedule

Below is the standard schedule for practice sessions. All sessions are held at OAR Boathouse in Swantown Marina. Some sessions might be trailer loading/unloading. All current adjustments to the base schedule can be found on the calendar.

[Insert Calendar Here]

Practices may be grounded if water conditions are too rough for rowing. In the event of school closure, inclement weather, or some other practice-impacting-event, OAR follows the Olympia School District calendar and inclement weather policies for canceling practice.

Notable Dates

Calendar

The link to view the live calendar in iCrew is here. It has all planned season-related practices, trailer loading/unloading days, regattas, meetings, and more. Any updates/changes (eg: practice cancellation) will be populated here first with automated emails from iCrew being sent out and other communication channels to follow.

ICrew

OAR uses iCrew to actively manage registration, practices, schedules, attendance, lineups, calendars, practice plans, required documents, and more. It can be accessed through an internet browser or as a mobile app (ie: Android and iOS). To make communications effective, it is important that athletes and a parent/guardian EACH have an ICrew account (at least 2 accounts per family). Parents/guardians may miss informational emails if they do not have their own account. If a youth or parent/guardian account doesn’t already exist, please start one here under “Youth Rower” or “Parent of Rower”. Parent and youth accounts in iCrew need to be linked to one another for ease of payments and documents (details are here).

Accessing ICrew

Once you have registered using the link on the OAR website, you can access ICrew by going to the website, or by downloading the app to your mobile device from your app store (look for “ICrew Rowing” and the blue logo).

Required ICrew Documents

Youth ICrew accounts will be “blocked” (unable to participate in sessions) until following are completed within ICrew:

Payment for the season
Sports Physical (annual renewal required)
Authorize to Treat
Code of Conduct
Participation Agreement
Safety Test - Float + Lifejacket
Membership in USRowing and USRowing waiver (needed for our insurance and for participation in regattas, annual renewal required)

If your athlete is a current member, please make sure that the Sports Physical and the USRowing membership do not expire during the season. More information on attaining and completing and uploading required documents is here.

Attendance - Toggling In and Out of Sessions

To show that athletes are attending a practice session go to ‘Attendance Plans’ and toggle into individual sessions and/or regattas. Coaches cannot place athletes in a boat unless they are marked as attending the session. Currently, the default attendance status is ‘not attending’ - once an athlete is registered they should toggle into ALL sessions. If there are any dates with a conflict, then the athlete should toggle out as far ahead as possible. Showing up to practice without indicating your planned attendance may result in not being in a planned line-up.

Arrival at Practice - Checking In

When athletes arrive at practice, they will need to use iCrew and "check in" (names will turn blue/bold). This action lets coaches know that athletes are physically present, allows the athlete’s boat to launch as soon as everyone is present, and records who is consistently attending practice (in the case of a seat selection).

If the session for which you have signed up starts within 30 minutes, a check-in icon will show at the top of your ICrew Homepage (looks like a small circled check mark ). If you tap on this icon, you will be checked-in.

Alternatively, you can set up auto check in on your mobile device by allowing the ICrew app permission to access your location information. With location permission granted, ICrew will automatically check you in if your mobile device is within approximately 0.5 kilometers of the boathouse and the time is 30 minutes or less from the start time of the session for which you signed up.

If an athlete doesn’t have their own phone to be able to check themselves in for practice, they should inform their coach face-to-face that they are present. Future plans include a check-in tablet kept in the boathouse, but logistics are still being worked out for that functionality. ICrew questions? help@olympiaarearowing.org

Costs

Rowing is an expensive sport and we strive to keep costs down as much as possible to help provide access for anyone to participate and meet their goals.

7/23/25

Fees reflect 2024 cost.

2025 HS season is one week longer than 2024.

Group

Fee

High School (5 Practices/Week)

$775

Middle School (3 practices/Week)

$400

Season Fees Include

Season Fees Do Not Include

All practice costs (coaching, safety launches, equipment)

Individual food at competitions

Informal racing costs (scrimmages, dual/tri-meets)

Regatta costs (boat transport, entry fees, coach costs)

Uniforms

USRowing Membership

Regattas

Regattas are formal on-water competitions hosted by organizations and are commonly fundraisers for the host organization. There are many factors that go into the calculation of regatta fees and the largest portion of the total costs are the entry fees themselves. As such, to help keep rowing accessible, we keep our regatta fees separate from the season fee and they are opt-in/encouraged rather than mandatory. Our current estimates for this season’s regattas are as follows:

Tail of the Lake: ~$110
American Lake Fall Classic: ~$95
Portland Fall Classic ~$110
Head of the Lake: TBD

7/23/25 Fees reflect 2024 costs. Fees will be updated to reflect 2025 regatta costs and numbers of participants.

Refund Policy

Please note that payment of fees represents a commitment to the program. We need an accurate count for planning purposes. OAR will not prorate fees in the event of a withdrawal; the only refunds the club will provide are as follows:

If a rower withdraws before the end of the second week of the program, OAR will refund the fee paid less a 25% processing fee to cover the club’s costs. No refunds will be given if a rower withdraws after the first two weeks of the program.
Exceptions can be made on an individual basis for athlete injury.
Regattas might be canceled (day of even!) and regardless of whether or not a particular race is canceled, entry fees are not refunded from regattas. Since OAR covers the cost of entries and coordinates/plans the regattas, commitment to a regatta is a commitment to paying the fee, regardless of whether or not the full regatta or only a particular event is canceled.

Scholarships

OAR’s mission is to promote competitive and recreational rowing in our Olympia community, fostering sportsmanship, teamwork, athleticism, and camaraderie. As much as is fiscally possible, OAR strives to overcome financial boundaries that would impede participation.

The George Pocock Rowing Foundation (GPRF) teams with OAR to process and provide scholarship support. OAR is very grateful to the Gretchen Steiger Scholarship Fund, a primary OAR scholarship fund source, which allows many rowers the ability to participate when challenged by limited fiscal resources. Need-based scholarships cover a wide range (10%-100%) of program fees. The GPRF processes all scholarship applications via an on-line scholarship application form: OAR-Pocock Foundation Scholarship Application

If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please reach out to Scholarship@OlympiaAreaRowing.org.

Athlete Expectations

Rowing is a team sport and the decision to participate demonstrates a desire to excel both individually and on behalf of teammates.
Athletes are expected to show up every day with a positive attitude, ready to work hard. Whether we are on the water or on land, athletes are expected to complete the workout to the best of their ability.
While we understand that not everyone has goals of going to nationals or rowing in college, it is the bare minimum that athletes are putting in a consistent effort day-to-day, have a desire to push themselves outside of their comfort zone, and strive to make progress throughout the season.
Be respectful of other athletes, coaches, OAR Board of Directors, OAR members, parents, all volunteers, staff, referees, and others.
While there is no formal attendance policy, practice attendance is strongly encouraged. The more practices that a rower misses, the less engaged they are with achieving their own rowing goals. OAR encourages rowers to not have regular activities conflicting with practices.
- If rowers are interested in competing, it is encouraged that they commit to all 5pw practices.
- If NEW rowers have other activities that may conflict with practice regularly, they should discuss a 4x/week option with their coach if a better fit for their goals.
Notify the coaches as far in advance as possible of any conflicts. Note this in iCrew as soon as possible.
Contact the coaches no later than 2 hours prior to any practice for urgent or last minute conflicts should they arise.
Complete alternate workouts as requested by coaches for a missed practice.
Report injury or illness to coaches. Being injured is only a setback, not a disqualifier. Work to heal and strengthen as suggested by coaches and any medical professional rowers might work with.
Athletes are expected and encouraged to engage in racing at regattas, but this is not required for participation.

Athlete Attendance and Absences

While parents are welcome to assist their athletes in communicating absences, OAR puts the responsibility on the athlete to communicate any conflicts or issues in a timely manner. Communication is key and last minute lineup changes due to absences are disruptive to everyone and reduce the amount of rowing/water time.

When: Planned absences should be communicated as early as the athlete knows about them. Unplanned absences should be communicated no later than 2 hours prior to practice. Planned absences from regattas should be communicated at least 6 weeks in advance.
How:
- Attendance Plans: Use this feature for things such as dentist appointments or other pre-planned absences. Update attendance plans for these as soon as you know of them.
- Dates Away (menu option under ‘Attendance Plans’): Use this feature for longer absences. Update this as soon as you know of them in iCrew and you will be automatically removed from impacted practices.
- Team GroupMe & Emailing Coaches: Coaches will let athletes know the preferred means of communication.

Illness COVID-19

If you wake up feeling ill or have a positive COVID test, don’t come to practice.

Arrival at Practice

When athletes arrive at practice, they will need to open iCrew and "check in" (names will turn blue/bold). This action lets coaches know that athletes are physically present, allows the athlete’s boat to launch as soon as everyone is present and notes who is consistently attending practice (in the case of a seat selection).

Parent Expectations

Parental support of the team (athletes and coaching staff) is paramount for success.

Ensure that your child can conduct themselves according to the standards outlined above in “Athlete Expectations.”
Practice attendance is strongly encouraged. The more practices that a rower misses, the less engaged they are with achieving their own rowing goals. OAR encourages rowers to not have regular activities conflicting with practices.
OAR is a private non-profit 501(c)3 organization & thrives on volunteer support. Volunteer help is needed!
Ensure that athletes are meeting their own individual interests/goals; not everyone decides to row to compete or get into college.
Adhere to the Family Code of Conduct.

Parent iCrew Accounts

Parent accounts in iCrew allow parents/guardians to have the ability to sign documents and make payments to their children(s) accounts. Having a parent account allows OAR to more easily communicate with all families as needed.

Volunteer Needs

Volunteers are key to the success and longevity of OAR’s youth program. Anyone who is interested in volunteering or has areas of experience or expertise that may be of use to the team, OAR needs your help! Please contact the Youth Parent Representative to ask about volunteer opportunities.

Parent Volunteer Opportunities

Team gear/clothing coordination
Community outreach/publicity (reach out to Coach Lydia Blackwood)
Kitchen crew at races
Volunteering at home races
Hosting team social events
Fundraising (reach out to Coach Dave Smith)

Youth Leadership Roles - Captains

Leadership from within the team is important for whole-team cohesion and growth. It also provides an opportunity for youth athletes who are interested in growing their leadership skills. Coaches collect applications, conduct interviews with candidates, and select captains to lead the team in day-to-day practices, outside-team initiatives, end-of-year events, and other tasks to be determined by the coaching staff. This role is a year-long role, starting in the fall season and continuing through the spring season. Captains will be asked to reapply for the role at the end of the season and it is not guaranteed that they will be asked back as captain the following year.

Fundraising Opportunities

Fundraising is a crucial component of parent involvement at OAR. OAR’s equipment, scholarship needs, and other opportunities are dependent on parent abilities to raise funds outside of the dues and fees parents bring in. Time and effort supporting OAR through fundraising has a direct impact on the rowing and racing experiences for each youth. In the past, parents have held auctions and other fundraisers. OAR is looking for volunteers who are interested in exploring new fundraising possibilities. Reach out to Dave Smith (coach.smith@olympiaarearowing.org) if you are interested in helping with fundraising.

Registration and Paperwork

Setting Up a New iCrew Account

To get started, you'll need to make a new account by selecting the applicable registration profile here. Please complete as many fields as possible (ie: height, weight, birthdate, COVID vaccination status, etc). You should only have to do this once. ICrew is entirely organized by “Teams”. Once you have paid, it is important that you check the “Teams” section to make sure that you are a member of the appropriate team.

Parent Accounts:
- First, create a Child Account within the appropriate Youth Team. If you have more than one youth on the team, you will need to create a separate account for each youth.
- Second, create a Parent Account using the registration profile at the bottom of this page. Your parent account will be matched to your child’s account based on their last name, emergency contact email, or home address. If you do not have the same last name as your child, please be careful to enter your address exactly as it appears in your child's account.
- Once registered, login to ICrew. Click on "your profile". If your child is not already registered, click on the green button "create ICrew account for your child". If your child is registered, click on "update family unit". ICrew will suggest family members based on their last name, emergency contact email, or home address.
- Click the boxes for the member(s) of your family. Click “create family unit”.
- Now, the Parent Account should allow you to see all Documents, Payments, and practice sessions for the entire family and can also update Attendance Plans for the youth athlete. You should also be a member of the “Youth Parents” Team.

Joining for an Additional Season with an Existing iCrew Account

Once registered in ICrew, your athlete can join subsequent seasons by logging into an existing ICrew account, navigating to “Club Home” (at bottom of the page) and then “Club Store”. If signed in using your parent account, make sure to select which family member the payment applies to at the top. Expand the appropriate “Join a Program” section and scroll down to find the applicable Team Fee. Those with scholarships should have the appropriate amount deducted from their fees automatically. Please check to make sure the deduction has been made before paying. ICrew is entirely organized by “Teams”. Once you have paid for the new season, it is important that you check the “Teams” section to make sure that you are a member of the appropriate team.

Complete Documents

The following documents are required to participate and are available in the “Documents” section of ICrew:

Authorize to Treat: This document is for minors, who for legal reasons, cannot consent to treatment should medical assistance be required. This form is required to have a physical signature of a parent or guardian on file to provide to EMS (or like services). Download the file from ICrew, print, sign, and upload a scan or picture.
Code of Conduct: This document is to help establish the expectations that all team members should be abiding by and following. Rower can click on the form in ICrew and digitally sign.
Participation Agreement: This document helps establish the expectations of rowers engaging in events with OAR. This form is required to have a physical signature of a parent or guardian if the athlete is under 18 years old. Download the file from ICrew, print, sign, and upload a scan or picture. Note this is a 2-page document and ICrew only accepts a single file. Create a single PDF file using a free app such as Microsoft Lens, or using your phone take a picture of each page and then take a screenshot of both photos seen together in your photos app, then crop the screenshot (please make sure the form is legible!).
Safety Test: Float + Lifejacket: This form requires a physical signature of the lifeguard who certifies the test and needs to be renewed every 5 years (3 years for those age 50 +). Local pools who have certified rowers in the past are: Briggs YMCA, The Valley Athletic Club. The form can be downloaded and printed from ICrew by clicking on the form name in “Documents”. Detailed instructions can be found here.
Sport Physical: We are looking to have primary care physicians certify that athletes are fit and healthy to be participating/training/competing on the team. Renewal required every year. Note this is a 2-page document and ICrew only accepts a single file. Create a single PDF file using a free app such as Microsoft Lens, or using your phone take a picture of each page and then take a screenshot of both photos seen together in your photos app, then crop the screenshot (please make sure the form is legible!).
USRowing Membership: A membership to USRowing is required for OAR to receive operational insurance and is completed through the link in the “Documents” section. “Basic” level is required for rowing at OAR. “Championship” level is required for participating in some regattas. The membership level can easily be upgraded from “Basic” to “Championship” at a later date.
- New Rowers: Start the membership/waiver process here. The club code to join OAR is: LMACX. It may take some time for your membership status to show in your ICrew account.
- Returning Rowers: The membership/waiver renewal process can be completed here. Updating membership expiration dates after joining OAR must be done manually by an ICrew administrator. It may take some time for your renewed membership expiration date to show in your ICrew account.
USRowing Waiver: This document is completed digitally through USRowing’s portal when you register for membership (and updated manually for tracking through iCrew). You can click on the document in ICrew follow the link and digitally sign.

How to go about signing/updating each document and how frequently each needs to be done in iCrew are below:

Digital Sign

Print, Complete,

and Upload

Update Expiration Date

Document

1 Year

5 Years

Authorize to Treat

Code of Conduct

Participation Agreement

Safety Test: Float + Life Jacket

Sport Physical

USRowing Membership

USRowing Waiver

Pay the Season Fee

Once registered in ICrew, your athlete can join subsequent seasons by logging into an existing Youth iCrew account (not the Parent/Guardian account) and navigate to “Club Home” and then “Club Store”. Expand the “Join a Program” section and scroll down to find the applicable Team Fee. Those with scholarships should have the appropriate amount deducted from their fees automatically. Please check to make sure the deduction has been made before paying. ICrew is entirely organized by “Teams”. Once you have paid for the new season, it is important that you check the “Teams” section to make sure that you are a member of the appropriate team.

ACH Payment

Credit Card

PayPal

Check

No fee

3% CC transaction fee added

$Fee x 1.03 to cover transaction fees

Include youth’s name and season, please note that paying by check requires up to two weeks to process and may affect participation start date

Completed through iCrew

Completed through OAR’s website

Mail to:
Olympia Area Rowing

PO Box 7148

Olympia, WA 98507

Drop off:

At the boathouse in the black “Treasurer” mailbox

ICrew questions? help@olympiaarearowing.org

Uniforms and Team Gear

There are 2 main types for OAR-related clothing/gear: uniforms and team gear. The email contact for all gear is OAROrders@gmail.com.

Uniforms

Uniforms are required for regattas. When available OAR may have loaner racing uniform gear to borrow from and return for a whole season. Contact OAROrders@gmail.com for more information.

New Athletes: OAR tank top with black shorts/leggings, optional solid black close-fitting shirt under tank
Returning Athletes: OAR unisuits (or the separate tank and trou that look like a unisuit), optional solid black close-fitting shirt/shorts/leggings under uni

Uni orders will be taken at the beginning of the fall season and links will be sent out via email. (New rowers in the spring will order as soon as they join the team.) The vendor is JL Racing and there will be a specific time window within which orders will need to be made so that racing items will arrive in time for end-of-season racing (production can range from 1-2 months, depending on what is ordered). This order form will be for racing-related items, such as unisuits, splash jackets, etc.

Team Gear

Team gear items such as t-shirts, hoodies, sweat pants, beanies, gear bags, etc will also be offered for sale at the start of each season. All items on the order form are ordered from local vendors and will be handed out ~4-5 weeks after the order is placed.

The current order form dates will be reviewed at the parent meeting. Orders must be placed by specified dates.

Recommend/Required Equipment/Gear

Rowing out on Budd Inlet is possible throughout most of the year, hot/cold and rain/shine. The biggest barriers to safety are those that impact visibility such as fog and darkness. As such, rowers out on the water should be prepared for all sorts of weather. Here are some items to consider bringing out on the water for a row:

Close-fitting athletic clothing
Athletic shoes (on windy days, practices may be on land and running shoes are required at every practice.)
Water proof shoes (crocs, chacos, etc.)
Water bottle (covered in a sock if they are large metal bottles)
Sunscreen (seasonal)
Sunglasses
Hat
Towel
Extra layers
Phone - ALL phones should remain in your school backpack or rowing bag ON LAND during the entire practice.

Contact Information

Coaching Team

Our coaches work together as a team. This creates a stronger coaching experience for the rowers and allows for flexibility in putting boats together for different races. The head youth coach sets schedules, manages the day-to-day operations for practices/competitions, and develops the expectations/goals for how the youth program is run.

Please use email as your primary source of communication with members of our coaching staff. Phone numbers are listed in case of emergency and should only be used in those circumstances.

Coach

Role

Cell Phone

Victoria Tkacz

Head Coach

Coach.Victoria@olympiaarearowing.org

(609)-464-4084*

Contact information for the coaching team is still 'under construction'. Please check back here soon!

*Communication should be primarily through email, phone number is provided but should only be used if something is urgent.

Youth Parent Representatives

If you have questions, please contact the parent representatives and they will do their best to help you or forward your request/question to the correct person.

Volunteer

Role

Jeromy Jording

Parent Representative

Parent.Rep@OlympiaAreaRowing.org

Alyson Owens

Parent Representative

Parent.Rep@OlympiaAreaRowing.org

Volunteer Roles

OAR is a non-profit and depends on the support and help from a number of volunteers helping with key tasks to keep us operating smoothly! If you see a role that you would like to help with, please reach out to the Youth Parent Representatives.

Volunteer

Role

Alden Starks, Mikhaila Leo

High School Team Captains

Google Application Form

Joanna Briese

Scholarship Support

Scholarship@OlympiaAreaRowing.org

Dave Smith

Fundraising Lead

Fundraising@OlympiaAreaRowing.org

coach.smith@olympiaarearowing.org