The Next Generation

Post #91

Oakland, California - I visited a Lake Merritt Girls on the Run practice before the NSR. My practice and race schedules are so packed that I can't coach the team full-time this spring, but it's fun to visit the girls I worked with back in the fall. My two awesome co-coaches from the fall are still running the program now, so I keep tabs on the girls even if I can't come to many practices. The team is lively and the girls are making great progress. On the day I visited, they were challenged with the Jumprope Competition. The goal?  To get all the girls from one side of the jumprope to the other without touching it.  When they started out, some of them would get through but then a different girl would touch it each time and the whole team would need to start over.  After a couple tries, they communicated tricks and ideas to each other, worked as a team, and did it!  Great job, girls.

While we're on the topic of community events, I went to Oakland Strokes, a local high school rowing club, with my USA teammates last week.  We were there for the "100 Days Out" celebration, which is part of USRowing's new Row to London campaign.  We talked with the juniors, got to know them, and answered their questions. In many ways, Oakland Strokes is similar to my high school club in Boston, and I remember just what it was like to compete as a junior rower.  I also remember what it was like to come in contact with US National Team members as a junior.  Whenever I saw or met one of them, I was completely in awe.  I thought they were the most amazing thing ever. Now, to go back and talk to junior rowers as part of the national team is a pretty crazy experience. It makes it seem like the last 10 years of my own career have flown by. The coolest part is telling these high school kids that they might not realize it now, but maybe they'll be part of the next generation of Team USA. 

The Whole Group