Pengwern Boat Club

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October 2008 Update

The current position is a combination of crew based rowing and squad rowing.  There are some established crews training and racing together, and there are club members rowing as and when they can get crews together.
This latter group comprises both those rowers having evolved from Dave Ewels' beginners group, through to more experienced rowers, some of whom have points.

Aspirations varied from social rowing, through rowing for fitness, to racing at head races and regattas, and some wanting to race at Henley and the National Championships.

Commitment to training varied amongst the group, often correlating with the varying levels of aspiration noted above, and also reflecting work and family commitments.

Bill Sayer proposed a pragmatic view to crew assimilation, suggesting that we need to consider all the differing demands of members within the club, but at the same time presenting an opportunity for those who want to race, to have the opportunity to train and compete for places in a racing boat.
This training would include coaching, and bringing the rowing members together once a week to row in bigger boats at the same time.

A general discussion took place with many views being put forward and at the end of the meeting, the consensus of opinion was as follows:

*  We want to provide an opportunity for both developing and experienced rowers to row together in bigger boats, train and receive coaching together (under the direction of the same coach), and provide the basis for
selecting crews for head races over the winter season.  This will be done by having a squad rowing session at 8.00am on Sunday mornings.  Bill Sayer will lead the coaching.

*  We want to integrate older juniors into the senior squad.  These rowers are the future of the club and will soon develop into being a valuable contribution in any racing boat.

*  We also want to allow established crews the option to row together at other times during the week.  This Sunday session is considered to be an additional rowing session, but it will take priority over boats at this time.

*  It is hoped that there will be enough rowers of all standards to allow for an amount of grading within the boats, and swapping around of rowers from week to week, while we experiment with different combinations and
allow the coaching to take effect.  It is also hoped that by coaching the same technique to all rowers, and getting to know each other better, we will be more able to bring in substitute rowers to established crews when
someone is injured or unavailable due to work commitments.

*  There will be a monthly head race / time trial from the pumping station, back to the club house to give these rowers some race training.

*  There will be a club scratch regatta on Sunday 30th November, again giving these rowers some race experience.

*  This Sunday session will be reviewed in December to assess how it working.

*  Strength and fitness is a vital component of any racing crew, (and generally considered to be a good thing anyway), so all rowers are
encouraged to attend circuit training on a Thursday evening.  David Bishop very kindly offered to organise a club run on Monday evenings, probably starting on Monday 20th October, but he will email you separately on this.
Also, Lydia and myself will have to discuss erg and weights room usage so that we can draw up a new timetable for using these, which gives everyone access, but avoids too many people wanting them at the same time.


Finally, this is a great opportunity for the club to really get together for one session per week and I encourage you all to embrace it in the spirit in which it is intended.  THE FIRST SUNDAY SQUAD SESSION IS SUNDAY
12th OCTOBER at 8.00am.

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