Welcome Back! Varsity parents, welcome back. Novice parents, just Welcome! This is the first of many newsletters you'll receive this year to let you know about the details of your daughters' regattas. Plus, if you're really lucky, I'll throw in some color commentary. So enjoy, and we hope to meet you all at a race this fall! Novice parents: if you scroll past the directions, you'll find a helpful vocabulary/abbreviations/definitions list. Last Week's Results The Lady Cardinals opened the season last Saturday at the Head of the Licking in Cincinnati. In a spectacular performance, the Cards swept the Varsity 8+, Varsity 4+, and Novice 4+(by a modest 3.5 minutes!). UofL also took bronze in the Varsity 4+, and transfer Lucy Svehla captured the bronze in the women's 1x behind 2 former US national teamers. The highlight of the day, however, came in the mixed masters 2x, with head Coach Richard Ruggieri teaming up with local celeb Tori Murden-McClure to take the bronze. After a tremendous start, the rest of the season looks bright, and Laurie and I are very excited to see what our novices are going to do to IU, Cincinnati, and Purdue on Saturday. This Week's Racing This Saturday, October 6 we head up to Bloomington, IN for the LemonHead Regatta. Situated on beautiful Lake Lemon, this regatta features a fun course with plenty of parking and a great venue to watch the last 1000m of the race. And we promise, better weather than last spring... Directions follow at the end. Both the Novice and Varsity teams will be competing - novice parents, please check with your daughter to find out when and if she's racing. Many of the novices have not yet been cleared by the NCAA to compete. It's a process that just takes time (and causes coaches many headaches). The race schedule is as follows: (reminder: IN is 1 hour behind) 10:00 am Varsity 8+ (1 entry)
10:10 am Novice 4+ (2 entries) 12:25 pm Varsity 4+ (1 entry) 12:35 pm Novice 8+ (1 entry) 1:00 pm Women's 1x (1 possible entry) 1:30 pm Awards Ceremony @ Boathouse and the premire event: 10:30 am: Double (Laurie & Emily) The boathouse and launching area are separate from the spectator area (you can't see any of the race from the boathouse). I've given you directions to the spectator venue. After racing, however, there are signs clearly marking the way to the boathouse (leave the park & take a left, very easy) if you want to watch the awards ceremony. We will hopefully be a big part of it. Parents "Club" First of all, to all parents, new and old alike, if you ever have any questions about the sport, the schedule, anything, please please please don't hesitate to call (852-3325) or email me. Chances are you won't get that much information from your daughters on the sport - just that exasperated "my-parents-are-so-uncool" look. As a former high school and college rower, i can attest to that ("No mom, you can't row crew."). So, that's what I'm here for: to help you understand this obscure sport. If you're a web-head, try row2k.com or irow.com - 2 very informative sites, and of course uoflsports.com - we get a lot of great articles there. Now, I've gotten several questions in a couple of areas: First, yes, please come to the river and watch a practice! We love visitors. We just ask that you call ahead if you can, so we know you're coming and to make sure we have room (we usually do, except on recruiting weekends). Second, and most important to rowers: the food issue. We do provide sandwiches, fruit, and power bar-type food on our day trips, but parents always bring better food than we do. The thing I looked forward to most at regattas (besides racing) was the pan of brownies my mom always brought for afterwards. So yes, bring food if you'd like. I don't know if there is a parent out there who wouldn't mind coordinating the race food - if there is, please contact me and I'll send you all the information my mother gave me - she was the coordinator
my last year at Virginia. That way we can be sure we have a good mix of real food, sweets, drinks, etc. Third, I've gotten several questions about donations and contributions. If you simply want to write a check, you can make it out to University of Louisville Women's Rowing. If your company is interested in making a donation, we are looking for team sponsors at all levels, so please get in touch with me and we can put together a package. We are involved in several funraisers this year, the first of which is a raffle: $25 a ticket for the chance to win season tickets to men's basketball. Your daughters have the raffle tickets. Directions (finally) From Louisville: Take I-65 N to exit 68, Columbus, IN Follow Ind 46 through Nashville to Bloomington Take a right onto Smith Rd. Take a right onto HWY 45 East Follow 45 for about 5 miles to Tunnel Road Turn left on Tunnel (follow signs to Riddle Point) Continue to the Riddle Point Park (bottom of the hill). Viewing area is to the right. From Cincinnati: Take I-74 West to Greensburg, IN exit (exit 134) Follow Ind 46 west through Columbus and Nashville to Bloomington. Take a right onto Smith Rd. Take a right onto HWY 45 East Follow 45 for about 5 miles to Tunnel Road Turn left on Tunnel (follow signs to Riddle Point) Continue to the Riddle Point Park (bottom of the hill). Viewing area is to the right. Glossary Head Race: also Chase Race. 2.5 to 3.5 mile races where competitors are started one at a time, 15-30 seconds apart. Racing the clock, the
object is to pass boats ahead of you, but not get passed yourself. The fall season is head racing. Sprint Racing: held on a (mostly) straight, 2000 meter course, these are head-to-head competitions with up to 6 boats at a time. We race sprints in the spring. Coxswain: Pronounced "cox'n" Little person who steers the boat, calls race strategy, and coaches when the coaches aren't there. Shell: boat. don't ask why. rowers are just snobby Sweep: Each rower has one oar - most college events are sweep events: 8+, 4+, 2-. Sweep oars are 12 feet long with a larger surface area than sculling oars. Sculling: Each rower has 2 oars. Signified by an 'x': 4x, 2x, 1x. Sculling boats almost never have coxswains, except occasionally for training purposes. Sculling oars are 10 feet long with a smaller surface area than sweep oars. Novice: First year rower. Varsity: Beyond first year of rowing. Heavyweight: also Openweight. Means not lightweight. Lightweight: for women: 130 lbs or less. UofL does not race lightweight. Reading the program: 8+: Said "eight." eight-oared shell (no x, therefore a sweep boat). '+' means it has a coxswain. Eights always have coxswains. 4+: said: "four with." four-oared sweep shell with coxswain. 4-: said: "four without" or "straight four" four-oared sweep shell without coxswain. 2+: said: "pair with." two oared sweep shell with coxswain 2-: said: "straight pair" or "pair without." Two oared sweep shell without coxswain. 4x: "quadruple sculls" or "quad." Four rowers, each with 2 oars. 2x: "double sculls' or "double." two rowers, each with 2 oars.
1x: "single sculls" or "single." one rower with 2 oars. if you got this far, I commend you. The next one will be shorter, I promise! See you Saturday! Emily ************************** Emily Egge Graduate Assistant Coach University of Louisville Rowing (502) 852-3325 **************************