Justice Rowing Community,
I wanted to start off with a brief apology for not sending out a first-regatta-email last week with pertinent information and for the length of this email. Moving forward, I’ll plan on sending weekly emails on Wednesdays to help everyone reflect on our previous races and look forward to our upcoming competitions. In order to keep everyone on the same page, let’s start with some basic information on the team’s weekly schedule.
- Lineups are entered on Tuesday night every week for that weekend’s regatta by me (Coach Rob).
- The deadline for regatta entries is Wednesday night, but we like to be early in the event that something changes.
- Late entries or late cancellations (called “scratches”) cost the team extra money.
- This means that Monday and Tuesday practices are vital for coaches to see rowers in race-day lineups.
- The draft schedule is typically released by the regatta organizers Thursday afternoon/evening or Friday morning and is only intended for coaches. The “finalized” schedule is typically not released until Friday midday/afternoon depending on how many changes need to be made.
- This means that while coaches will be communicating that weekend’s events and boat lineups to rowers on Tuesday and Wednesday, we won’t know when any boat is racing until later that week.
- On Thursday nights, there is a mandatory coxswain/bow coxswains’ meeting held virtually, hosted by the regatta officials.
- Typically at 8:30pm. This meeting used to be held at the very start of the regatta day, in-person, between 6:30-7:15am. Virtual attendance on Thursday nights has proved more reliable.
- Safety and course information is communicated at these meetings and can change from week to week.
- All coxswains must be in attendance in order for their boat to race.
- Coaches will email the link to this meeting to the required coxswains and rowers as soon as it is received.
- Finally, there is a virtual coaches meeting at 8:30pm Friday nights where we can request/adjust to new changes in the schedule at the last minute. Again, last minute changes can cost the team money, so we do our best to avoid them. This is only for coaches, but can impact our attendance at pasta dinners (more info below).
I hope that helps clarify weekly procedures for new and experienced families. Please feel free to reach out to coaches if you have any questions! On to the good stuff!
Week Past
The Polar Bear Regatta is in the books! This regatta was only intended for experienced crews and is typically much smaller and shorter than the rest of the season. Both boys and girls first quads (M-1-4X and W-1-4X) competed in the same heat as the competition and entries were slim. The boys were the only boys crew entered, and crossed the finish line ahead of the rest of the field. The girls competed against two Hylton HS boats and took second in their event. Both boats and coaches came away with lessons learned and reflected on the work ahead of them. I want to give a shoutout and thank you to our parent volunteers, the rowers who stuck around to help rig another boat after the race and to our supporters, and rowers who came out to cheer from the grandstands!
[Photo/videos have been uploaded to our photo gallery. Note: videos do not autoplay. Click the arrow to watch.]
Week Forward
This Saturday is the Regional Park Regatta and our first chance to enter novice boats and check out some real competition from around the region. Entries are listed below:
| Event: | Lineup (Stern to Bow): coxswain* |
| M-1-2X (Men’s double) | Tim Wang, Christian Brown-Vasquez* |
| W-1-4X (Women’s first quad) | Sofia Palacios, Emma Buckhorn, Hena Ershadi, Suliana Barrera* |
| W-2-4X (Women’s second quad) | Valeria Peterson, Hannah Rosen, Catherine Brogan, Grace Breed* |
| M-1-4X (Men’s first quad) | Daniel Coronado, Ronan Bates, Nathan Ward, Ethan Sobol* |
| W-N-4+ (Women’s novice four) | Indigo Brooke-Weiss, Amy Telleria, Raquel Davis, Zahra Jouamai, Ashley Forrest* |
We are very excited to see new lineups this weekend and to bring out our Novice Girls for their first competition!
We were hoping to field the Novice Boys’ 8+ this weekend as well, but after discussion, the coaches have decided that we could use one more week to prepare. Novice boys have made tremendous progress this week and our expectation is that we will continue to build on that progress this coming week with consistent attendance and effort.
Regatta Rower Logistics
Timing: On FRIDAY, coaches will let rowers know what time their race is and WHEN they should be at Sandy Run, usually 2 hours before the race to allow time for parking/drop off, warm-ups, boat adjustments, and race planning. All rowers (and those not competing but who want to watch) should be dropped off at Sandy Run. When you arrive tell the parking attendants that you are dropping off a rower and they will direct you to where you can go. Non-competing rowers are always welcomed to cheer their teammates on! If you would like to stay at the regatta yourself, more info on parking is below.
Friday Night Pasta Dinners
Friday nights before each regattas we serve pasta to the rowers. If you’re up for hosting the rowers with pasta, salad, garlic bread, and dessert, this event is for you. It’s a great team-building event for the rowers. Please sign up to host here. If we don’t have volunteers to host, we won’t have a team dinner that night. A suggested menu is attached. Plan for approximately 35 rowers. This is a rower’s only event—no parents. Please drop your rower off Friday after practice and pick them up promptly at 9:00 so they can rest up before Saturday’s race! This week’s dinner is hosted by the Trissell family (address in email).
Regatta Reminders
Important Regatta Reminders: There is no parking at Sandy Run Regional Park (unless you are a volunteer that day); you will need to park at South County High School (SC), 8501 Silverbrook Rd, Lorton, VA 22079, and take a shuttle ($10/round trip) to get to the regatta site.
The SC Parking lot is about 15-20 minutes from Sandy Run. From the Sandy Run drop off it’s about a 15-20 minute walk down to the Grandstands where you can watch the race. NOTE: Spectators plan to be at the SC parking lot at least 1 – 1 1/2 hours BEFORE the scheduled race time. Please plan for traffic, congestion, etc. which can cause delays. A concession stand and restrooms are available at the Grandstands. Regatta t-shirts ($20-25) will be available. For the most up-to-date information on Regattas/Sandy Run, follow @VASRAresults. Heatsheets are released for each regatta; check the left-hand column on vasra.org homepage for a live link.
Thank you all for your support of our program and athletes!
Rob Walker (he/him)
Special Ed. and English Teacher
Justice High School Rowing Team Head Coach
www.justicerowing.org
riwalker@fcps.edu
Twitter: @CoachWalker91
