On May 19th, our students competed at the Middle School Super Sprints! The races were 500m in length and hosted by Friends of Port Rowing. Race conditions and weather were favorable with a little headwind. Other teams in attendance were Sagamore Rowing, Greenwich Crew, Friends of Port Rowing, and both Row New York teams.
Purple flooded the beach as PREP students from Queens and Manhattan performed at the Middle School Super Sprints!
The girls from Manhattan got in formation to get in the race mindset before going out.
The boys 8+ launched competently and confidently into the wind!
As did the Queens girls 8+ !
Nothing replaces that feeling of helplessness – watching your boat of rowers launch without you. You hope that they remember every lesson you taught them for the last 10 months. That they apply these lessons to the following minutes spent on the race course. Nothing replaces that feeling. I love coaching the middle schoolers because every time, win or lose, they get that success isn’t measured in medals but on being able to recover from a bad stroke and/or to finish the task at hand. That’s a very mature lesson for them to learn. From that lesson, nothing can stop them from long-term growth both on and off the water. Many thanks to Friends of Port Rowing for hosting this event!
Curious how our middle schoolers were feeling before their race?
Daisha: “I feel tired and excited for this race. I will be able to show my rowing skills. I’m a 2nd-year rower.”
Briana: “I feel tired but excited to finally accomplish something I’m proud of.”
Charlotte: “Nervous. Scared. Excited. Tired. Stressed. It’s my first race!”
Zoë: “I feel fine. I’m not nervous because our teammates are awesome.”
Ashley: “This is my first year in Row and I’m actually pretty excited but nervous because I’ve never actually been in a sport. So this is really cool.”
Kaila: “Since I’m a first-time rower I feel like I’m gonna mess up, but hopefully everything ends well.”
The end result? Here’s how the same students felt after their race:
Daisha: “I feel proud of myself for trying my best. But I felt like we could’ve done better but I’m proud. (I liked the food).”
Briana: “I reached a goal!”
Charlotte: “I feel very relieved and proud, but at the same time I wish we would have done better.”
Zoë: “After the race I ate a lot and I feel really good about how we did today.”
Ashley: “I feel really good and proud of my team. I believe that we should work together next time and see what we can do to avoid crabs.”
Kaila: “As of now I’m proud of my team. I feel like next time I should pay more attention to my surroundings.”
So many important lessons learned on and off the course for our first- and second-year rowers. Congratulations to our students for an awesome year of rowing and walking away as a team at the Middle School Super Sprints!
