Convocation & Meeting the Class of 2012

The Class of 2012, 596 students strong, entered Trinity College yesterday on a gorgeous August day beneath the elm trees near the Long Walk. The rowing team was out in full force looking to recruit freshmen with no rowing background who would be interested in joining a motivated and exciting team aiming to be the top Division III team in the nation.

Starting at 7:15 AM we brought one of the men's varsity 8s on campus and deployed the troops to gather in as many interested new students as possible. It was amazing to see the huge range of emotions displayed by parents, students, and siblings as they went through the registration process - some were obviously excited to get started on their journey as college students while others were trying to get their bearings and struggled to simultaneously say goodbye to mom and dad while looking to them for guidance. The one common theme was that most of the students we saw were at least slightly embarrassed and impatient with their parents...I'm beginning to think this is pretty normal!

I personally enjoyed meeting so many of the freshmen and their parents and getting at least a first glimpse into what makes them tick as athletes - almost everyone arrived in impressive physical shape, looking aggressive, and ready to attack the season. The students that impressed me the most were the ones who were ambitious about what they want to achieve on campus. They want to try new things, or be successful, and don't subscribe to the belief that doing less somehow helps them achieve at a higher level...it just doesn't seem like taking advantage of the blank canvas in front of them. I would NEVER advise anyone to stop something before they've even tried it. Isn't that the essence of exploration and discovery?

Convocation is one of my favorite moments here at the College as the students process through a line of smiling clapping professors and administrators in academic regalia towards their smiling families, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with new classmates, and obviously wondering what is this all about. President Jones' welcoming address took up the theme of "Can you imagine that?" hopefully encouraging the Class of 2012 to pursue a vision of being part of a wondrous tradition while blazing new paths personally and as a student body.

I can't quite remember who I was speaking to but I hope the Class of 2012 and especially those who are rowing will recognize that in life there are no ordinary moments - if you wait for everything to be right to excel you're going to be waiting an awfully long time.

Arts and Crafts and Interior Decorating

The boathouse is almost completely set for the return of the athletes next week. Am very much looking forward to the freshmen moving in on Thursday. Keep your eyes out for the shell on campus, tent, and everything else.

It has been pretty fun doing all sorts of different projects from working with pipe and wood to pictures for the boathouse etc...but I can't wait to get back to the mechanics of the rowing stroke.

Couple of interesting notes only to me: Has anybody dealt with a laptop that runs too hot? I'm afraid my 4 year old Dell isn't doing so well. Second, getting into the housing market after renting these past four years is a very interesting prospect. Advice would be much appreciated!

Canada Wins Men's 8+ / US Wins Women's 8+

So much for predictions! The US won the women's 8+ at the Beijing Olympics today beating out the Netherlands and Romania who took silver and bronze. Canada held off late challenges by Britain and the US to take its first gold in the event since Barcelona in 1992.

More to come later - but time for this writer to eat a little crow.

Family & Bold Olympic Predictions

Would these athletes have made it here without their families?

Here at the boathouse 5 PM and it has been a pretty productive day - met with a wonderful recruit and talked to her a lot about her family. It made me think about my parents and how supportive they have been with regards to my activities growing up from sports, to music, to drama, and how their expectations helped push me a little farther.

As we get a little closer to the beginning of school please let your parents know that you appreciate what they've sacrificed for you to do what you love, that you may not have always been so easy to get along with, and that they have been a huge influence on what you do now. From parents to siblings to aunts, uncles, and grandparents - these are probably the people who have helped shape your morals, your belief systems, and your work ethic - but that doesn't stop you from continuing to evolve and learn from the best you see in others while holding firm to those core beliefs that have brought you to this point.

The boathouse picture project is virtually complete and now it's a matter of installing our new equipment and preparing the boats for the fall. There's going to be a ton of competition for seats and I hope everyone is simply trying to become a better athlete in their remaining time off.

Safe Olympic prediction - I would love to see the US women's 8+ win but the Romanians looked to be well in control en route to putting up a fast time. It'll be decided in the last 500 with the Romanians winning by a seat.
Gold - Romania, Silver - US, Bronze - Netherlands

Bold Olympic prediction - The men's 8+s will be a closely fought affair - Canada will lead early, Britain will come on extremely strong to take the gold in the 2nd 1000. Not sure if the Canadians will fade after being passed but Australia and the US will be charging hard to get into the medals.
Gold - GB, Silver - USA, Bronze - Australia - 4th - Canada

At the Boathouse

One of those amazing gorgeous days at the Boathouse - about 70 degrees and sunny with no wind. Perfect day for rowing! The boats are set, oars ready, cox boxes charged...one problem - NO ROWERS! We're about twenty days from freshman move-in day and on campus recruiting and it feels like waiting for Christmas morning.

Putting together some more boathouse management pieces now as well as 5 new Model D ergometers...should be a nice addition that will bring us up to about 40 total ergs.

Yesterday we had an excellent call with Chris Phillips P'09, Ken Jones P'09, Elizabeth Guernsey '06, Bracknell Baker '05, and Bob Benjamin '71 who are the tip of the spear for the Friends of Trinity Rowing. Our current rowers may not know how many people are interested in supporting them, sharing in your success, and looking to continue a fantastic tradition.

Played squash yesterday and ONLY JUST remembered to eat before hand and what a difference it seemed to make 9-4, 9-5 then we were interrupted because the practice courts were being painted. Watched a couple of Trinity men's squash players go at it and just by watching picked up a lot about the creativity of their shot-making, change of pace, efficiency of movement, and serve placement. Won the next two games 9-3, 9-7, and dropped a fifth game 7-9. Overall solid improvements - LESSON HERE: Even if you can't get on the water WATCH THE OLYMPICS, watch rowing on Youtube, look at pictures for body positioning, do whatever you can to soak up good rowing.

Maybe another post later today if there is time. Even with Brett Favre - the Jets will not make the playoffs (prediction to be challenged later).

Taste of Hartford & Thoughts on Eating

Last week I traveled out to California and Washington for the weddings of two of my very good friends - Brian Washburn '01 and Kate Wetmore '02. Brian and I rowed in the Silver Goblets and Nickalls Challenge Cup in 2000 and in the Temple Challenge Cup in 2001 and it was fantastic to see he and his wife Beth so incredibly happy together. Many of Brian's high school and college teammates came to celebrate with him and it really struck me how the bonds in rowing can be so powerful. That was even more evident the following Friday when Kate married Jon Gillespie and had a huge turnout of the Yale Women's Crew to support her. That college rowing experience can be powerful is sometimes lost when you're in the midst of it as either a high school recruit or current college athlete - I hope we're able to enjoy both the current and post-college rowing time with each other as much as possible.

Played squash yesterday and lost 9-5, 9-7, 7-9, 9-4, 2-9 (we played five games regardless of who was first to three). Ate at around 10:00 and then played at 4:30 PM. Crushed! Not only was I hungry when we started but because I started losing I couldn't really control my emotions or focus on playing well. So what came first? Were my emotions controlled by a lack of glycogen and therefore I played poorly or did the lack of glycogen cause me to play poorly and my emotions never caught up. Either way, if you're going to work out and compete you have to be prepared physically and mentally and I had neither yesterday afternoon.

Last night a bunch of friends and I went out to Max's Downtown for the first night of The Taste of Hartford. Absolutely stunning food - amazing chopped salad with Gorgonzola cheese, enormous sea scallops and risotto, and a vanilla bean Crème brûlée for $20.08! Pretty unbelievable and it goes on all week. Having just been in Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Seattle I have to say that the food in Hartford is at least as good and certainly worth trying when you come to visit. Finally, please check out this Google Map of our current Trinity College Women's Rowing team...I'd love to start adding locations of our alumni around the world as well as other points of interest. If you'd like to be included or have an idea of a place to be added please leave a comment.

Henley Fun

"I am feeling very Olympic today" Sanka Coffie

Can you name the movie from the quote in the title?

There are only four days between the start of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games and I can't wait to watch international rowing at its most intense and focused level. The level of preparation that these athletes have demonstrated for a few trips down the race course is unfathomable and I'm sure everyone can't help but question their preparation - after all, who can go into an Olympic rowing event being completely confident of the result?

Two discussion points come to mind when thinking about the Olympics - do you treat the rowing as another regatta? Using the same routines, warm-ups, and race plans or do you try and do something special? This also extends to the volume and intensity of work that is required to win the World Championships and what the coaching staffs and athletes imagine the requirements are to win the Olympics - how much is enough and how much is too much? The results will tell the story and I wonder if everybody who does not win a gold medal (almost everybody!) will say I did enough, I needed to do more, or I needed to do less. Wouldn't that be an amazingly informative poll?

The second discussion point is how much "experience" plays out in having a successful Olympic Games and dealing with pressure. Does increased media exposure and the external trappings of intensity make the Olympic Games so stressful or is it the perceived importance of the event because the athletes have made such a sacrifice to make it there? Does anybody know whether first-time Olympic athletes have a better or worse record of success at the Games? Let's be honest that if you're good enough to make the Olympics you probably have had at least some experience dealing with pressure-filled situations - shouldn't that prepare you to deal with the type of adversity that comes with increased exposure and expectation? Then again, maybe you just can't understand it if you haven't been in that type of situation before.

Either way, get your DVRs, VCRs, DVDs, and other recording devices ready because here it the complete schedule for all of the Olympic rowing events posted here.