6:00 AM Departure from New Haven - 9:30 AM Arrival in Philadelphia - 11:00 to 4:30 PM Vespoli Conference - 4:30 PM Departure from Philadelphia - 9:45 PM Arrival in New Haven (5 hours and 15 minutes - somebody should have taken the Tappan Zee Bridge) 10:40 PM Arrival in Hartford - yeah travel! Special thanks to Pat Tynan and Ryan Sparks for doing all of the driving.Listened to great presentations from Steve Hargis, US Junior Development coordinator, Todd Kennett, Cornell Varsity heavyweight coach and program director, Chris Clark, varsity heavyweight coach at Wisconsin, and Will Porter, varsity women's coach at Yale University. I think it can be really difficult for coaches to talk about what they do to make their programs successful and all four of them did a great job. The common threads I picked out were that they were concerned with the fitness of their athletes and how to recruit and identify better ones (not that much of a surprise I suppose). Perhaps the most interesting aspect of all of their talks is what type of team atmosphere they like to create and how success is very often cyclical in nature depending on the athletes.
We had a great team meeting where we introduced some key flexibility concepts and enjoyed a great birthday cake in honor of Nini Case and Natalie Jones who are celebrating birthdays this week. Nothing makes a meeting better than the promise of baked goods at the end. We're also completing our JL order which allows us for the first time to pay for our rowers' uniforms.
Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Gittleman for the great batch of cookies!
