Flag football and capture the flag

This Saturday the boys raced BC High and Salisbury, both all boys schools. As a result we opted for an on campus workout/activity right after Saturday classes.

We met at "the globe" on the great lawn at 10:30am where Colby and others had arranged a flag football game. It was a beautiful sunny morning with temperatures in the high 60's; it felt like a needed break from the bus to the boathouse routine.

Teams were made and we ran several demonstration plays to familiarize many to whom "American football" is a mystery...  After a lecture by me about how we need to be careful not to have any injuries, the game began. One team was down 1 player so I happily agreed to be their quarterback. I explained how we'd have a center and a blocker, 4 wide receivers, and a halfback; rotating jobs often.

The first few plays went off well; Toni caught a touchdown pass and each team ran several sets of downs with mixed results. Susanna our referee did not hesitate to take control of the game by aggressively spotting the location of the downed ball with great certainty, despite having a very loose grasp (I think) of how the game is supposed to be officiated !

As the competition heated up, the opposing rushers figured out they didn't have to line up directly across from our blockers. This resulted in an aggressive and immediate rush from Victoria, forcing me to sprint in an effort to escape; for a short moment it seemed I might get away, then "pop" I felt something give in my hamstring and I was downed for a loss. As I limped off the field, one of the girls, showing her utmost compassion ?shouted?!: "you're not as young as you used to be"!! To which I mumbled "that's for @#$ %^$# sure".....

As enthusiasm for the football game waned, a spirited game of capture the flag commenced which kept everyone running hard for a good 30 minutes. After the game the girls lined up and gave the coxswains carry or toss down a line of rowers pictured below:

I think the team had fun by getting some exercise early, saving the rest of the day on campus for watching other team's games, general R+R and maybe some studying.

Coach Joe

Lake Quisigamond Regatta Results

Andover girls crew had a good day on Lake Quinsigamond.

All races we entered had 7 boats and I'll report the win-loss record for the day as it SHOULD appear in the Phillipian:

G4 raced in the G3 race; finishing 4th they beat 3, G3 crews from other schools, so 3 and 3 on the day

G3 won, so 6 and 0 on the day

G2 finished 2nd, so 5 and 1 on the day

G1 was in a close race with Exeter for first (both boats well out on the field) when they hit a buoy and caught a boat stopping crab; they finished 4th, so 3 and 3 on the day.

It was a strong west wind at Lake Quinsig, where the crews race in a southerly direction; thus it was a cross wind from starboard.

The aligners and starting officials had a very difficult job getting the 7 crews aligned and pointed correctly for the start. (When there is a cross wind, the bows point hard into the wind, which is difficult for the coxswains to control)

The boats were aligned as best as they could manage, but it was not ideal.

We are encouraged by some very promising results and know what we need to do to compete successfully with the best crews in our conference.

Coach Joe

"Rainbow" Psych

Friday before every race our tradition is to have an appearance themed "psych". This past Friday it was before our races at Lake Quinsigamond and it was a rainbow psych, where members of each boat wore a different, bright color of the rainbow.

The effect was quite striking as can be seen here, both on and off the water:

Friday practice went well in very windy conditions which we have had a lot this week; Friday was good practice for windy Lake "Quinsig

Coach Joe

Racing at Kent

After a long 4 hour bus ride (or 3 hour van ride for 6 girls taking the ACT all morning), we arrived in Kent, Ct to race one of the faster crews we will meet this season.

The Housatonic river where Kent rows is very narrow and the current runs briskly in the early spring (about 4+ miles per hour) on this particular day.

If one crew gets even 1 boat width too close to shore on any one, of the 2 major turns on the Kent course they can lose 1 boat length very quickly through no fault of the rowers. (I'm not saying......, I'm "just saying")

In any event our G4 won, G3 and G2 gave Kent a real good run all the way to the finish losing by  very narrow 3 second margins, but our G1 was beaten soundly.

We will race 6 other crews on Saturday 4-20 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA and get another read on each boats speed then.

Coach Joe

Pre-Season

Pre-Season camp lasted 4 days. The crew arrived Friday afternoon for our first spring row out of the new boathouse:

We all enjoyed the brand new space which is filled with light and has plenty of room to work on boats.

The weather cooperated beautifully and many days we were able to stretch and get to know each other while playing "psychiatrist", where one person initially leaves the group, then returns to question and guess the answer pattern of the remaining circle of participants.

Dinner was in the "great room" of our new boathouse and progressed from hamburgers and hot dogs cooked by our own coaching staff on the first night, to more elaborate catered dinners sponsored by neighboring restaurants, some of which are owned by parents of the current crew.

After dinner buses took the crew back to the "luxurious" hotel, where each night the girls retired to sleep earlier and earlier as the physical exercise of the training began to sink in.

The coaching strategy was to keep groups of 4 girls together as much as possible so when it came time to form boats for racing, they were very accustomed to rowing next to each other and were able to "swing" well together in the boat.

Coach Joe

45 rowers and 6 coxswains finished a very successful 2 week pre-season erg training "camp" last Friday March 8th. They trained for 90 minutes per day, half the time on the rowing ergometers and the other half doing body circuits.

Staple workouts were 5 x 6 minutes full pressure between 18 and 24 strokes per minute, 1 min on and 1 min off x 30 at 30+ strokes per minute, and 4 x 1000 meters at 26 strokes per minute. The emphasis was on full pressure, low to moderate ratings with good discipline on technique.

We finished off the 2 week period with 2 x 1000m on the erg for time and had several stand out performances.

Our team has 28 experienced girls, 11 novices from last fall, and 12 entirely new to Andover crew, spring novices. We are now 1 team of 45 rowers and 6 coxswains with the majority returning early for a 4 day pre-season on-water camp out of our new boathouse.

We welcome coaches Jen Bauer and Noah Warren (both Andover graduates) who will be working with boats 3 through 5 or 6, depending on how many girls we add after other spring sports select their final rosters.

I have been impressed with the girls' work ethic and team spirit; we are off to a very good start.

We have corrected all of the common erg errors depicted in the following video:

And now we row like this: (click on the "view on youtube link"

Coach Joe Bouscaren