DOCUMENT

17 At the beginning of the season the training schedule is light but as the season progresses it will absorb a significant percentage of time. From about late January through to April in the lead up to the North Island Secondary Schools Champs at Karapiro and National Secondary Schools Champs at (either) Karapiro or Ruataniwha your daughter will sleep, eat, go to school and row. Parents and students need to understand that there is little time for other sports and activities during this period. You will actually find that if your daughter is completely serious about her rowing and reaching both of the NZ College Championships she will self regulate her social life, so it doesn’t impact on her training. You will also find that from about September and towards the end of winter sports your daughter will need to make a decision about rowing and her commitment to it. Once her coach begins to form the potential crew structures, dropping out means that the continuation of the whole crew maybe threatened. Daughters commitment Once established in a crew your daughter has an obligation to the rest of her crew. The commitment is not only rowing, but also to others in the squad as well. This means that missing trainings or regattas impacts on a number of other girls who have also been training hard. All girls are required to prepare boats before and after trainings. Parents need to be aware of this, as all members of the crew will be expected to help with boat maintenance at every training and regatta. When attending a regatta, whether local or regional, no one will leave a regatta until the boat loading is completed. This could be some hours after your daughter’s last race. This helps students learn about the boats how they work and how they are put together and is an integral part or rowing. Parent commitment There is also a commitment required of parents. Without your support the crews cannot attend the regattas camps or championships throughout the season. This means on occasion they need parental help to drive girls to a regatta, attend regional regattas and camps, to assist with looking after the girls and cooking and help on the parent committee. At the beginning of each season a roster is put together to give you Parental guide 17 17