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18 the opportunity to see when you can help. As you would appreciate this is quite a logistical exercise so commitment to dates is requested early, and as with the girls, once assigned to a regatta or camp, parents are relied upon to honor that commitment. What we find is that parents become addicted to the sport just like the girls. Parents become such an asset and have a great time when away. Without your parental support, the coaching staff and your daughter and her crew mates cannot enjoy the experience that rowing can offer. Supporters You will also find once your daughter becomes involved with rowing her family become involved, with grandparents and extended family turning up the watch her racing. Rowing becomes a family affair and QMC Rowing is a large extended family. Nutrition Often the nutritional level your daughter requires to produce a high level performance and the nutritional level she believes she needs for daily survival can be quite different. You as her parents need to be aware of this. When girls are training at a high level their nutritional needs will be greater than normal. So it is important that they are eating enough to give them the energy they need for the day. Nutrition for a general school day means they need food before and after each training session. They need food to carry them through the day, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea prior to training and dinner. There is a book you can locate on Nutrition for Young Rowers which highlights the main factors to be considered. This is not just a high carbohydrate diet, but needs to be balanced as these young ladies are still growing and developing. It is not only food you need to be aware that their fluid intake levels should also be increasing. Sleep Your daughter will need lots of sleep. The level of exercise that the rowers work up to through the season requires that they are well rested. The early mornings and hard training combined with school work, necessitate reasonably early nights or they will “run out of steam”. 18