FOGC February Newsletter 2022

WELCOME

to our monthly newsletter

From FOGC President

It’s hard to believe that the spring rowing season is nearly here! While it may seem that life at Greenwich Crew in the winter is a tad quieter, nothing could be further from the truth. Our athletes have been working hard all winter braving frigid temperatures, putting in millions of meters, and maintaining a positive attitude. Soon, some of our varsity athletes will be heading to Florida to substitute the erg for meters on the water. All of this hard work will no doubt pay off as our rowers jump into the spring season with lots of great racing opportunities, including the NE Regional Championship and potentially the Youth National Championship!

Our coaches and one of our Master rowers have also been hard at work continuing to create increased access to the sport of rowing. A Learn-to-Row program with the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich will kick off this month as will a partnership with STEM to Stern, a national program dedicated to eliminating barriers within communities. FOGC plans to provide the scholarship support to ensure that any young athlete will have the opportunity to develop through the transformative sport of rowing.

As spring unfolds, we’ll be connecting again as volunteers and celebrating all of our athletes with a special focus on our seniors! The seniors will be sharing their special memories with us and what it means to be a part of Greenwich Crew. The celebration will culminate in June, with our annual banquet, so stay tuned! Our fabulous Banquet and Fundraising Committee, led by Anne Blackburn, has been hard at work to make this banquet extra special!

As we start this new season, I continue to be inspired by our athletes and coaches and humbled by your support. As always, I am proud to say…GO GREENWICH!

Heidi Andersen

SPRING REGISTRATION

Registration is now open.

The Spring Season will begin on March 2nd until June 3rd.

ALL PARENT INFORMATIONAL MEETING on March 3rd at 7:30pm

NOVICE PARENT MEETING

hosted by FOGC

Tuesday, March 8 at 7:30pm

VIRTUAL TEAM ERG CHALLENGE

A TRUE TEAM EVENT

Congratulations to the 230 members of Greenwich Crew - youth & masters athletes & coaches who WON the Concept2 National Team challenge with a total of 55,187,676 meters.

A special mention to Coach Kelsey Barolak, who accrued 2,142,537 meters and was the individual champion.

CREW BANQUET

June 17th

Hyatt Regency Hotel

Calling all Volunteers!!

We’re looking forward to an exciting lineup of spring racing over the next few months! Our Volunteer Coordinator, Nicola Barry, will be putting together the list of volunteer roles including a few opportunities to help chaperone our athletes on overnight trips. So stay tuned!

Make sure you're SafeSport Certified

USRowing has a new policy that requires every parent volunteer to be SafeSport Certified. The free certification will take 90 minutes to complete and is good for one calendar year. Please contact Nicola Barry at gcrewvolunteer@gmail.com to find out how to register for the course so you can join us at the volunteer tent. Thank you in advance for keeping our athletes safe and supported!! We couldn’t do it without your help!

From the Coaches' Corner

Varsity Women - We are really looking forward to getting to race at some regattas that we have not raced at since 2019, which is so hard to believe. The girls have worked incredibly hard over the winter and have been very adaptive to cold temps, icy weather and new workouts. We have a great group who all take turns stepping up and are really supportive of each other. The best part of our program is the depth and drive of our entire 5 boat varsity team - we can't wait to get back on the water with them. COACH HEIDI & COACH CATHERINE

Novice Women - We have such a special group of athletes who have trained hard through an especially tough winter. The spring regattas are a lot of fun and we are excited for them to showcase all their hard work and the depth of this team. Battling it out side by side on the race course is truly one of the most amazing experiences and I can't wait for them to have that. My hope is for the athletes to enjoy every moment because there is nothing like racing with your friends. COACH NICOLE & COACH PAUL

Varsity Men - The Men’s Varsity Team has been working hard all winter with the goal of keeping the momentum going and capitalizing on our successes from this past fall. The team’s depth is showing and we are looking forward to getting this awesome group back out on the water. We have lined up an incredibly competitive race schedule for the spring season which will prepare our squad for what we hope to be a historic season for Greenwich Crew. COACH CARY

Novice Men - The novice men are looking forward to another exciting spring season. We will continue to develop our "super powers": leaving sweat on the floor, banking small wins, and shrugging off losses. If we can rise to those smaller challenges every day, then we'll be ready for the bigger challenges when they come up. Anything is possible if we stick with the process. It's not always easy, but it's a lot easier when we have the best teammates in America to back us up. That's probably our REAL super power. COACH ROB

MEET OUR NEWEST COACH Kelsey Barolek

Welcome to Kelsey, our newest member of the Greenwich Crew coaching staff. Kelsey is very accomplished, academically and on the water. We can say, “Welcome Back Kelsey” as she hails from Riverside and rowed at Greenwich Crew in the summer program.