July 16, 2024 Newsletter
Hello NMRC!
We had a successful Learn to Scull event Saturday, July 13 with several new scullers launched! Thank you to Coach Sue and all our member volunteers who helped welcome new scullers to the two-oar experience. Having more rowers comfortable with both sweep rowing and sculling means greater flexibility to launch more boats with every row, and there are some perfect rowing sessions yet to come!
July 8 Meeting Recap:
Getting more rowers on the water regularly with fewer cancellations was the primary inspiration for our July 8 strategy session at Solon Township Park. Thank you to those who joined us and candidly shared ideas. It has been frustrating to not be able to fill boats, especially for evening rows over the past few weeks. The last thing our site coordinators like to do is cancel a coached row because we don’t have enough rowers. We all agreed that we want to avoid cancelling coached rows due to lack of participation AND that it is a priority to fill new boats with a mix of experienced and new rowers. There is time and room to improve our scheduling for the rest of 2024! We encourage members to communicate their ideas to the Board. Here are some of the key take aways from our strategy session:
Our coaches have specific availability. We need to schedule coached sessions based on their availability and maximize the incredible value their experience brings to new and experienced rowers.
Rowing twice a day is not possible for most members and our membership numbers are small enough and schedules busy enough that it has been hard to fill boats, especially on days with both a morning and evening coached session. This has impacted our ability to fill boats to get novice rowers on the water.
Solution starting July 22nd:
Dedicate the Thursday night coached row to novice rowers to concentrate on their skills AND accelerate development. In effect, our single-day Learn to Row will become an extended Learn to Row session and the consistency will build confident rowers more quickly. Dana Fear volunteered to serve as the Thursday night novice boat captain/mentor. Dana will recruit experienced rowers and coordinate novice members to fill seats to help ensure that, weather permitting, the Thursday Night Novice boat will launch. Thank you to all the experienced rowers present at the meeting who were eager to assist Dana in this effort! The NMRC Board appreciates the understanding among experienced rowers that mentoring new rowers is critical to the future of our club.
So, if you are a new rower looking for a consistent row to grow your skills, please sign up for Thursday nights!Coach Heather will provide excellent technical advice that will make you more confident in the boat! You can of course also sign up for additional All level sessions that fit your schedule! More consistent rowing = faster mastery! If you are an experienced rower, participating in the Thursday night novice boat will count toward club volunteer hours. So be available, sign up, and track your hours.
Move the Level 2/3 experienced Tuesday night coached row to Monday night) with Coach Joe so that our coached rowing opportunities are spread out across the week both in the morning and the evening and not on the same day as the morning rows. Not having “Team Boats” has exacerbated the challenge of filling boats consistently. Team boats encourage members to coordinate into a consisten regular schedule. If you have interest in organizing a Team boat please see Mindy or Susan to look at availablity.
Move Thursday AM to Friday morning coached rowing.
New Shell Rack Installed:
After the July 8 meeting, intrepid members stayed to help rearrange the boat yard to incorporate a beautiful new 4/6 shell rack designed and built by Daniel Schillinger and Rich Bahle. Thank you, Dan and Rich, for your design and construction of the rack! The rack pieced together quickly and everyone will appreciate its sturdy functionality!
Regatta Schedule and Sign up:
Check your July 1 email for a message from Dan Schillinger about the NMRC Summer 2024 regatta schedule. There are three regattas currently in our sights:
August 3 - Beer City Scrimmage, Grand Rapids
August 24 - Marquette Sprints Regatta, Marquette
September 14 - Henley on the Boardman, Traverse City
Costs for racing in regattas may range from $25-80 per person plus travel costs. We will organize carpools and other logistics as needed to keep costs as low as possible so that all interested may attend.
Early sign up for the Marquette race is especially helpful as we'll likely need to find a camping/cabin accommodations we can all use as a club. NMRC group campsite/cabin weekend get together sounds like an absolute blast!
If interested, contact Daniel Schillinger daniel@northernmichiganrowing.club or 231-633-8733
Learn to Row Sign Ups:
Please email row@northernmichiganrowing.club to sign up and get further instructions for any of our future Learn to Row and Learn to Scull events. Then next Learn to Row is August 3!
Glen Lake Reminder:
While we work toward a long-term Glen Lake solution, a group of NMRC single shell rowers hold (uncoached) meet-ups on the water every Monday and Wednesday at 7:00 am. Please come and join us if you have your own single. We may also have one spare single available. Call Diane, 847-217-0675, for location details and to be added to the text stream.
Thank you to those who have donated to help fund the quads!
We still need to raise money to purchase the 2nd quad.
We are asking for everyone to donate and/or ask any local businesses you support to consider sponsorships. We know asking for money is hard. This is the only way we are able to purchase equipment for our club. Memberships go toward coaches, insurance, technology, lease and repairs.
Our business sponsorships page on our website explains what we offer with multiple levels of giving. There is a printable PDF to give to interested businesses.
We also have one donation available where you can name the other quad for $5000.
Please help us fund these quads to grow our sculling program and get the boats everyone wants to row! We are utilizing Paypal Giving so we no longer lose a % of the donation to credit card fees.
YES! I WANT TO HELP USING PAYPAL GIVING
Pitch in and help earn NMRC some easy money!
Support both NMRC and Cedar for the Cedar Polka Fest!
Volunteer opportunities are in August. Thursday, August 22, 7-11pm and Saturday August 24, 8pm-12am. We need at least 6 member volunteers both shifts. Everyone had fun last year.
The Pit Spitters will pay NMRC $50 per volunteer if 6 - 10 of our members sign up for In-game and Post-game volunteer activities at three different Pit Spitter home games. Sign up on iCrew for any or all of the following evenings: July 25 (5:30 - 9:30pm) and August 5 (5:30 - 9:30pm). Details listed under Events on the Club Home page of iCrew.
Our rows from Solon Township Park are epic, so sign up! We are barely half way through our 2024 season. Here’s a view from the cox seat on Sunday 7/14: We’ll call him Legs from now on…
Morning Lake Leelanau Sculling for Experienced rowers: We have added open, independent sculling M, W, TH and Sat mornings for experienced level 2 and 3 rowers. These will be independent rows without a launch boat. Please contact Diane to get signed up for independent sculling.
Mark your Calendars!
August 3: 9:00am-12:30pm, Sat: Learn to Row at Lake Leelanau *These dates are subject to change if weather or participation levels are not adequate. Members are able to participate in Learn to Scull and Learn to Row events at no additional cost. We will also need volunteers for all events.
August 3: Grand Rapids, Beer City Scrimmage
August 24: Marquette, Marquette Sprints Regatta
September 14: Traverse City, Henley on the Boardman
Quick Links:
Corporate Rowing Program:
Great for team building, as a staff benefit, or as a fitness challenge for your company. Details are at this link.
Business Sponsorships:
Our business sponsorship program is outlined on our website under the Support NMRC tab or this link.
Please reach out to any businesses that you think might be interested in sponsorships!