Two signs of potential the last few days, things that help get me excited for spring.
Wednesday one of our novice women came down to fill a varsity seat for a sick teammate. She was a little nervous, did a great job, and came off the water excited about the rowing she'd just done. Only rowing in her fourth week she showed great poise and then dropped me an e-mail after practice, asking for more suggestions. Each practice the novice increase their ability to contribute to the team, and as a result our program grows stronger.
Today we did 90 second pieces, preparing for tomorrow's workout at OSU. A woman's 4, woman's 8, and men's 4 all out lined up and racing. All three boats had excellent rows and most importantly, the woman's 8 lineup showed tremendous improvement and drive after the shaky row yesterday. By their own evaluation, yesterday was 2/10, today 8.5/10 (what's the .5?). Obviously, we've still got things to improve on (1.5, apparently) but the change, willingness to challenge themselves, and the overall improvement are very promising.
Put these two things together and I'm looking forward to spring.
