Commitment- a) A pledge to do,
b) Something pledged, especially an engagement by contract
c) The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of
action or to another person or persons
Sixteen people have been absent the past two days. That’s one third of the team missing practice. I know peoples lives are crazy, I graduated from high school not too long ago, and with every thing that has been going on the past two weeks my life has been nuts as well. Some commitments your bound to, but after having a week plus off every one should have been able to get all those doctors appointments out of the way, gotten all the school projects done, and finished any college essays that you still have left to do. The sport of rowing is based upon trust. When you’re out on the water you have to trust every one in the boat. Trust is built over the winter. You all know what the boats are and who is fighting to get in them. I don’t know about you but if I didn’t see one of the guys from my boat wasn’t there I would like to know where he was. That’s where the responsibility falls on the guys that have been coming. It's your job get them there. I know Jay and I feel the same way, we like all of you but if you don’t want to do this then we will survive. Don’t try to save our feeling just because you don’t want to do this any more. I would rather have eight guys who live and die by the sport but have no talent then eight guys who have all the talent but don’t put the time in to harness it. As the definition says “engagement by contract” I haven’t talked to Jay about this yet but I decided that with the novices I am drafting a contract. That states
A) You will commit to row, and only row this spring. I understand people want to do other sports, that’s fine but I am not willing to train you all winter then have you decide this is not for you. Pick a sport you love and stick to it. This is not only limited to sports it includes, clubs, band, and musicals.
B) You will miss no more than four practices for the remainder of the season. Medical reasons being the only acceptable excuse. A missed practice is attending less than five practice sessions a week; six will be offered allowing a rower to choose the five they wish to attend.
C) Any changes, additions, or clarification will be brought forward to me at practice then voted on by the novice team with a majority vote being required to make alterations.
All novice rowers will be required to sign the contract in order to participate in practice. If the contract is violated then it will result in a one week suspension from practice and team activities. A second violation will require a vote from the peers in order to remain a member of the team with a two thirds vote being required to remain.
Categories: Training, Teamwork, Rowing
9 comments:
WHO DEY!
i completely agree with what jesse said and i like the idea with the contract.
I think this is a good idea and that it will unite our novice team a lot more.
I totally agree, crew isn't just another sport where you can miss practice and everything will be ok. When you miss practice (especially as a novice) you let your whole team down. We as a novice team need to be united like Will said. Not coming to practice's will take us a step back in achieving our goal of unification. I know that the responsibility also falls on the whole novice team's shoulders. We need to get those kids to practice. So the contract=good x2.
Wow Jesse. I know when Jay got home last night from the convention, he was discussing his frustration with all of this.
If I were you, Jesse, I would be somewhat personally insulted. You have more stress in your life right now than anyone-- if you can manage to get there, then no one else should have a decent excuse.
NA does something very similar, but I know that Jay and Jesse probably realize that. They will cut people from the team based on their attendance and effort put forward. You are not allowed to miss more than two practices (having to attend 5 out of 6 possible practices.)
How many of those who missed were varsity rowers? I know I'm a culprit of missing one this week, but at least I didn't lie about it afterwards. The people who are going to blow off winter training don't belong with those who aren't.
Oh and thanks Jay and Jesse for setting up the extra practice I know that will really help sometimes. Even though Saturday mornings with either of you don't sound too fun.
This contract should go for Varsity guys, too.
Frankly, this is my last year and I'm going to do everything I can to make it my best. If you skip practice for an unacceptable reason, you are f***ing this up for me and the rest of the seniors.
I feel the same way Steve. We truely now have "one shot."
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