New Year, Same Great Club

St. Catharines Rowing Club Monthly Newsletter - January 2021

​OPTIMISM...

According to the Oxford dictionary, optimism is “hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something”.

To begin, I’m back. The membership and then the Board have seen fit to return me as president of the club for 2021. A position I am proud to serve in for another year.
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We have a few new directors for 2021. Please log into our website for the full list.

I am particularly pleased to have Lauren Kelly on the Board. As many of you know, Lauren has been handling our social media since last Spring and recently producing excellent articles on SCRC rowers. She has “produced” my updates since I started them and they have, in my opinion(!), become better as she has added structure, photos and recommendations. As a SCRC athlete still attending university (Notre Dame) she is a great example of a younger club member who is already giving back to the club and making it better.

We held our AGM on January 21st and while the online turnout was not as large as I would like to see I have decided to interpret that as the membership having confidence in the Board.

Reports from the executive will be available on our website including our 2020 financials.

Back to optimism… It is easy to get – or stay - depressed as we start 2021 with aggressive lockdown measures because of the surge of positive COVID tests. As if we needed reasons to stay in, this week’s weather calls for a “polar vortex”. But this is where the people who participate and compete in rowing stand out. As a ratio of training time to racing, I don’t know of another sport that spends so much of its time training.

This is especially true if you live in a climate like ours where you can’t be on the water for months at a time. I also have never met a competitive rower that has won every race they entered. What I do know is that if we don’t win, we go back out the next day determined to train harder, improve on technique and put the lost race (or season…) out of our head KNOWING we’ll win the next one.

Its that optimism, that confidence in our ability to succeed that keeps us training and training and training. 2021 is not starting out as we might have hoped. We do not yet know if there will be a spring, summer or fall competitive season.

However, we have some of the best coaches and athletes in the world and no pandemic will keep us down forever. As soon as we are allowed, shells will be on the water and calluses will start forming.

I believe that (like this horrible virus) optimism is catching. Our coaches know it and communicate it every workout.

For the Captain’s Dinner several years ago, I asked Regatta Sport to put BDRCW on the side of the club’s hat. I wanted our athletes to have people, specifically competitors, ask “What does that stand for?” to which they could respond “Best Damn Rowing Club in the World” – and then walk away... Pride in the club – sure. But also, confidence in knowing that if we meet them at the starting line, they are racing for second place.

As we “Forge Ahead” into 2021 please help keep the spirit of SCRC alive. Be optimistic. We WILL return to full rowing programs and we WILL see our athletes winning Henley Gold again soon…
 
Best in Sports,
 
Rick Crooker
President, St. Catharines Rowing Club