Junior & Mentor Team Requirements 

Juniors Team

The Juniros Team tries to strike a balance between training throughout the year and giving the rowers enough time to balance school and other activities, keeping in mind that the Juniors Team is commiting to rowing being one of their main activities. As coaches, our goals are:

1. Continue to require enough workouts and in person rowing to ensure that rowers are building fitness and technique required to be more competitive.

2. Place more emphasis on times of the year that will be more impactful in terms of meeting goal #1, while balancing that by backing off at times of year that we feel won’t make as big an impact in order to give rowers and families a much needed break and an opportunity to focus on other things.

Mentor Team

The Mentor Team has multiple functions:

1. Rowers have the opportunity to row up and be mentored by more experienced rowers, but they also have the opportunity to take leadership roles and mentor less experienced rowers which helps them learn as well.

2. The Mentor Team also serves as a try out for the Juniors Team. If Mentor rowers successfully complete the requirements and show improvement in their technical skills as well as their fitness, they have the opportunity to be promoted to the Juniors Team.

3. The Mentor Team is also an opportunity for rower to decide if they can meet Juniors Team requirements and see if the Juniors Team is right for them. The requirements for the Mentor Team are somewhat flexible, but must be met within reason in order to advance to the Juniors Team.

Until a Mentor Rower commits to being in a boat for the Midwest Junior Rowing Championship, if the Mentor Team becomes too much for a rower, they can elect to back down to the Recreational Team. Once they have committed to their boat for the Midwest Regional Rowing Championship, they are committing to meet the requirements for the remainder of the rowing year.

Junior/Mentor Team Requirements and Recommendations

For both the Juniors and Mentor Teams, there are months when there are requirements and months when there are recommendations.

Requirements must be met in order to have priority consideration when coaches are putting together boats at practices and especially at regattas.

During months when there are recommendations rather than requirements, we will keep track of attendance for informational purposes and rowers are highly encouraged to try to meet the recommendations, but there can be some flexibility.

Mentor rowers should keep in mind that attending in person throughout the year is what will help them build fitness and skills.

Strength Program - Incorporated for Juniors, Optional for Mentors

Based on our experience last year, the strength training program will be incorporated into the training schedule for the Juniros Team but it will be optional for the Mentor Team. We will start the program in December (after Thanksgiving) and it will end at the end of January when the erg training starts to get more intense. The strength training days will also include erg training.

I will look at how we are structuring the strength training program when we get closer to Winter season and let Mentor Rowers know what practices they have the option to attend over Winter Season.