Club Committee

2009-2010 Manifestos

Manifesto for Women’s and Overall Captain
Thomas O’Neill

WHO AM I?

I am a third year medic, at Trinity and intend to remain at trinity for my next three years doing clinical medicine.
I started rowing three years ago rowing for NM2.
I have rowed with M5, M3 and M2 in previous years and with M1 for the last two terms.
I was a Men’s Lower Boat Captain during my second year.

I spend a reasonable amount of time at the boathouse, and try to say hello to everyone around, but one of my first priorities if elected will be to meet up properly with everyone on the Women’s side of the boat club

MY AIMS AS WOMEN’S CAPTAIN

1. Ensure that rowing with the women’s boat club is fun.
2. Encourage W1 to work to become the fastest crew on the river.

It is important that the boat club encourages rowing at all levels, from those rowing a couple of times a week to those training every day and I will work towards that. Enjoying rowing encourages people to stay with the club for the future, where they might be part of W1. Bumps rely on long term performance and producing a strong women’s club with potential for the future is very important.

W1

W1 should be aiming to be the fastest women’s crew on the river.
Due to the excellent work of the lent eights for the last 6 years we are already within striking distance of the lents headship, but need to move up the mays standings to enable us to get the top prize, the mays headship, in future years.
My goal for the year will be to perform as well as possible in May bumps.
This will require hard work and commitment from the rowers, coupled with a focussed and workable training plan and consistent, positive coaching.
Iain will be head coach, in charge of the training plan and crew selection and I will be looking for focussed coaching, working within his plan, for weekend and evenings, when Iain is unavailable.

MICHAELMAS TERM

I will look to organise and oversee the training of all the senior members of the women’s boat club during novice term, and assist the WLBCs with promising novices. I feel it is important to get seniors involved with coaching and encouraging novices as this will hopefully help the development of both the seniors and the novices and promote unity of the club. I would look to ensure promising novices are invited to appropriate land training to encourage the development of fitness.
The main goal of the term will be to produce a competitive Fairbairn eight, which will form the core of the Lent eight. Hopefully we will continue with the success of last year and also produce a second eight, which will encourage development of the senior squad, keep members enjoying casual rowing and hopefully produce a couple of members looking for a place in W1 in the lents and mays.
Earlier in term we would plan to make use of fours, pairs and sculls in both mixed ability and streamed crews within the squad.
This would hopefully allow the top seniors to field competitive crews in University fours competition midway through Michaelmas term, while also allowing those new to the squad to get some experience in senior crews and some individual coaching in smaller boats.
The mixing of crews will help with crew selection as it will ensure people are given a fair chance to prove themselves and show how they have developed.
W1 training guide (per week): 6-7 sessions, 4-5 on the water, 1-2 Land training

LENT TERM

The goal of the term will be to produce a competitive Lent eight that will form the core of the May eight. Hopefully this will also involve regaining the women’s headship.
The particular focus of the pre-Lent camp will be to integrate novices with the senior squad, to encourage promising novices to trial for W1, while seniors only interested in casual rowing will join the lower boats, taking with them useful experience of training, preparation and racing bumps.
W1 training guide (per week): 7 sessions, 4-5 on the water, 2-3 Land training

MAY TERM

The pre-may camp will be aimed at selecting eights, with the first eight expected to be formed from any returning trialists, the Lent eight and other members who have demonstrated the ability to improve and perform at a high level during Lent Term.
Ideally the eight should be formed as early as possible to maximise the time to settle into the crew before the start of exams mid-may. Land training would become flexible during this period, with training moving to a high level once work commitments are reduced.
W1 training guide (per week): 4-9 sessions, 4-5 on the water, 3-4 Land training (as appropriate)

OVERALL CAPTAIN

I would be looking to represent the boat club as overall captain.
My existing strong ties with the Men’s boat club, linked with my role as women’s captain would put me in an excellent position to represent the whole of the boat club to the college, the First and Third Association, Black Prince boat club and CUCBC.
The boat club relies on valuable voluntary support of many old members to help with the coaching. I would look to continue this relationship.
The most pressing concern will be to continue the work of the current committee in finding sponsorship to improve the financial position of the club. Assets, such as boats and blades need replacing regularly, if infrequently and this requires the boat club to raise the money. The Women’s club needs a new set of blades and this would be a priority for me as women’s captain and overall captain. The funding of kit for novices, is another use of money, with free novice tops giving pride in being part of the boat club helping retain members for the future.

Why me?

I will bring enthusiasm and organisation to the boat club. I have a lot of experience from the Men’s side of the boat club, but I will unfortunately be unable to row with next year due to the time restraints of clinical medicine clashing with the preferred training schedule of the men’s squad. Fortunately I enjoy organising by e-mail and I expect to spend my weekends in Cambridge, where I will meet up with members of the women’s squad to organise outings and ensure everything is running smoothly.
I appreciate that there may be concerns that I have never been a member of the women’s boat club, however I feel I offer the women’s boat club fresh experience and a positive attitude, which will hopefully build upon recent progression of the club, and ensure the potentially very experienced crews next year will be properly supported to put the club in the best possible position.

Proposed: Rachel Croft
Seconded: Mark McKelvie