Club Committee

2007-2008 Manifestos

Ming-Chee Chung for Men's and Overall Captain

My rowing career started at the King's School Chester, coxing the J16 VIII and then the first VIII over the next two years, winning a bronze medal at the National Schools Regatta and reaching the final of the PE at Henley in 2006. Also coxed the England eight to win at the Home Countries Regatta in 2006. I joined First and Third coach of the first men's boat at the start of Lent term this year. Since then, as a full strength crew, we have engineered an unbeaten record and a Lent's Headship.

Above all, rowing should be enjoyable and fulfilling. Winning is undoubtedly more fun than losing and brings with it a greater sense of achievement, but only with suitable effort beforehand in training.

Performance on the water is a combination of the right programme, coaching, materials, commitment and performance "on the day". These criteria must be applied at a level appropriate to the standard of rowing. If we get this level right, then rowing and winning at all levels should be not only achievable but enjoyable too.

Novices, Lower Boats, Recreational Rowers

As this is where the majority of our rowers start out, for novices to enjoy and continue rowing is of great importance to the club. I would work with the club's LBC's to get the right combination of coaching, training and other recreational activities to encourage novices to develop both ability and friends on the water. I feel that increasing the involvement of lower boats and novices in competitive situations can only be a good thing whether they are internal competitions or club races on the Cam.

I would like to draw on the experience of the senior crews to provide consistent coaching for this group. Although lesser in volume and intensity, the training of lower boats need not be any less professional or structured than that of the upper boats. (Although it may well be more light hearted in its execution.)

Upper Boats

The goal for the upper boats would be to win consistently. The training would reflect this goal but would rank quality training over quantity, particularly where fitness can be developed off the water.

In collaboration with Iain I would develop suitable year long training programmes to be more structured than they are at present, with more clearly defined objectives and standards to be met for each point in the year. Races would form a good number of these objectives and I think that getting as much race experience would be beneficial to all senior crews.

I would endeavour to make our training as scientific as possible, making better use of technology to aid our development. The training would include the usual assortment of water, erg and weights/circuit sessions perhaps with the introduction of cross training where helpful. I would also like to introduce more competitive work to the training with first and second boats training and competing together more often. Hopefully, Iain will be willing to continue coaching the women's squad whilst I will head the men's coaches with First and Third alumni also forming a valuable part of the coaching staff.

Coxes

From personal experience, I realise that far too little attention is given to the development of coxes. I would like to resolve this situation in collaboration with the club's coxing captain to ensure that the First and Third programme is one of the most complete on the Cam.

Overall Captain

I feel that First and Third boat club can take a step up from other college boat clubs to be the dominant force on the Cam. This cannot happen, however, without suitable equipment and financial backing from the college and sponsors. In cooperation with the rest of the committee I would assess the possibilities for purchase of new equipment where possible. With the current sponsorship contract nearing its end, the search for a replacement sponsor would be an important duty. It would be desirable if new sponsorship can be secured this year in addition to existing sponsorship. As one of the top clubs on the river it would be appropriate to have some of the best equipment on the river. Hopefully this will serve the dual purpose of attracting rowing talent to Trinity and reinforcing our standing as a force in rowing at college and even university level.

Proposed by: Pedro Cunha
Seconded by: Bryn Garrod