Club Committee

2009-2010 Manifestos

Manifesto for Women’s Captain

I am a second year mathematician who noviced with First and Third in 2007. Since then I have rowed in the first boat and enjoyed being a WLBC this past year.

Since joining the club I have noticed that the women's club has suffered a very high turnover rate of rowers and crews have changed a lot each term. There is a squad of very enthusiastic rowers, but of varied abilities and commitments, who have recovered well from the strains on inter-club relations in this past Michaelmas term. With those issues now resolved, we have Iain as a reliable head coach. The women's boat club has also benefited from working more with the men's boat club by sharing coaches or using the more experienced rowers on the men's side to assist with coaching.

I want to see the Women's boat club go from strength to strength with a squad of rowers who work hard during training but enjoy themselves. To achieve this, my aims for each of the terms are:

Michaelmas:

Assist the WLBCs recruit novices and ensure that the senior women train to row successfully in University IVs and Fairbairns.

Lent:

To produce a strong 1st VIII to challenge Emmanuel for the headship and a 2nd VIII that can continue its progress into the second division.

May:

To have at least 3 women's crew capable of showing everyone else just how good First and Third really is by bumping up and consolidating their positions in their respective bumps divisions.

To help achieve this, I hope to include as many women as want to be included in rowing and to put them in a crew that suits both their availability and standard. I have learnt from this year that mixing those that are keen to train seriously with those who don't want to compete at the highest level doesn't always work and it is important the coach understands the aims of the rowers and why they want to row. I hope to continue the system of coaching used this year with Iain as head coach for W1 and Jenny for W2. Guest coaches will also assist the development of the rowers as they pick up on different points. At the beginning of each term, we will be using a squad system so the coaches can see how well people are rowing and I will use their feedback to help make crew selection a couple of weeks into term.

Michaelmas:

The beginning of term we will focus on rowing in IVs which will help improve people's technique and be good training for Uni IVs. We will then look to put together two strong VIIIs for Fairbairns. I will also ensure people who want to race in the IVs division can do so. The land training program will focus on longer ergs and circuits to help build fitness.

Lent:

A pre-term training camp should encourage the ex-novices to integrate with the senior women and allow for them to compete for 1st boat places on as equal basis. I hope the success of the men's training camp this year would encourage more women to attend a training camp off Cam but obviously I can only do this if enough rowers are willing. I would like as many people as possible to be competing for first VIII places as the competition should motivate the training even more and also give us a strong 2nd VIII. A strong crew should also find it rewarding to test themselves over the longer distance and the wider range of crews at off Cam races such as WeHoRR. To get the best results possible we will need to train hard, however, I will try to fit training around people's other commitments and land training will be as flexible as possible.

May:

Again a pre-term training camp will help people get back into rowing after the Easter break. I will aim to make rowing an appealing break from revision with training being time-efficient and productive. If people want to, I will also enter the women into some off Cam regattas.

I think I would make a good women's captain because I am organised, I already know the senior rowers who are staying around next year, and having been a WLBC this year I have already had experience of planning training for some of the women's boat club. I also have useful experience from cadets where I have often had to organise and motivate cadets in a wide range of activities. But more importantly I am committed to rowing and keen to help the women of First and Third perform to the best of their abilities.

Proposed by: Elizabeth Hill
Seconded by: Julijana Gjorgjieva