This year was all about goals
Based off of the vision/goals/expectations that our team set last fall, this year was a success. The team’s values of respect, trust, and working hard with a growth mindset (to name only a few) set the tone for the year. The byproduct of that effort spilled over into race performances. Not only did we get progressively faster at each race (each practice!), but we worked better as a team through the year. This showed in everything we did; from setting up for practice, to striving for the best strokes possible, to getting extra meters on the erg, to loading and unloading the trailer. Being good teammates and responsible and accountable young people day in and day out at our boathouse gave us the race results before we even got to the course.
Events
Meadow Lake Challenge was (very cold but) a success! We’re planning on hosting it earlier in the fall this year. You can see photos from the day here and here.
The Fall Brawl — Our inter-boathouse mixer/relay race/scavenger hunt between middle school, novice and varsity was a ton of fun! For many of our new athletes, this was the first chance to interact with everyone from the different boathouses.
Strong Island Sprints was the first racing event where the middle school, novice, and varsity teams were all represented.
Saratoga Invitational — This was our first year attending this competitive, fun, and wet regatta. It was also our chance to race on the State Championship course two weeks before one of our biggest races of the year.
New York State Championships — Here, we showcased the product of the hard work we did all year. For the first time ever, all 6 Queens boats qualified for a final! Our Junior 8+ raced and won 5th overall, 2nd in clubs.
Northeast Regionals — We brought our Junior 8+ to race in the faster Varsity 8+ category, and our Novice 4+ to race against some of the fastest crews in the region. Both boats raced the best strokes of the entire year and returned to Queens with the experience and motivation to be bigger and better next year.
Middle School Manhasset Mixer — Our middle school team had the opportunity to scrimmage with Row New York Manhattan’s middle school team and Manhasset’s middle school team in Port Washington, NY. They got to experience rowing with new people, with new equipment, and at a new venue. The experience was a great introduction to the many more opportunities coming their way!
End-of-year BBQ — We said goodbye to our three awesome seniors who are all graduating and going to college! We welcomed 20 novices to the varsity team with their official varsity sweatshirts!
This summer we are going to Overpeck Summer Sprints Regatta and we are having a scrimmage at the Brooklyn site on August 4th before taking a little break. We’ll pick back up at the end of August to have another team meeting and set our goals for next year!
