FAQ (Frequent Questions And Answers)
What is Crew?
Crew is a rowing sport where one, two, four, or eight people propel themselves with oars in long skinny boats down a buoyed course trying to beat their competition. It is one of the oldest sports in America. Long before there was football, baseball or basketball, crew was alive and well established in colleges and universities, particularly in the northeast. The sport requires extensive physical training on both the land and water. It is, perhaps, the ultimate team sport. There are no stars: no quarterback; no shooting guard; no clutch hitter; only teammates working together to row the boat as fast as possible.
What is CCR?
CCR (Capital City Rowing) is a youth rowing club made up of middle and high school students from Leon public and private schools. A Board of Directors, primarily parents, oversees CCR; however, anyone interested could be a Board member. The Board is responsible for setting policies governing CCR activities and for hiring coaches. The coaches work and collaborate on practice design and execution but have individual responsibilities to groups of rowers to provide continuity for both land and water training.
Where does CCR practice?
Land practices occur at Forest Meadows Athletic Complex on North Meridian Road. Land practice consists of weight and cardiovascular training. Most of the cardio work is done on stationary rowing machines. Water practice occurs at Lake Hall inside Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park just north of I-10, off Thomasville Road, and at Lake Talquin, Williams Landing Road Park on Williams Landing Road off Highway 20.
When does CCR practice?
CCR practices five to six days a week after school. The goal is to balance land and water training so that participants are “fit” to row (land training) and skilled at handling the boats (water training).
How do rowers get to practice?
In virtually all cases, students carpool from school to practice. CCR will assist you in identifying upper classmen that have space available in their cars to accommodate rowers not yet licensed to drive. In some cases, parents will have to arrange to pick their child up after practice from either Forest Meadows or Lake Hall.
What is the schedule of events and how does the team travel?
The CCR website contains links to the current schedule and the orientation packet contains information about regattas. In summary, CCR travels on chartered buses to regatta sites and stays in local motels (parents are chaperones).
Why does crew cost so much?
Leon County Schools does not fund the sport of rowing, unlike many other sports. Capital City Rowing members must pay for all of the expenses involved for the team as a whole and for each individual rower. Due to the nature of the sport, the majority of funds collected are used to provide the team with a competent coaching staff, safe and effective equipment, and adequate travel accommodations when competing at regattas throughout the region. A small portion of the fees is used for insurance, park fees, publicity, etc.
The commitment of time and energy that is required of our coaching staff is tremendous. Coaches conduct water and land practice, Monday through Friday, and attend the regattas, which usually consume his or her Friday evening and all day Saturday. Capital City Rowing recognizes that coaches are key in providing an atmosphere that is safe and conducive to the development of the competitive rowers.
Equipment, including boats, oars, cox boxes, launches, the boat-pulling trailer, etc. is kept in good working order to insure integrity of performance and safety for the rowers. While rowing is not considered a dangerous sport, rowers do compete in many conditions that could be hazardous if equipment were not in good working order. In addition, purchasing equipment is quite expensive.
The highest percent of expenses is for attending regattas. These events are the highlights of Crew. Transportation is provided in the form of a 55-passenger bus. Hotel accommodations are modest but secure and adequate. Saturday breakfast and lunch are provided to the rowers at no additional cost.