Varsity Attendance Policy

Practice schedules are established by the coaching staff and posted on the website calendar. Any changes to the published practice schedule will be announced by the coach. Rowers/coxswains are required to attend all team practices and regattas. Rowers should be proactive in obtaining a ride to practice. CCR is not responsible for transporting rowers to practice but will facilitate the organization of carpools to get rowers from school to practice. 

Missed practices are missed training opportunities and unlike missed homework assignments that can be turned in for partial credit or procrastinated study time; training time cannot be recouped. The training schedule is optimized for athlete growth. Moving a workout from one week to the next will often overload the athlete for that week; therefore, practice is rarely canceled. Lightning or high winds may keep the team off the water; but unless instructed otherwise, water and land practices will remain as scheduled. Rowing inherently demands a large commitment of time and energy in order to compete. Rowers need to effectively manage their time to balance academic requirements and team commitment. 

We realize that rowing is not the only thing in your child's life. Injuries, illnesses, and some unavoidable circumstances will prevent attendance from time to time; however, we do expect that a good faith effort is made to attend all regularly scheduled practices. As such all rowers will be allotted two (2) free absences per semester for any reason, which do not fall into the excused/unexcused categories below (no-call no-shows are never acceptable outside of emergencies). Do not use these absences lightly as an absence often means that the entire squad is impacted. These two (2) free absences may not be used during spring break. Even excused absences may inherently affect regatta lineups due to lost training time. 

Coaches will assign rowers mandatory OYO (on your own) workouts for any non-illness/injury related absences. Failure to complete the assigned OYO workouts may result in an excused absence becoming unexcused. 

Unexcused Absences:

The coaches must be informed in advance of absences related to family trips, appointments, etc. Any absence that is not properly communicated to the coach will be considered unexcused. Unexcused absences will likely result in the rower being removed from their lineup or even missing a race. If a rower accumulates three (3) or more unexcused absences in a semester, a coach-parent meeting will be called and that rower’s racing privileges will be suspended, until he/she demonstrates the attendance required for team success. 

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Excused Absences:

• Illness. Unless unexpected emergency circumstances exist that don’t allow prior communication, athletes are required to contact their coach before practice if missing a practice due to illness. If an athlete misses three (3) or more consecutive practices due to illness, a doctor's note will be required clearing them to return to practice. 

• Appointments. Requires notice of more than one (1) week. Except for urgent appointments based on unexpected injury/illness, absences due to appointments with less than one (1) week's notice will be considered unexcused.

• ACT/SAT Testing. See ACT/SAT page attached. Requires notice of more than one (1) week. Absences due to testing with less than one (1) week's notice will be considered unexcused. Please do not schedule testing on regatta weekends, as that can impact the entire team.

• Coach’s Discretion. Any other absences require two (2) weeks’ notice and will be excused at the coach’s discretion.  

Spring Break: March 9th – 13th, 2024 

Spring break training is crucial to the success of the team, as it leads up to FSRA North Florida Districts. CCR has traditionally conducted mandatory 2-a-day practices during the week of spring break. High School rowers will be barred from one race for every missed practice during spring break. Vacations/trips will not be considered excused for spring break regardless of notice. 

It is imperative all rowers are picked up at the end of practice, without delay. CCR is not responsible for supervising rowers who arrive on practice grounds more than 15 minutes before practice and/or CCR-sponsored activities are scheduled to begin; or for rowers remaining on practice grounds more than 15 minutes after a practice, race, or other CCR-sponsored activity ends. Parents or guardians should not rely on CCR Coaches or other parents to provide supervision for their child outside of practice and event schedules. Failure to adhere to appropriate pick-up times may lead to added fees required to cover personnel costs and suspension of a rower’s membership status. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your coach/your child’s coach. 

ACT/SAT Testing

ACT/SAT Testing will conflict with weekend practice and some regattas. While testing is an excused absence, some weekends will have less effect on the team than others and we ask that you take this into account when signing up for tests. 

SAT Dates:

August 26:  No major conflicts.

October 7:  Stetson Regatta- TBD

November 4:  Head of The Hooch 

December 2:  Avoid if possible. Practice the weekend before Fall Sprints.

March 9:  No major conflicts (First Saturday of spring break).

May 4:  Avoid if possible. Practice the weekend before SE Regionals 

June 1:  TBD - Practice the weekend before Nationals

ACT Dates:

September 9:  No major conflicts. 

October 28:  No major conflicts.

December 9:  Fall Sprints

February 10:  No major conflicts. 

April 13:  No major conflicts.

June 8:  TBD - Nationals

July 13:  No major conflicts.