This will be the last View From The Launch of 2018. Where has that year gone?

It’s been a big year for WYR. We have done lots of things, hopefully all for the benefit of the youngsters. We have become an official charity with 4 Trustees. You will be aware of myself and of course Ben but we also have Jenny Argent and Annie White beavering away behind the scenes as active Trustees. We have an accountant, Richard Kong and a gang of Ambassadors. Paul and our crew of coaches work hard to keep the rowers motivated and on their toes. I am sure you will join me in thanking them all for their hard work and wishing the team a Happy Christmas and a Great New Year.

Some of the highlights of 2018 have include our indoor competition at Priestley. The excellent regatta at the end of the last school year, which showcased our young rowers talents. WYR being featured at Henley Royal Regatta, with a display of photographs that highlighted the work we are doing.  The school leads getting to grips with coaching and many of them gaining qualifications in rowing and launch driving. Being mentioned in The Times. Showing some of you Henley Royal Regatta, a hard task but we managed it! With out doubt the stars/highlights of the show are of course the athletes.

On a personal note it has been very rewarding to see the effect the project has had on the youngsters. I am not going to claim we had 100% success but I do believe that we have enhanced the lives of many of our pupils. Lets hope we can continue to develop and help more youngsters in 2019.

Over the last 3 weeks we have started to work in the gym as temperatures have dropped below 5c. Some schools have been very unlucky and have been land based more than others. Yet the lucky one’s such as Bridgewater have managed to get on the water every week. We are starting to get an idea of the capabilities of our young rowers in the gym. They are all working hard and one or two are starting to emerge as medal candidates at NJIRC (National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships). The relay races at our own event in January are going to be very interesting and will be very close. It will probably come down to the rower changeovers; they need to be Formula One standard!

Ben and I are starting to get logistics sorted for our event on Wednesday 30^th January. He has mailed out some information and will be sending more out by the end of the weekend. Part of this is an estimation of numbers that you think will be able to participate in January. This is vital information for us and can I ask for reply’s by the end of Wednesday next week. We do want to keep the event primarily for Pupil Premium but we are happy to accept entries from other sectors to make up the teams. There will be other schools taking part but the Warrington Youth Rowing team for NJIRC will only be selected from pupils that regularly take part in our project.

That’s it for now, may I finish by wishing you all a good break, a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Cheers Richard

School of Week 10 Culcheth, great session, Week 11 STB solid gym work,

Week12 Beamont strong numbers

This two-week block has been notable for the continued emergence of the wonderful Warrington Youth Rowing kit. I know some schools are still getting orders together but I would think that by next term all our rowers should be sorted with their new kit. Some of the session coaches have also purchased the kit, we will stand out in a crowd!

It was very nice to see that Mike Cooper of Warrington Wolves and Bubble Clothing took time out to come and visit one of our sessions. He popped in last week and spent time with the rowers from UAW. Mike jumped at the chance to jump in a launch with me and see what this rowing lark is all about. He was genuinely impressed and I hope he will pop down again to catch up with some other schools. One of our ambassadors Lucy Glover also visited last week, she was on her way home from GB Trials. Once again she performed well at trials and it is a credit to her that she can take time out of her very busy schedule to visit us. She did a question and answer session with the pupils from Penketh, I wonder if they will remember in a few years that they were talking to a Rowing World Champion?

This time last week I was meeting with Ben Dunne and Matt Rostron. Matt is the CEO of London Youth Rowing, a much bigger organisation than WYR. We work very closely with them and they are really like our big brother.  We have similar aims and goals but we go about our business in slightly different ways, both of us with our own personality and strengths. Matt was in Warrington to be our guest of honour at the Annual Warrington Youth Rowing Dinner. He delivered a very gutsy and emotional talk about the work of LYR and his observations of WYR. This was a fabulous evening and a great success. We raised enough money to cornerstone our trip down to London to take some of our year 8 athletes to The National Junior Champs at The Copper Box. It would be nice to get some of you to this function next year? !

Before we go to London though there is the small matter of our own Indoor Event to be held at The Haliwell Jones Stadium on Wednesday 30^th January. We are still working on the final details and we hope to give you more information very soon. We will be inviting schools from outside of Warrington to try and make it a true North West Event. As I mentioned above we would like to take our best Year 8s to London and this event will be the selection event for that trip. The pupils selected for the London Trip will only be selected from the 8 schools in our project. As well as rowing races there will be other things for the youngsters to do. We have positive interest from Birchwood College, Priestley College, Warrington/Vale Royal College, Warrington Youth Club, Warrington Wolves Foundation. The Army, Navy and RAF. There are more but you get the idea!

Another thing that came out of our meeting with Matt Rostron was the importance of feedback from the schools. As we move forward we are going to have to start pitching for funding to carry on with this great project. We need information and details of improvements that you may have noticed in the pupils. We have had some feedback, especially from UAW and that has been very valuable. This is more Ben’s area than mine and I am sure he will be chasing you!

I have been watching our school leads closely this term and it is truly wonderful to see them getting to grips with the coaching. There are three PE Teachers, all non rowers but it is obvious that they can describe movement and how to apply it, hate to admit it but I have learnt a bit from them as well! There are three/four Pastoral Leads and again it’s obvious that they are comfortable with the pupils and they have been working well with them. Then there is Birchwood, a bit different but hell that works as well!

As we are approaching the cold season I would just like to clarify my decision making process regarding rowing outside or a gym sessions. I use The Met Office App with Howley set as the location. If the forecast temperature is below 5 or indeed the wind chill is below 5, we will be in the gym. We will also adhere to any other weather warnings on the app.

We are rapidly approaching December and I know that the last two weeks of term can be cocktail of different activities. If you know that you re going to have to miss a session please give us plenty of notice. Thanks in advance.

Schools of The Week

Week 8 Bridgwater mainly for the girls getting further than any other crew.

Week 9 Cardinal Newman Strong session in the gym

Cheers

Richard

PS still plenty of room for a Heads visit!

Half term is now a distant memory and the long slog towards Christmas is well under way. Eight weeks for most schools does feel like a long time, even for an old campaigner like me, I used to get 20 days holiday a year!

This season started well on the 29^th October with a beautiful bright crisp morning. The team from Sir Thomas Boteler quickly got into the swing of things and made the most of the weather, progressing further up the river than any other group to that date. The gang from Bridgewater were next and then the older rowers followed them from UAW. It really was a delightful day, it re-enforced what a beautiful river/playground we have.  The rest of the week went according to plan and all the groups are progressing well. We started to introduce the sliding seat to the youngsters and they are getting to grips with this concept, some quicker than others.

This week we were back to full strength as Beamont returned after their 2 week half term. Sadly their session had to be in the gym due to poor weather conditions. For the groups that got on the river we focused on trying to get the rowers to work together, this might seem an obvious thing but it is a huge step to take and one that takes a while to really grind in. For those of you that are non-rowers imagine going into a gym and getting on the gymnastics beam, can you even walk along it? Now imagine doing 30 squat thrusts on the beam, hard work let alone keeping your balance. Lets ramp up the pressure, now do your 30 squat thrusts on the beam with 3 other people, all of you doing exactly the same thing at the same time. That is an idea of the skills we are trying to impart to our young rowers.

All of our schools this year are progressing well and I am convinced that our move to year 8 has been a good thing. Attention, enthusiasm and behaviour is definitely of a higher standard. One or two of the athletes are starting to be invited to join the rowing club. More will be invited as the group develops and improves technically.

As I have said in previous reports I am delighted with the input that we are getting from the school leads. All schools now have strong capable leadership and the competitive side of them is starting to show! Paul and myself are purposely letting the leads do as much as possible in terms of coaching and launch driving. We are never far away and step in as and when needed. This all helps with the long term sustainability of the project.

The new “Bubble” kit is starting to make an appearance and it looks fantastic. As I understand it all our schools are going for this package, although some of you are still sorting out the details and paperwork. A big thanks is due to Mike and Sam of Bubble for making this happen. Hopefully you have seen the last of our moans about poor kit and hoodies!

Whilst on the subject of new kit we took the delivery of some new oars this week. For various technical reasons we need to use slightly shorter oars and The Henley Stewards have, once again stepped in to help out. Their support for our project is invaluable and we can’t thank them enough.

School Heads, we are still waiting to entertain you! Come along and get a feel for the tremendous things your students are doing. Can I also please remind you that we need more evidence from you as to the value of our project. This is very important, this is how we will be measured/quantified in the coming years.

Wellies will be needed soon!

Schools of the week

Week 6 Birchwood – Good technical work

Week 7 Beamont – Strong start in the gym

Cheers

Richard

Half term is upon us and our students are now well and truly into the swing of things. All 8 schools are up and rowing or should I be politically correct and say sculling. The list below is the status of our school leads in terms of rowing experience.

Sir Thomas Boteler   Kerry        RYA Powerboat       BR Session Coach

Bridgewater                Mark          RYA Powerboat       BR Session Coach

U A W                             Matt            RYA Powerboat

Natalie        RYA Powerboat

Penketh                        Ryan           RYA Powerboat

Culcheth                       Rachael                                          BR Session Coach

Active member of Agecroft

Birchwood                  Ralph        RYA Powerboat       BR Session Coach

Paula         RYA Powerboat       BR Session Coach

Just joined Warrington Rowing Cub

Beamont                      Rachel      RYA Powerboat       BR Session Coach

Cardinal Newman    Scott         RYA Powerboat       BR Session Coach

There are a number of gaps but the individuals are keen to get the qualifications as soon as possible. My personal view is that this show of dedication to the cause is fantastic and will enable us to move forward and add sustainability to the project. WYR would like to thank all the schools for your help, with this part of the project.

Head Teachers? It’s your turn now to pop along and see what we are up to. Misia at UAW and Andy at Beamont have been along for a trip in our coaching launches, watching their students. You are all most welcome and it is a great way to get a flavour of our scheme. You can also experience the beauty of The River Mersey, one of Warrington’s best kept secrets.

Over the last two weeks we have been putting our young rowers through a swimming test and capsize drill. All 8 schools have now had a session in the pool at Broomfields. We put the pupils through a controlled capsize drill and for some of them it was a very stressful experience but they all survived! We also did a swimming test and I was very saddened to see that there was only one possibly two pupils that were good swimmers. The rest were poor at best or non-swimmers. Frighteningly lots of them said they could swim and they blatantly couldn’t. In view of this we will be permanently using Buoyancy Aids for all pupils.

On the water we are starting to get going and we are slowly developing the rowing stroke. There are a number of youngsters that are catching the eye and I will be extending invites for them to try out for Warrington Rowing Club.

Hopefully we will be on the water more this winter, we lost December to February last winter due to the cold conditions. This did mean that we could work a lot in the gym but we would much prefer to be out on the water. This will hopefully improve the student’s technique in the boat and on the indoor ergometer.

Don’t forget the Indoor Rowing Competition on Wednesday 30th January 2019 the best of the rowers will be invited to represent Warrington Youth Rowing at The National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships. This event is on Friday 15^th March at The Copper Box in London, train tickets are already booked!

We are looking forward to seeing everybody in the new rowing kit. I think all the schools have gone for the package. As it gets wetter we are probably going to need wellies as well. There are usually plenty of them at WRC for the rowers to borrow.

Invoices went out last week and with my Warrington Rowing club hat on could I ask that you expedite them as efficiently as possible.

Lastly a quick reminder about our fund raising event. Friday 16 November at Mere Court. The profit goes directly to paying for the London trip. If you are interested please contact me.

Have a good break and see you all soon.

Cheers

Richard

Well the new year is now under way and this is our review of the first couple of weeks. Sadly this report will no longer be weekly as the responsibility now falls on my shoulders and shall we say I am not a natural at report writing. I will endeavour to put together a missive a couple of times per half term.

The Launch Evening on Thursday 20th was a great success and we were delighted with the turn out. It is great to see the youngsters and their families coming along and getting a flavour of what is instal for them over the coming year. Mike Cooper was very impressed and enjoyed meeting our new young rowers. A special mention must go to UAW for their turn out, full numbers and all in uniform, a great start.

Mike Cooper of Bubble Clothing has now produced his kit package and you should all have details of the bundle. It looks great value and will help greatly with the appearance and suitability of their clothing. If by chance you have not seen this offer please let me know.

Nearly all schools have now started and by next week we will be under way with all our new athletes. The first session that we delivered to the novice rowers was an introduction to the sport and a safety briefing that was hidden within a boathouse quiz. Some of the schools also spent time in the gym, getting a flavour of the basics.

The second session for the schools involved an introduction to the boats and tentative first steps to becoming rowers. We might have called this a taster session but sadly Sir Thomas Boteler boys literally got to taste the river. They capsized due to a combination of factors that included trying them in racing boats from day one. This is a practice that is used a lot, by many rowing clubs, even so we will be reverting to the wider more stable boats for the next sessions. I do hope this incident did not put any of the youngsters off.

The boat that was involved in this incident is going to have to be replaced as it suffered high levels of damage during the capsize. There is absolutely no blame for this on the people involved, it is simply a matter of fact. It was an old boat, perfectly safe but it does though illustrate the costs of this sport as the new boat will cost £13k.

The move to year 8 looks like a good move and I do hope we can hold onto them for a couple of years, there are certainly some characters emerging already. Warrington Rowing Club have asked me to try and recruit some of these new rowers into the junior ranks of the club. I will be watching and extending invites over the next few months.

It has been a great pleasure to see some of last years athletes return as year 10’s.

A reminder that its Capsize Drill for the next two Mondays. Please be on time and the times listed below are poolside times.

Most schools should by now (or by 5pm today) have qualified launch drivers. Can I thank the schools for arranging time and cover to ensure that your staff get this vital qualification. Most schools should also have a qualified coach and the combination of these two factors will make a huge difference in time, allowing us to expand our numbers.

Can I remind you of a couple of things?

We need as many testimonials as possible!

Fundraising dinner on 16 November to pay for our trip to London for The National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships. We have just purchased the train tickets at £750!

The WhatsApp Group for leads is working well, please let me know if anybody needs adding.

Schools of The Week

Week One – UAW – Great turn out at Presentation Evening

Week Two – Penketh – Good turn out and strong numbers.

Week Three – Sir Thomas Boteler – Especially the boys for reacting well and doing the right think during the capsize!

Kind regards

Richard

View From The Launch

September 2018

A new year beckons and lots of new opportunities present themselves. Lets hope we can build on the huge success of the last two years.

First thing to mention is that Phil Lyons has moved on and he will be greatly missed. His input has been tremendous and without him we certainly wouldn’t be where we are now. We wish him all the best for his next venture, whatever that might be.

We will though be keeping in contact as he has agreed to be an ambassador for Warrington Youth Rowing. Joining him as an ambassador will be Warrington Rowing Club’s Lucy Glover. For those of you that don’t know Lucy was the first member of WRC to be crowned a World Champion whilst still a member of WRC. Although she is now a student at Edinburgh she is still active at WRC and has been known to help out with our sessions!

Replacing Phil will be Paul Johansen. Paul is just about to embark on a Masters Course at LJMU in a sport related subject. Paul has a varied rowing CV and he is well qualified to fill the gap left by Phil.

Thinking back to last year we would be interested to hear from you if you think we can improve in any way. It might also be interesting to hear about the things that you think we do well?

A couple of schools sent us information about the impact of the project on your pupils. This is very important information for us and can I urge you to please help gather as much information as possible. We still have confirmed funding for the next two academic years but after that we need this type of information to support funding bids to extend the life of this project.

In a bid to extend and increase the size of the project we invited the school leads to enrol on a coaching course. I was amazed and humbled that 7 of our leads from 6 schools gave up their valuable holiday time in August to become rowing coaches. I think its fair to say that they all enjoyed it! The next stage of this process is to get these leads qualified to drive the safety launches at WRC. With this in mind I have circulated dates that are available for these 2day courses. WYR will organise the funding for them.

Can I ask please for confirmation of Key School dates, as I know that at least one school has two weeks in October as opposed to one week for the others? Easter last year was a mess for us with different holiday schedules, which lead to a lot of confusion at our end.

Kit. Can we please get on top of this as early as possible, last year we spent a lot of time talking to the students about inappropriate clothing. Can I suggest if the kit is not right they don’t leave school?  If the schools are buying kit please remember no hoodies.

Dates

Thursday 20 September. Launch event 6pm-7pm Priestley College.

Monday 24 September. All schools invited to start this week.

Monday 8 October.  Capsize Drill Broomfields/Bridgewater Pool 1-3pm

4 schools to have a ½ hour slot each.

Monday 15 October. Capsize Drill Broomfields/Bridgewater Pool 1-3pm

4 schools to have a ½ hour slot each.

Please can the schools bid for the week and time slot that they would prefer to do this very important drill. So far I have Birchwood for w/c 15.

Please also note that if you choose w/c 8 Oct for the capsize drill this will be your only rowing session for the week. Like wise for the following week.

Wed 30 Jan 2019 Indoor Rowing Competition at Warrington Wolves Stadium.

We need to collect (day before) and return (day after) 30 rowing machines from Nottingham for this event. If any schools can help with this we would be very grateful.

Fri 15 March. National Junior Indoor Rowing Competition. Copper Box London.

Athletes to be selected for this competition from our event on 30/01/2019

Tuesday 2 July WYR Regatta at Warrington Rowing Club

We have moved this forward to try and avoid clashes with school trips and other events. The pupils work hard throughout the year and it is a shame if they can’t showcase their talents and so we have moved to this day. It will be the only rowing session that week.

Friday 16 November – Fund Raising Event. Mere Court Hotel.

I have run this event for many years, I used to be a Wine Merchant and this was one of the events that I ran to promote business. As from last year it has become a fund raiser for WYR and indeed it funded the London trip to NJIRC. The plan is to do the same this year. It is a great event, somewhat different to your average fundraiser. All the fundraising is done within 10 minutes via a game of Heads and Tails. This year our guest of honour is Matt Rostron CEO of London Youth Rowing and he will speak about his experiences with LYR. It is a very social event with plenty of time to relax and enjoy good company. There is a four course meal and five glasses of wine (about a bottle per person). Each wine, chosen by me, will compliment the menu and I will even talk about that at the dinner.

Prices – Meal and Wine only £50 per person (book direct with me 07970796917)

For those wishing to stay. £155 per couple inc meal, wine, room and breakfast . (book direct with hotel 01565 831000)

It is a good fun evening and probably the best value event of this type by miles!

Cheers Richard 07970 796917