Winter Training a Huge Success at Haddon Township

Although the Haddon Township Crew Club may not step into liquid for another week or two, due to the impending winter weather, the Haddon Hammer marks the end of winter racing and testing and the beginning of the happiest of days, on-water-training and racing. This year's winter training season has been an incredible experience. Our five captains have made it a priority to provide great leadership and have more input on the daily runnings of the team. With that in mind we (the coaches) have given them the freedom to do some new and interesting things this year with the "Captain's practice". A concept we initiated late in the fall, the "Captain's practices" give the rowers an opportunity to decide what workout they will do that day, within a framework of time/intensity which I have provided. As always, the HT kids thought way outside of the box and Senior Caley O'Brien came up with the idea of having a practice on the trails of the Wisahickon. Despite being one of the coldest days of the year, the gang, trooped out as a team to trapse through gorgous, Valley Green park.

It was a memorable experience for the team and I was delighted to rekindle my love of hill running in the woods (I'm not sure the kids were as enthused) and I was so proud of Caley and the kids for coming up with such a great idea that exposed them to such a different athletic experience.

In early February, the team again traveled to Villanova University to compete in the Main Line Slide, the first year we have competed at this event as a team. It was another opportunity for our athletes to attempt to balance a stressful race environment and an eagerness to perform well. I was truly excited to see how close the team has become and how well they handled the situation. Junior captains Emily Gartland and Tori King performed exceptionally well placing in the top 15 (10 and 11th) out of 62 athletes and decreasing their own personal record by substantial margins. Sophomore Amanda Fry also performed well placing 20th. Senior Captain Quinn Fitzpatrick also cracked the top ten finishing 9th of 27 with a gutsy performance that also marks his new personal record.

Additionally, the kids have taken the lead in coming up with names for the new boats and this years winners are the "Aggression" and the "Audacity" chosen from a bin of exceptional characteristics that they feel they've learned from their experiences with the HT Crew Team, sticking with a tradition that was started at our inception in 2003.

With a new boat on the way and one more hurdle to clear this weekend, we are excited about the prospects of Spring racing and all of the kids are bursting with anticipation to get back in the boats.

As an athlete one of the hardest things you are charged with is coming in every day and putting your lego on the house with a smile on your face. I am so proud that we have done that every single day this winter and I know it will bring us continued success this spring.