Question: Will all novices row in every regatta?

We try to row everyone in every regatta. We have been successful in the last 29 of 30 regattas in doing this....pretty good record, but cannot guarantee it since there are 9 kids per boat and sometimes we have 10 kids for 9 positions.

Question: How long is someone a novice?

 The novice category are for those individuals who have rowed for less than 1 year.  This rule is applied in the following manner:  For one year following the rower's first race, h/she is  allowed to row in the novice category. After that year is up, the rower cannot row "novice".   There is nothing in the rulebook regarding "2 seasons".  That is, you cannot row in the first spring season, skip the fall season, and then row in the next spring season as a novice once again.  That would break the one year rule.  Any misunderstandings regarding "2 seasons" has its root in the fact that most rowers start in the fall and row again in the spring.  That's 2 seasons and so most kids accept that they can row novice for 2 seasons.  In this case, the rulebook would actually view this as 1 year, not two seasons.

There is a reason that we coaches encourage kids to row both fall and spring.  If a rower only rows during spring season, he/she will have only one season as a novice and then be placed in a JV boat.  His/her compatriots are more skilled in the JV boat since they had two full seasons as novice rowers.

Question: Can a novice row JV or Varsity if they are really good?

As a novice, one can row in a novice, JV or Varsity boat. As a non-novice (ie, > 1yr after your first competition), you cannot move down to novice category. In short, you can move up to varsity, but you cannot move down to novice.

Question: Will my son or daughter always row in the same boat?

"Setting a boat" is setting the lineup of kids in each boat. We set the boats early in the season where we assign rowers to not only a boat, but also to a seat in that boat. They row that seat for the remainder of the season except for an occasional adjustment. In short, expect that they will race in the same boat throughout the season.

Question:  Can a novice be placed in a JV boat in their first season?

Some novices are talented and may even have the ability to row in a JV boat, but are not placed into a JV boat. The reasons can be multiple but the underlying fact is that the JV boats become the stepchildren of the team. Here's what I mean: rowers who are novices, can row novice; rowers who row varsity are selected after careful consideration and are on varsity for the rest of the season. Rowers in the JV boat who did not get assigned to the varsity boat also cannot row novice. If we displace a JV rower by placing a novice rower (who may be better than the JV rower) in their position effectively means kicking the JV rower off the team-- they cannot move down to novice and they cannot move up to varsity. We know that some JV rowers are excellent rowers and most certainly will be on the varsity next year; others do not have the ability to row varsity and have dim prospects of ever making the varsity boat. Some novices may even surpass them. So why do we not kick them off the team and replace them with a better novice? It's frankly not in our nature.

In short, we try to create the fastest varsity boats possible. That's what competition is about. But there is another aspect too, and that is that the rowing experience is as meaningful to a not-so-talented rower as it is to the best varsity rower, and we try to provide that too. So we don't make cuts to the team.

Hope this helps..................matt