“I was filled with such sadness but also admiration when I saw a post last week from my daughter Amanda’s crew coach about cancelling their trip to the San Diego Classic. His team alongside many other high school crew teams trained for this regatta all winter. He offered a message of optimism and hope while also offering ergs (rowing machines) to those who did not have one at home. Gordon is now doing Zoom Online workouts from his home alongside his team.. I hate to think this might be our new normal for a while but praise Gordon for keeping the team focused while encouraging them to stay healthy and fit.”
Kim Hall
 
sportsYou.com Post March 11. 2020 

A Coach’s Perspective

 BY GORDON GETSINGER

It is with deep sadness, frustration, and dismay, that I announce the cancellation of our trip to the San Diego Crew Classic. The health and safety of everyone cannot not be guaranteed to the extent that we would like on our travels. Health officials are telling teams to limit their travel to mitigate the chances of getting and spreading the virus. We have to make this decision because it is in the best interest of our athletes, parents, and coaches.

I remain resolute in my optimism about the rest of our season beyond San Diego Crew Classic. We always look at the Crew Classic as great race to test our early season speed against the mid season speed of the warmer climate teams. Unfortunately this season we will not get that opportunity. It’s time to look beyond April 1st. With so many variables out of our control there are a few things that we can control:

1. If your feeling healthy, stay in shape by following your coaches workout plan. The coaches will put out a workout each day on SportsYou. If you haven’t already, borrow an Erg or Erg bike from the boathouse. Just let us know which one you are taking. I personally am going to put video content out everyday of my workout so that you can follow along if you would like on sportsYou. Staying in shape with working out will only help your immune system stay strong.

2. Make sure you are eating healthy and staying hydrated. Working out hard and letting yourself get dehydrated or undernourished will  have negative effects on your recovery and immune system. If the average person is supposed to be drinking 46 Oz of water a day, you need to be drinking more than that. Think about how much you sweat during a workout.

3. Shutdown the laptop, tablet, phones and other devices 30 minutes before you head to bed, and allow yourself to fall asleep with meditative breathing. Try to get 8 hours of sleep.

4. Keep your hands and all the surfaces in your house clean.

As I said earlier I am holding out hope and optimism for our season that we have all been working so hard for. You owe it to yourself and your team to not let this moment in time knock you off your path.

Eye on the prize and keep moving forward Saugatuck!

Gordon Getsinger
Director of Rowing and Junior Head Girls Head Coach at Saugatuck Rowing and Fitness Club, Westport CT

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