At the request of The Orange Oar and suathletics.com junior cox Liz
Abraham and sophomore oarsman Stephen Hoskins kept a journal of the men’s team’s
spring training trip. With thanks to them, here it is.
Syracuse Men’s Crew: Spring Training 3/9/13- 3/11/13
Our
Saturday began Friday evening at 11:00pm when we boarded the bus bound for
Clemson, South Carolina. Shortly after
we made our way down I-81 people began to find some floor space and spread out
in an attempt to find the most comfortable position to catch some sleep. As the sun rose, so did many sleepy
heads. We continued to make our way, and
roughly 15 hours later we arrived in Clemson.
Once we all got settled into our rooms we made our way down to the racecourse;
for some it was new sight, others a familiar landscape. We rigged the boats and hit the water for the
first time in months. This trip marks
the end of winter training, but the beginning of the spring campaign as we gear
up for the spring racing season. Many
people are excited to see how their hard work will pay off on the water. We have spent the past eight weeks training
indoors on the ergs and hitting the weights, and have seen big gains in the
process. As the day winds down guys are
taking advantage of getting to bed early because we all know it will be a long
week full of seat racing and “putting in the miles.”
Daylight
Savings marked our first full day in Clemson. While the changing of the clocks
provided a seemingly earlier wake-up call than we had anticipated, we were
eager to take advantage of the warm weather here in South Carolina, as it is a
luxury not always afforded in Syracuse. Daylight Savings also makes our
impending spring racing season a reality and with our Women’s team kicking off
their racing season at the end of the week, our schedule is not far behind. Two
practices today were focused on long technical rows in the eights, getting
ourselves reacquainted with the water. Our time spent indoors this winter in
the tank and on group sliders was instrumental in maintaining our technique,
but there is no substitute for time on the water. A little sunshine and some
fresh air were quick to jog our memories and the feel for the water came back
easily. The welcomed hiatus from daily classes is an ideal environment for
refining our skills and we are looking forward to some friendly competition and
long miles to come this week.
Our third
day back on the water included building rhythm and moving together at lower
rates. Each practice seems to build on
the last as we continue to dust off the cobwebs from winter training. The afternoon welcomed us with some rain, but
that didn’t stop our crews from going out in getting some miles in in the 4’s
and 8’s.
Syracuse Men’s
Crew: Spring Training 3/12/13
Clear skies
were whole heartedly welcomed after getting caught in some rain the evening
prior. This morning we boated in a fleet of four eights and headed out for
clear water to put in some long meters of hard pulling, time-trial style. Even
though we have had several practices in Clemson under our belt, we were eager
to measure our speed against each other with some competitive pieces.
Our
afternoon practice was spent in the “four with’s,” focusing on technical
changes to enhance stability and rhythm. We have settled into our routines by
now and our time in between practices is spent leisurely. Some unwind with
teammates playing video games, others catch some daytime television and a quick
nap, and a few take this opportunity to work on school assignments. Directly
after our evening practices, we depart for the Clemson dining hall and enjoy a
variety of food, some traditional southern cooking, and sweet tea.
Syracuse Men’s
Crew: Spring Training 3/13/2013
Wednesday
greeted us with weather that we’re more accustomed to; cool, damp and
windy. Some seat racing was done within
a couple of the boats, but a late morning row for the top 2 varsity boats was
disrupted by increasing winds which made seat racing hard to accomplish. After some morning rowing, and a wonderfully
prepared breakfast by the hotel staff, we we’re given the afternoon to rest up
and prepare for an intense end of the week.
Many of us got to enjoy the afternoon exploring the nearby area and
spending some time on Clemson’s campus.
We got to experience a Clemson baseball game as well as some of the
locals supporting their team who were, “loud” and “proud” to be Clemson
fans. We got stopped a couple of times
by people asking us about our move to the ACC and how next year we will be
rivals. After spending the afternoon
resting our bodies, we fueled up at a local, backwoods BBQ restaurant called
‘Smoke and Blue BBQ’. As much as we love
our Dinosaur BBQ, true southern BBQ hit the spot as we left with full stomachs. As the day winds down, and our stomachs
digest we are all going to bed to get ready for the next 3 days of rowing and
taking advantage of the nice weather that is expected the next few days.
Syracuse Men’s
Crew: Spring Training 3/14/2013
The week of
training here in South Carolina is quickly coming to a close, but not before we
face some true tests of speed in the four with’s. Boating the team into several
four-man boats is always interesting because the small size of the boat allows
each rower to showcase their talents and it helps to pinpoint necessary changes
among individuals. The conditions this morning were ideal and we took advantage
of the flat conditions and warm temperatures to accurately measure our speed.
The practice plan proved itself rigorous yet rewarding. We switched rowers
among the boats between pieces to trial different line-ups. Opportunities to
race side-by-side provide valuable information that cannot always be reproduced
inside on the ergs.
After our
intense practice this morning, we shifted gears for the afternoon. We boated
again in the four with’s and set out on a long steady state row to reinforce a
technical focus. Spring break is flying by and we have made significant
progress since the beginning of the week. We are eager to finish out the week
with race pieces and start sorting out our line-ups for this spring.
To the average person today was just another Friday, but for the Syracuse Orange men’s crew team it was the second to last day of spring training in Clemson. The hard work continued as we continue to figure out seat positions for the spring. Two of the crews went out in fours and did some seat racing while one of the crews did some piecework with Purdue and the other completed the morning row off with Coach Hemmerly. As the sun beat down, faces began to get red as some people seemed to have forgotten their sunscreen. Today ended up being the warmest day since we had been here, but in the afternoon the wind picked up as we all went out for a steady state row, and found ourselves alongside some big waves, but it’s conditions we’re accustomed to; as coach Reischman likes to call it, “Syracuse racing weather”. The extra boats were de-rigged and washed and we are ready for our last practice in the south before shipping back up north for the spring. This week has helped us to build confidence in all of us as we transition to the water. We have made a lot of gains indoors and now it’s time to apply it to moving the boats and getting fast. We have shown some glimpses of it over the course of the week and continue to build on it every day. We will continue to work hard as we prepare for our opening scrimmage against Princeton and Georgetown in just two short weeks.
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