in case you haven't heard... We are in full swing with practice.  (unless
you are doing another sport).  For the varsity teams, that means you are
required to be there every day (special exceptions to be made with me
personally).  If you are in school, I expect you will be there at practice
(special exceptions excluded).  This season, I am purposely beginning our
training slowly and working us into a serious workload.  If you miss a lot
of time in the first few weeks, the training load will come as a bit of a
shock.  It pays to make sure you are there and get acclimated to the
workload.  It is also crucial so that I can help you establish your goals
for the season.  Thus far, I have been pleased with the way practice has
been going, we have been working into it quite well.  I think most people
will agree that the practices have been challenging, but not undoable.  I
do, however, think we can do a better job with attendance.  I realize that a
lot of people are doing other sports right now, but it still feels as if our
numbers are quite a bit smaller than they should be (there will be 4 varsity
girls eights and 3 varsity boys eights this spring).

The real reason for this e-mail however is to say "PATRIOTS RULE!!!"
I love the way coach Belicheck helped a team of varied talent with no true
super-stars (except the one who sat the bench...Bledsoe) to learn how to
play unselfishly and play fully committed to the team effort.  He brought
back all that is great about sports and shook off the unfortunate turn that
professional sports has taken with ego's and money and personal glory.  The
PATRIOTS played like a team this season, and it was a thing of beauty.

I used to be a big fan of quotes, then I got away from them...One stuck with
me, and I believe will stick with me forever.

When asked what he looks for in a baseball player, Tommy Lasorda said
something to the effect of..."I want a player who plays the game for the
name on the front of his jersey (team name), not for the name on the back of
his jersey (personal name)"

I hope that this season, we can try to learn from the example of the
Patriots and we can strive to achieve new levels of teamwork.

Your goal for this next week in the category of teamwork, is to find a
member of the team who you do not usually hang out with and spend a little
time with them.  Choose someone new to be your lifting partner, offer some
encouragement to someone you don't usually talk to, tell someone that you
are glad they are on the team.

I want teamwork and community to be our theme for the year.
Let's see if we can become so close that every time anyone on the team has a
good day, we all notice and we all rejoice, and we become so open that if
anyone is having a rough day, we all recognize it and offer some
encouragement.  I want to be a team who know and care about each other.  I
truly believe that if we make teamwork our overriding theme of the season,
we will all have a much better experience, on and off the water.

Maybe it is because I have been a Patriots fan all my life, but I was
inspired watching the Super bowl and watching the interaction of the players
and coaches of the Patriots... In the past I have spent a lot of time
building athletes and striving for excellence with boats... I feel that our
next big step in building this program is to build the teamwork aspect of
the sport (outside of just teamwork within a boat... I mean within a whole
squad...and then within the whole varsity team, and finally within the whole
program).  I hope you all will help me out and really go out of your way to
be a great teammate to all this season.

Cat
Sorry I'm so long winded... I get like that in my e-mails sometimes.