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Note from Sully here.
The UCI crews wrapped up our racing season. There is much to be very proud of, and some disappointments. I know we would love to read about blazing fast crews, but we didn’t have any this year, and I know most of us alums at UCI have been in that same boat!!!
By ACRA, the overall results left much to be desired.
The Men’s novices had a great group, with a very motivated 2N racing at ACRA. But recruiting has been strange last few years, we seem to not be able to get the athletes we want in the Fall ending up shorthanded by the beginning of winter through the normal fall attrition. We do a second round of recruiting in January, and typically add another 8 or more and some are very solid athletes. Now they’re months behind the other teams that like us, recruit from campus.
The problem isn’t attrition, the problem is getting them down there in October.
The novices had some great pieces this year, but no single great regatta.
The varsity men by Challenge Cup were looking very strong. However, soon after some great results at that early March race, a key number of top athletes quit the team. This has never happened on my watch, and immediately offered to find another coach. I was told that I wasn’t the problem, they wanted me to stay. This was not a case of a “team blowup” as has happened to some teams, no acrimony, no finger pointing or blame, just a few of the talented people we had that no longer wanted to commit.
Thus, where I thought we’d have a decent chance at taking OCC or UCLA, now we were severely slower.
Key injuries during the season made it a march to doom when v8s we’d beat by curvature of the earth were now dead even with us in races.
The 2V suffered in result, though certainly not in effort or spirit.
The women’s results were better, but honestly both V8 and 2V8 had the athletes and teamwork that they expected to medal in both the 1v and 2v at ACRA.
The women’s novices had a great turnout this year, but didn’t get the level of top end athletes they recruited last year, so missed the grand final.
Overall the ACRA results were disappointing, but to a man and a woman, there was no lack of effort, heart, or inspiring attitude.
There were some impressive positives On both squads there was no lack of effort, and the teams circled the wagons in face of adversity. I got tingles from the 2v that were severely undermanned in power, but gave enormous effort every practice, were accountable and hung together. In the men’s V8 we had 5 second year rowers, had one of our best remaining starboards out with injury, yet the guys rallied hard, got tighter with each other, and pulled for each other. There were 2nd year guys that were just learning how to row hard and keep composure, and showed it by the end of the year, hanging in with the likes of Michigan during the heats but simply outgunned in power.
In March, while the rest of the team struggled at SDCC, the men were shorthanded with a number of injuries, plus the recent rash of quitters.
The women’s team were shorthanded at SDCC due to V8 and 2V8 traveling to Nashville for races with the top ACRA crews.
The Nashville trip might be a highlight for the program this year, odd since it was a competitive disaster. While hearing about the terrible shells that the crews raced in, the weather, and especially the results, I anticipated a team meltdown. There is nothing more shocking than to think you are best around and having your a** handed to you.
I dreaded the return of the women’s team to the boathouse, heck we men were having enough trouble.
Instead, I was confronted with a group of mature athletes and positive coaches who’d huddled up and taken their severe setback as a real team. Yes, the boats were less than promised and the water terrible, but they accepted that they’ wern’t good enough, and they weren’t good enough TOGETHER.
This is the greatest lesson rowing has to offer. When you win, the sun shines, people cheer, medals drape, and trophies hoist. How can that not be worthwhile? But when you work really hard and fall short of your expectations, that shell feels like 2 tons on your shoulder, you want to turn from the camera, stand away under a tree. But one teammate grabs your traps and squeezes, you realize that at the worst, you still get to share that pain and disappointment with a friend you trust and admire.
There is none of us who’ve rowed seriously who haven’t encountered extremely disappointing outcomes, far below our expectations. What we hope for is that we rally together on it, share the burden and put our heads back down and do the work.
The women’s team did just that, and the men’s team rallied as well. “
I need to emphasize, the women’s varsity was extremely disciplined, worked their butts off all year, they were organized and efficient in the mornings, and did the extra training.
Another great aspect of the team this year, we had good numbers of people out. In spite of the men’s losses, we still put out 4 eights at ACRA. The women had the largest squad of any women’s teams at ACRA, the only team with two novice eights and had two 2V eights.
Yes, the women had a 2nd 2V eight. It was composed of half varsity women and half novice women. I was so pleased with this lineup.
There was an athlete in that boat who was a senior that rowed for the women’s eight I coached in ’22. She didn’t row last year, so fell back relative to the other athletes in the varsity, but by the end of the season got a PR on her erg. She had rowed in a V8 that finished 5th in 2022, every bit as fast as this year’s varsity.
She rallied, put on her big girl pants and rowed her butt off and was a great team leader for that crew. I was most proud of her.
While watching crews launch at ACRA, I noticed something about UCI”s teams that I took for granted last couple years.
UCI is the most diverse team i’ve seen at both WIRA and ACRA.
We are represented by athletes of a huge variety of cultures, had an adaptive athlete that came down for a month this year, and we finished the season with a 51 year old grandmother in the 3V.
UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara has very similar student bodies as UCI, their crews do not look like us.
What I am also very proud of is the overall team cohesion. The men and women work together as one team. You see it at the boat loading, boats come on and off trailer with everybody involved, men and women tying boats down. Everybody feels ownership and responsibility of the boathouse. On cleanup day, both teams working together sweeping and rinsing the decks, pulling the weeds, washing the duck crap.
The coaches work as a team, there’s no men’s launches or women’s launches, we work out what we use on need that particular workout, and are very collaborative in the difficulty of setting up practice schedules to accommodate a squad of 90 people.
Thanks, team and coaches for an excellent season. The downside I presented here reflects what the team and coaches’ expectations which are the same expectations most of you alumni had when you rowed here.
Note: If any alums would like to chat with me about the team, the program, the future, don’t hesitate to give me a call 707-349-9779 this summer. In addition I will be calling many of you with a “thank you” anyway. Sully
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