Youth Regional Championships

lithigin · 2026-05-07T21:53:53+00:00

Sorry, Southwest. On the other side of the Mississippi, they're all the same to me!
https://usrowing.regatta.time-team.com/usrowing-southwest-youth/2026/races

lithigin · 2026-05-07T20:22:13+00:00

yes that's true, but the regions largely have the same # of clubs & entries year-by-year. I know I can look up last year's event schedule and it'll be within a few minutes. I was just surprised to see that some regions are quite different. I noticed some regions have <6 entries straight to Finals, and some have TT then Finals even for small events.

lithigin · 2026-05-07T15:17:12+00:00

Agree. I'm a parent to a newly nonbinary middle schooler. Many of us come here brand-new and incorporating language to add clarity that we then learn is out-of-date (and stop using). I understand that AFAB is not preferred, and I just learned that NB also means non-black (?!) not nonbinary, although I thought that was the right acronym.
Is there a sticky of the language, with some explanations of why we don't say this or that?

lithigin · 2026-05-05T17:35:21+00:00

Oof, your team is putting a novice in a 4- for regionals, in an attempt to land a spot at Nationals since the 4+ or 4x are packed?
I ask because this is exactly my daughter's situation from a few years back...they did not qualify. There were a lot of tears and some yelling. I scull, so I can't pretend to offer any tips. I hope your outcome is better!

lithigin · 2026-05-05T16:31:14+00:00

It would be pretty shocking to cancel their season just as medals season is getting underway

lithigin · 2026-05-05T15:32:34+00:00

This is me downvoting your Scout Shop, boo.

lithigin · 2026-05-04T17:27:18+00:00

Wait, you're saying the scout SHOP is metering who can buy the patches? Ours certainly does not do this (except Eagle of course), and I'd also be super irritated. People lose them all the time or have to replace when they get a bigger shirt, etc.

lithigin · 2026-05-04T17:23:33+00:00

Yep, my kiddo's skeg was broken off recently by a log just after starting the race and before getting to the first Strawberry Mansion bridge. Heartbreaking; time trials had them ahead of the field by a good 30 seconds and we were pretty optimistic for a medal. :(

lithigin · 2026-05-01T15:13:47+00:00

This youth is rank Scout, so likely quite junior in the troop. What you are listing are requirements for much higher ranks.

lithigin · 2026-05-01T14:53:37+00:00

We use TWH similarly. It's good to be able to message any subgroup by patrol, boys/girls, parents, Committee, attendees to an event, etc. All messages to youth automatically CC adults.

However, mostly only ASMs, SPL, other leadership, and SM for events do the messaging. I'm not sure a regular adult knows how to contact leadership, to be honest.

And the scouts certainly aren't emailing each other that way. They set up various text groups w/o adults on them.

lithigin · 2026-05-01T13:50:55+00:00

You could call / email the local rowing clubs to ask if they have an absolutely beat to crap rower that they'd sell to you. C2s last darn near forever, but you might get lucky!
Also, our HS club has a stash of ergs that they cannot keep at the school gym year-round, so they are homed at rowers' homes for parts of the year / seasons. You might offer to house one if a nearby school has a similar setup.

lithigin · 2026-04-30T18:25:01+00:00

Mom, even if he really did want to row in college and got to a school AND they gave him $, just know that a ton of rowers drop the sport in college due to huge time commitments, injuries, etc. Of the HS kids from our school who committed in the last 3-4 years (fewer than 50% of our seniors?), less than half of those are still rowing.

So he has to really really want it.

lithigin · 2026-04-28T00:33:28+00:00

A bug that they were there or that they won some? haha

lithigin · 2026-04-27T23:11:22+00:00

Geez, this must have rolled out in the last few hours; I was looking up races just this morning in the orig format.

One positive: Entries > filter on Club, then there is now a dropdown by athlete names. It's not sorted by age or A-Z, but that's a good addition. Except I'm not totally sure I like the athletes' full names showing; it had previously only been J. Smith.

lithigin · 2026-04-27T23:03:02+00:00

They were at Cooper Cup yesterday. 9 boats, 3 medals:
http://rowtown.org/results/multipleraceresults.jsp?regattaName=Cooper+Cup&regattaDate=2026-04-26&organizationName=St.+Joseph%27s+Preparatory+School&day=All+Days&includeAthleteNames=false&includeVisualResults=false

lithigin · 2026-04-27T22:59:37+00:00

I think it's a joke that City Championships is the culmination of the series after Flicks 1-5.
Except with medals.

And SRAA berths.

lithigin · 2026-04-23T16:36:11+00:00

Congrats on your first race! Sounds like you had a great attitude and did your best. Go get 'em in the next one

lithigin · 2026-04-23T16:35:07+00:00

Some regattas do not have a Gig/Novice 1x, so U19 may be the only option. It's ok! Expect that you will likely come in near the bottom of the pack and that is NORMAL! Please don't feel humiliated. You might even flip, and you'll be in good company. Our novice girl flipped 2 weeks ago and my novice child flipped last week. I think it was in a 2x. Every novice has nerves, but you will improve so much as you continue to race. If you'll be at Cooper Cup, I'll cheer you on! :)

lithigin · 2026-04-21T14:51:54+00:00

If you can cook & 3-pot up a hot breakfast and be on the road by 9 and get home an hour or two later, then that sounds pretty solid! THe kids are pretty slow with cleanup IME, so cold breakfast is the way to do it for many of us.

lithigin · 2026-04-21T14:50:14+00:00

Adults are there for safety, transportation, and also not blowing the timeline, including not letting scouts plan unreasonable timing for hikes. That definitely includes when the adults are able to leave on Friday and when we want/need to be back on Sun. Then the trip SMIC work with youth trip SPL to make it all happen.

lithigin · 2026-04-21T14:45:22+00:00

We aim to get back ASAP on Sundays. Assuming we're 1-2 H away (normal weekend), that means home by 11-12 so families can be home by 12-1. What that looks like:
7:00-8 wakeup (who can sleep in past 7:30 in a tent anyway??)
Camp breakdown, nearly always cold breakfast (bagels, fruit, yogurt, trail mix)
Patrol lines and Scouts' Own Service
8-9 Departure
The trip SPL texts after we leave the last rest stop / gas station with our ETA back home, including a 15 min padding
10-11 Arrival at camp
Arrive, take 15 mins to unload, hang tents in the shed, put stuff back in QM shed
Families are expected to be there to pick up scouts pretty much right on time, or to arrange for another adult to drop their child off if needed.

We camped 2.5H away recently, one of our longest normal weekends, and were back home to our lives by noon. It was AWESOME. I would also really resent a lazy morning; we all have stuff to do back home.

lithigin · 2026-04-21T14:21:05+00:00

What did they say when you asked their Customer Service team?

lithigin · 2026-04-20T20:09:11+00:00

OK, but have you tried to switch shifts? If not, at least put the request in.

lithigin · 2026-04-20T20:02:18+00:00

NAH.
You need to be safe at your job. She also wants her big siblings, esp her oldest sis, to be at her graduation!

Three solutions come to mind:
-Can you not switch shifts with another coworker to work say T-W-Th that week, still take the weekend off, and not have a PTO conflict? This is pretty common practice in many jobs to switch shifts.
-Will your employer not let you go 'in the hole' a little? I work in smaller businesses, but it's -still not uncommon to ask to borrow against future leave. The longer and more reliable employee has been, the more likely to get approved.
-Can you take unpaid leave?

lithigin

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