Document text
1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Making ancient stories new again ... Some went without power after windy night Wednesday ... Talent attempted murder suspect arrested in California ... Making ancient stories new again ... Some went without power after windy night Wednesday ... Talent attempted murder suspect arrested in California ... ASHLAND ROWING CLUB Rowers from across country coming to Ashland Club coach talks about hosting USRowing High Performance camp, state of rowing club Comment By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@Joe_Zavala99 DailyTidings.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@Joe_Zavala99 Posted Apr. 13, 2016 at 8:06 PM Updated Apr 14, 2016 at 11:43 AM By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@Joe_Zavala99 Posted Apr. 13, 2016 at 8:06 PM Updated Apr 14, 2016 at 11:43 AM » Social News The Ashland Rowing Club has been selected to host a boys’ summer training center this June and July for junior rowers from across the country who aspire to join the U.S. National Team. The club beat out nationwide competition to earn the right to host the two-and-a-half week camp, which is called the USRowing Junior Men’s High Performance Camp. Phase one will be held June 18 through July 6 at Emigrant Lake and will, through invitation only, host 40 to 50 boys who were born in 1999 through 2001. The camp will be led by Rick Brown, who was hired as the Ashland Rowing Club’s first paid executive director and coach in March of 2015. Since he joined the club on July 1, Brown has helped double its junior rowing program to about 60 rowers, primarily from Ashland and Medford. Brown talked to the Tidings on Tuesday about the significance of the High Performance Camp and the state of the Ashland Rowing Club. His answers have been edited for space. DT : How did Ashland Rowing Club attract the attention of the USRowing Junior Men’s High Performance Camp organizers? Brown : Several factors played into it. I’ve been involved with the junior national team for six or seven years now from a coaching standpoint, and then my previous job was in Pittsburgh and the club I was at hosted a number of camps. So the interest to keep me in the system was there, as well as the knowledge from folks there that I had the ability to be able to host an OK camp and then the knowledge that we have a lake that works real well. Some of the things that weren’t working so well in Pittsburgh were the logistics of the waterway. The lake here is pretty nice in that it’s flat most of the time as the water’s not a river, so the water’s not moving and you have the capability of really running a really productive camp. Having a camp like that in a small town is kind of nice because it makes everything easier in teams of logistics of traveling. DT : What does the camp mean for the Ashland Rowing Club? Brown : I think it does several things. I think it brings recognition to the sport a little bit in the community. Obviously, it’s a small enough community — people will be running into these kids and asking them questions. The kids, any camp with a group of kids that come together in any community kind of draw attention, but with these … it’s 40 to 50 boys and they’re all pretty good-sized athletes. So they definitely draw attention where they go. So I think just the recognition of the sport and the fact that we’re able to hold a pretty high-performing camp at the lake is a really good thing and hopefully will draw that much more interest to the sport at all levels here in the community. I think it also brings recognition from the rowing community side. Obviously we have 40 to 50 guys from all over the country coming here and learning about the club and the waterway and what we have here as well, and they’ll be taking that back. And then all of the knowledge within the U.S. Rowing community that there’s a camp happening here and that we’re kind of playing a part in the national scene a little bit more. DT : Where will the rowers who qualify for the High Performance Camp come from and can you describe the selection process? Brown : They really do come from all over the country. It’ll be a big mix, from the Northeast all the way down to Florida and everywhere in between. Certainly, there will be some West Coasters as well. There are some strong programs on the West Coast. The selection process has been going on and tryouts have been going on. In the junior national team system there are identification camps — one-day kind of tryouts for kids to show up to, and there are about eight or nine of those that happen across the country. Then even without going to one of those, just trying to get the word out and trying to find the top performing kids of the 16-, 17-year-old boys that might fit well into the camp. It is all by invitation, so you have to be selected and go through the process. DT : Will the Ashland Rowing Club need to purchase new equipment for the camp? Brown : We will be probably mostly renting equipment. We’ll definitely need to get more rowing shells as well as coaching launches, because we have some coaches coming from Maine and Minnesota, and Florida and D.C. for the camp to help me out during that time. DT : How many coaches will be there, total? Brown : We’ll have five of us, so four coming in from out of town as well as myself, and then we will have probably about four interns who are sometimes young coaches or could still be in school — people who are interested in the possibility of learning more about coaching and being around the setting. They help out with the driving of the kids as well as supervision in (Southern Oregon University) dorms. And then they certainly get to go out with us and learn about the coaching side on the water as well. DT : The ARC’s junior rowing program has doubled since you arrived. How have you managed to attract so many kids to the sport? Brown : I think it’s been sort of word of mouth a bit and kids recruiting other kids as well as other things. Medford really happened because we were able to provide some transportation, and I spent some lunch periods there just kind of getting the word out that we were there. And all the schools have been very open to me coming in and setting up meetings that kids could come to and find out more information. There just seems to be interest. It wasn’t too hard to get kids to come to the meetings and start out, so I think the interest is there and we just needed to get the word out. DT : What’s been the reaction from the kids after they try it out for the first time? Brown : I think everybody’s really liking it. I think overall, we’ve had really good successes and people are excited. It’s a really young group and a lot of new rowers, but I think overall they’re pretty happy with it. Everybody’s learning a lot, for sure, and because it’s so new there are some struggles with having most everybody be new with a small contingent of kids that have been around and have been helpful with taking the leadership roles. DT : It sounds like there’s a growing interest in the club’s junior rowers program, but how about your adult teams? What’s the interest level like with that group? Brown : We’ve had definitely a lot of interest with people starting up. We’ve had a consistent winter class that has been all indoor participation that has been a good number of people — probably 15 or so people — that are really excited about getting on the water. And those opportunities to get them started back on the water will start in really early May. And it seems like there’s a lot of interest for that so I think that will really grow in the next month or so. We’ve also had a class at SOU that started this quarter with them, a 10-week class that filled up really, really quickly from my understanding. It was capped at 30 kids and filled up really quickly when the word was put out there. That’s a really fun group, too — college-age students coming out and learning how to row, and we’re hopeful that that might turn into a team with SOU at some point down the road, but it’s a good sign that there’s interest for sure. DT : How do you feel in general about the state of the club now versus when you first arrived? Brown : I’m excited. I think I’m excited, I think the club’s excited. I’ve been really pleased with how open everybody is to change and new people coming in and certainly more going on. Sometimes in some environments that can be met with some resistance, but I think overall it’s been really good. The board of directors we have is really on board with that, so I think overall it’s really, really good. From my personal perspective, it can be overwhelming at times. There’s a lot going on. But that’s a good problem to have, so I think overall we’re all really excited about what’s going on and it can show you what can happen when a community gets behind an opportunity. We have a really perfect set up with the lake and the waterway and where our boathouse is and certainly are just looking towards more and more growth happening. Joe Zavala is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Zavala99. By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@Joe_Zavala99 DailyTidings.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Follow @@Joe_Zavala99 Posted Apr. 13, 2016 at 8:06 PM Updated Apr 14, 2016 at 11:43 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... Business Name address Location, ST | website.com Find Southern Oregon Attractions Bars Restaurants Beauty Salons Entertainment Doctors Medical Specialists Contractors Education Lawn Services Lawyers Shopping Travel Tanning Used Cars Wedding Services ▼ Add your business here + Events Calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2016 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. DailyTidings.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501