At the crack of dawn – while others might have been sound asleep – sophomore Haley Norman was already awake, eating a protein packed breakfast to fuel herself for the long day ahead. It was the morning of Saturday, Sep. 13 and Norman’s first race of the high school crew season was waiting for her.
Norman says that the food she eats before a race is important if she wants to do her best. As a pre-race meal, Norman likes to enjoy meat, vegetables and a glass of milk. On this day, before the race, she had some leftover barbeque.
“I made sure everything was ready the night before,” Norman said. “I woke up an hour earlier than I was going to and had a good breakfast.”
Each crew season starts with a low-stakes scrimmage between two schools, allowing teams to get a sense of where everyone is at. The scrimmage is a chance for athletes to establish confidence on the water before medals are at stake. Pioneer High School (PHS) faced Huron High School.
Charley Churchville, a junior at CHS, has been competing for Pioneer Crew since his freshman year. He hopes the team will have the chance to improve since their previous season last spring. He felt confident heading into the fall season as the team was determined to do well.
“I want to be really focused, making sure that I’m in the right headspace to compete,” Churchville said. “I want to make sure that I’m performing well not only for me, but for others.”
Although athletes might love their sport, Churchville mentions how the work load can become overwhelming for students as their practices are long, taking time away from school. However, the joy that Churchville and his teammates get from the crew team often makes up for the lost time during long practices and meets.
“I really, really enjoy being on the team,” Churchville said. “Because I enjoy it, it makes it easier for me to deal with not having enough free time.”
PHS junior, Michael Davis, thinks that the right mindset can be key, so he focused on staying positive heading into the new school year.
“If you come with the mindset that you’re gonna do good, you’re gonna do good,” Davis said. “If you come with the mindset like, ‘Oh, I hate being here’ then you’re just not gonna have fun. That’s what rowing is all about.”
Norman also tries to keep a positive attitude towards competing and cheers her teammates on.
“Even if the teams I’m racing against are really good, I should go out there and try the best I can,” Norman said. “Stay positive. It’s a scrimmage. Obviously, it’s nice to win, but in the end, so what?”
The events of the day came as a surprise to Pioneer Crew junior, Ian Ricard, as it might have to others who thought the outcomes might look different.
“I was surprised that we did so well in the four,” Ricard said. “And in the eight, I was surprised that we didn’t do so well. I had a good feeling about that.”
According to members of the Pioneer Crew team, the day was exactly what it needed it to be: a time to evaluate and learn.
“We have a long way to go, but if we just work out some key factors during the hardest parts we can definitely get a lot faster,” Ricard said. “We can definitely win some races. Today was a good day for learning, we accomplished a lot.”
Moving Forwards
In order to improve, Ricard wants the team to focus more on distance, technique and overall mentality. He thinks improvement in these areas would help them decrease their times when competing on the water.
Ricard mentions how teammates should put in the work outside of practice as well as exercising good nutrition to maximize their skills. He also makes a point that although working hard is important, the team needs to listen to their bodies and make sure they get enough sleep. Ricard thinks that all of these factors can be vital to an athlete’s performance.
As for freshmen just beginning their time on the crew team, advice from upperclassmen consists of getting a good night of sleep, bringing a change of clothes and enjoying the race!
