Letters from camp
I apologize for the lengthy delay between posts. I would love to say that it's because I've been extremely busy, but rather it's because I've been extremely lazy.
I've been at the High Performance camp here in Ashland, Oregon for almost 11 days at this point, and am thoroughly enjoying my time.
First, we have a pretty swanky setup. There are three other interns, all from the state of California, which gave us something in common from the get go. Two are from Long Beach State, and one is from Chico, making me the old man of the group. Still I fit in rather well.
We are staying on the campus of Southern Oregon University, a small NAIA school tucked into Ashland, and we are fortunate. The entire camp - 50 athletes, plus six coaches, and four interns - are shacked up in the upperclassmen dorms that are less than three years old. Each floor has several suites that hold up to four individuals. The interns have two suites which means that two of us fill a space for four. We each have a single with a nice closet, and general college dorm room furniture, plus an additional single room for extra storage - believe me, we've been taking advantage of that. The suites each have a common sitting room and a small kitchenette complete with full size fridges and a microwave - no cooking. We also have that most blessed of inventions - Air Conditioning. And ours has been working non-stop since our arrival. We also each have our own bathroom and sink.
My only complaint is that the cafeteria has very limited hours - 1.5 hours per meal - which means some juggling and some speeding when it comes to practices, and returning from practice. This was especially difficult last week when we had roughly 350 football players attending a camp, and the same number of younger children attending summer workshops.
The weather here has been solid if not hot. Last week was pleasant, but as the week went on, the temps rose and this week we've had to adjust our practice times accordingly. With the average temp this week above 93, we've moved practice to 5 am, and 930 am to get doubles in without having to deal with the full force of the sun. Still, coming back to the boathouse around 11:30 is still plenty warm.
The interns have a relatively simple schedule. We make sure the launches are ready to go for each practice - gas, safety equipment, etc. - and fill tanks as needed. We also shuttle the athletes to and from practice, and to the stores if needed. And then we are on our own. We've gone hiking, cliff jumping - there's a small set of cliffs between 12 and 20 feet tall around the corner from the boathouse, worked out, and rode in launches.
Camp is working on week two at this point with one week left till we break, sending two boats to the CANAMEX regatta in Sarasota, and the rest to Club Nationals in Cincy. There's rumor that an intern will be pegged to go with the team to Club Nationals. Most years I'd say I'd hope I would be chosen, but this year, given how rough this spring was, I'm ready to call it a year on rowing, and recharge till the fall.
I've been at the High Performance camp here in Ashland, Oregon for almost 11 days at this point, and am thoroughly enjoying my time.
First, we have a pretty swanky setup. There are three other interns, all from the state of California, which gave us something in common from the get go. Two are from Long Beach State, and one is from Chico, making me the old man of the group. Still I fit in rather well.
We are staying on the campus of Southern Oregon University, a small NAIA school tucked into Ashland, and we are fortunate. The entire camp - 50 athletes, plus six coaches, and four interns - are shacked up in the upperclassmen dorms that are less than three years old. Each floor has several suites that hold up to four individuals. The interns have two suites which means that two of us fill a space for four. We each have a single with a nice closet, and general college dorm room furniture, plus an additional single room for extra storage - believe me, we've been taking advantage of that. The suites each have a common sitting room and a small kitchenette complete with full size fridges and a microwave - no cooking. We also have that most blessed of inventions - Air Conditioning. And ours has been working non-stop since our arrival. We also each have our own bathroom and sink.
My only complaint is that the cafeteria has very limited hours - 1.5 hours per meal - which means some juggling and some speeding when it comes to practices, and returning from practice. This was especially difficult last week when we had roughly 350 football players attending a camp, and the same number of younger children attending summer workshops.
The weather here has been solid if not hot. Last week was pleasant, but as the week went on, the temps rose and this week we've had to adjust our practice times accordingly. With the average temp this week above 93, we've moved practice to 5 am, and 930 am to get doubles in without having to deal with the full force of the sun. Still, coming back to the boathouse around 11:30 is still plenty warm.
The interns have a relatively simple schedule. We make sure the launches are ready to go for each practice - gas, safety equipment, etc. - and fill tanks as needed. We also shuttle the athletes to and from practice, and to the stores if needed. And then we are on our own. We've gone hiking, cliff jumping - there's a small set of cliffs between 12 and 20 feet tall around the corner from the boathouse, worked out, and rode in launches.
Camp is working on week two at this point with one week left till we break, sending two boats to the CANAMEX regatta in Sarasota, and the rest to Club Nationals in Cincy. There's rumor that an intern will be pegged to go with the team to Club Nationals. Most years I'd say I'd hope I would be chosen, but this year, given how rough this spring was, I'm ready to call it a year on rowing, and recharge till the fall.
Comments