The summer began with the death of a young coach and has ended with the traditional regatta and bittersweet memories for the young people who participated.
The sun was just beginning to break through the clouds last Friday morning around 7 a.m. as eighth and ninth graders from throughout northern Virginia gathered at the Alexandria boathouse. It was the day before the regatta that usually signifies the end of the Alexandria Crew Booster summer rowing program. The program has been extended for one week because of the week off to mourn the death of John Steve Catillo, a 20-year-old summer coach who drowned on June 25.
"It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be but it was still pretty hard," said Vickie Moore, a 2003 graduate of T. C. Williams High School who now rows at the University of Virginia. She is one of a group of young people who return to the Alexandria boathouse each summer to teach novices who hope to row in area high school programs.
Alana Noritake agreed. "We were all very concerned when the kids came back after the week off but things have gone pretty well," she said.
There were around 50 young people enrolled in this year's summer program. "We certainly hope that they will all return to row in high school and most of them do," said Lexye Street, a 1998 graduate of T. C. who coaches the novice girls' boat at T. C. "The main goal, though, for the summer program is to introduce them to the sport and for them to have fun."
This year's fun, though, was overshadowed by safety concerns. "We've made a lot of changes since the beginning of the summer and I think they are for the best," said Will Kuckro, another of the coaches.
THOSE CHANGES INCLUDE requiring every coach to wear a life vest. "We all had to get our boating certification from the Coast Guard," Moore said. "Many of us already had it but we all went through the program again just to be certain that everyone remembered everything."
The Crew Boosters implemented every safety recommendation except one. "The Coast Guard wanted us to make all of the rowers wear life jackets and that just isn't practical," Noritake said. "We did a demonstration for them and proved that the shells will float even when they have a great deal of water in them. Also, the oars float."
In addition, there are always two coaches in the launches that follow every group of student rowers. "In the past, we sometimes sent only one coach but that has changed," Kuckro said.
All coaches also carry two-way radios. "The radios are expensive," Noritake said. "They each cost around $300 so we've been told to be very careful with them. The first day, two fell into the river."
And were fished out.
"The message was that if they went into the river, we found a way to get them out," Street said. "I got a net and got both of the radios out. After we left them to dry, they worked fine."
The new safety regulations will continue in every program at the boathouse throughout the year. Each launch will be packed with sufficient life jackets for every student on the boat which is attached to it. The coxswain in each boat will wear a life jacket.
After the students came off the water on Friday, they made T-shirts for the regatta. "Each boat has some inside joke and design their T-shirts to include that kind of thing," Street said. "Years from now when these kids see each other and someone is wearing the shirt, they will still understand the joke. That's part of the program."