North and South face off at Tryathlon '09

We held this year’s Big Screen Tryathlon in Tower Hamlets at Attlee Youth Centre, a fantastic youth club with amazing facilities, including a brand new adventure playground with zip wire.

Two large teams faced off from  north and south of the river.  Westminster House brought a massive team all the way from Peckham in South London. This was their third year at BST – so they were keen to win. North London Muslim community centre also brought a team from Hackney. Some of the boys had used the rowing machines at school but had not seen them link to a big screen before and were suitably impressed in the run up to the competition.

Attlee YC members arrived last. Still, that’s the host club’s privilege… They loved our rowing machines and begged their youth leader to get  hold of some for their club.

Unfortunately electronic gremlins meant we were unable to get the bikes or the Wii working so decided to use the rowing machines for all three events: relay race, individual race and 10 stroke challenge – to cover maximum distance using just ten strokes (a lot trickier than you might think!).

To finish off the day we challenged all three clubs to a mega relay race of 20 minutes with all club members racing against a composite team made up of London Youth staff, LYR staff and youth leaders from the clubs. The noise level was almost unbearable – especially when one young member from Attlee decided he was going to MC the whole race. Everyone had fun and all winners received our Big Screen Try-athlon yellow Winners T shirts.

Hopefully next year we will find bikes that work!

(Penny Cuthbert, LYR Development Officer)

Taiwo Sodey and Barbara Couperthwaite flew the flag for LYR at Hornchurch Indoor Active Sports Day on November 8th. This was a family affair where the emphasis was on healthy living and an active lifestyle .

The whole thing was planned and hosted by the Havering Sports Development and Healthy Lifestyle team, who were on hand to help run the event along with volunteers from the Healthy Lifestyle for Disabled Participants steering group.

Families were encouraged to come along and try a range of different sports including archery, polybat, table-tennis, basketball, soccer, trampoline and bowls – and indoor rowing, of course. Everyone who tried indoor rowing ended up coming back a second time and they all enjoyed it – especially the comfy adaptive seat!

Awards

All the sports were also set-up for disabled participants to take part and more than 70 of them did so. Each participant was given an ‘active passport’ upon entry where they could tick off each different sport they had tried. Anyone who managed to tick off all the different sports would qualify for an award from the Sport Development team at a later date.

Parents and children alike were made aware of the different sports they could try to keep fit and active, whether disabled or not. The event was also an effective way to pass on information about the nearest public locations and contact details to try these sports and general information about health and fitness.

LYR team piled the race kit in the van and headed off to leafy Buckinghamshire: destination Woodrow High House, a sprawling 17th Century manor house, owned and run by London Youth. The house is reputedly haunted but we we saw no Green Lady – only a great bunch of young people eager to try their hand at a range of different sports.

London Youth were hosting a Sports Weekend as part of their Getting Ready project for 56 young people invited from affiliated clubs. As well as the obligatory football, thewy would be trying out wheelchair basketball, streetdance, and orienteering in the dark, and of course indoor rowing.

All the youngsters took part in our evening session, in which four competting groups were given a rowing machine, flip chart, coloured pens and five minutes to think of a team name and design a logo. Under pressure, they came up with some fab names: Legends, Teem X treem, NIKE s.n.m., and Fast Oyster Furious Card!

Midnight Challenge

After demonstrations and games to develop good technique, we got into racing, challenging each team member to 60 second races. Before long the teams were itching to get on the machines for longer distances so we set them the night’s big challenge: The Midnight Rowing Team Relay. There was only one rule – everyone must row! With the music turned up high, the racing began and the passion poured out as each team competed to be the winner.

The race finished but everyone was eager for more, so we did it all over again, but faster this time. At the end, the teams were happy – but definitely flagging and ready for bed.

Next day at breakfast we sat and chatted to some of the young rowers who had taken part. They loved the racing but some were hesitant about getting in a boat… the fact that it was teeming with rain outside might have had something to do with it…
Still, most seemed up for the following week’s Big Screen Try-athlon.

In late October, Lea RC and Thames RC took 16 juniors to Weybridge to compete in the small boats head (formally known as the Silver Sculls). The Lea RC came away with two wins: Ruth Courtney winning the WJ16 1x and Lottie Hudson winning the WJ18 1x. These were coupled with some other good results from the other squad members. In particular, Liam Downs sculled the third fastest junior single of the day.

One more mention must go to the girls who represented their club in their first ever race in the WJ14 4x+ (Ellie Bailey, Katie Jessop, Hannah Peacock, Manya Eversley and Elizabeth Johnson) and in the WJ16 2x (Frances Cusack and Katie Wingrove) both crews finding out firsthand how long head races actually are!

Well done to all that competed.

A friend of LYR, Lord Rosser, invited Dan Cooper and two Lea RC athletes, Lottie Hudson and Lizzie Panton, to tour the House of Parliament in early November

Lord Rosser was impressed when he visited Lea RC to see the club in action and meet some of the Leyton Orient community sports project kids that attend Learn to Row sessions on Thursday afternoons. From this he was keen to show a couple of the performance squad around his working environment and give a better insight into what goes on in the building.

Our rowing party included Di Ellis (Chairperson of British Rowing) and Ray Mallet  (Chairman of British Rowing’s National Development Committee). We were shown around the Lords and Commons chambers, as well as offices and committee rooms. After lunch, we had the  chance to watch the afternoon sitting of the Lords.

We were constantly amazed by the history and the intricate details that adorn every room in the Palace of Westminster. Lottie and Lizzie, who are both interested in government, found the whole experience exciting “being where the topics are discussed and the decisions are made”.

While on training camp the junior athletes and Dan Cooper (Lea RC Coach) were lucky enough to be invited to the Royal Marine’s Training base in Lympstone.

We arrived at the base not quite knowing what to expect and after passing many guards with assault rifles (and having the van checked for bombs) were escorted to their “Visibility Unit”. Here we were each issued a pair of boots, a commando rugby jersey and a camouflage jacket and trousers and asked to fall into three ranks. This was a problem, since most of the juniors had no idea what a ‘rank’ was….

assault course

The day started with a practical demonstration of the basic field assault course, with ropes to slide across, walls to jump over, monkey bars to cross and tunnels to crawl through. After this there was a lecture about what the Royal Marines actually do and a question and answer session. After a shy few moments eventually a barrage of questions were asked, some more constructive then others. After lunch we were able to few the marines practice for an unarmed combat demonstration, which was being shown at a local rugby match the following week. The demonstration was really designed for a stadium but was still very impressive close up. It was a great experience for the athletes and all were very impressed with the discipline and the physical ability of the Royal Marines.

The October half term training camp was held in Devon at the Dart-Totnes RC (Dan Cooper writes). Sixteen junior athletes and two coaches from four different clubs attended the camp, which was a great success. After a long journey, picking up athletes from East and West London, the minibus Dart-Totnes RC at lunchtime, just in time for the safety briefing. The trailer reached us a little later, due to “an ignition issue”.

The training camp revolved around two to three sessions a day working in 4-, 4x, 2x and 1x. The mixed ability programme allowed the more experienced rowers time to coach and assist others but also get in their racing boats to develop their own skills. The camp was very “front end of the stroke” dominated with all working on their last part of the recovery, the catch and connecting through the footplate. A few injuries flared up whilst on camp but the casualties recuperated while videoing crews and coaching from the launches.

The accommodation was fantastic. Both YHA centres were clean and comfortable, with constant hot water. A substantial breakfast and three course dinner was served and a packed lunch was provided meaning that the juniors snacking was greatly reduced. But enough from me – a report from one of the juniors really says it all.

“I found training camp over half term great for a number of different reasons. Firstly the large amount of single work allowed for embedding of new technique in different parts of the stroke without sessions being separated and the focus lost from one session to the next. Also, it was great to meet new people from other LYR clubs but to see again friends we already know and have the chance to work in crew boats, which isn’t normally an option. I thought that the location and river was really good given the flat water we had every day and it was a welcome change to being on the Thames. I thought that the camp was both fun but also helpful for me both on and off the water. I found Dan’s ergo “Masterclass” really good and hopefully I can now use that in the boat along with the new technical aspects I worked on camp.”

London Youth Rowing has linked up with the Kickz Arsenal Project to bring indoor rowing to everyone in Hackney – the result of a new co-operation recently agreed with the Metropolitan Police.

The Met has been running Kickz since 2008 and you can find out more about the programme here.

Now LYR is able to join the programme, we plan on placing  ergo machines with participating youth clubs like the new facilities at Vaine House on the Gascoyne Estate in Homerton.

Tasters

In the meantime we are holding taster sessions at the various youth clubs to try and convince all the Kickz footballers that they REALLY want to be rowers! The first taster session at Morningside Youth Club was a great success and was followed by another session on November 19 at Nesbit House Hall.

We also had a number of youngsters attend our on-water taster at the Lea Rowing Club during half term. This was greeted with so much enthusiasm that some of the younger kids had to be rowed around by the coaches as everyone wanted a turn on the water!

All of the sessions have been well attended by the Met Police in Hackney and they have given some of the older guys a real run for their money on the indoor rowing machines!