March 29, 2002

Lauren Yoder is a junior from Charlotte and a member of the UNC rowing team. Throughout the year, she will provide TarHeelBlue.com readers with an inside look at her team and the experience of being a varsity athlete at North Carolina.

Hello Carolina Rowing fans!

Thursday afternoon we scrimmaged against the women's rowing team from Williams College. They were on their way back from spring break training and stopped at University Lake for our practice. The 750-meter pieces that we did in race format were not only productive and helpful, but fun, too. It was a great way to sneak in some good work without thinking of it as just that.

The varsity and second varsity boats lined up against Williams' varsity and second varsity for five 750-meter pieces. We raced one piece, then spun the boats and paddled back up to the start line for the next. The novices and men rotated in the pattern as well. The first two pieces focused on a race start format with a start from the line, a build, and a settle into race base cadence. The second two pieces were done at base cadence as if we were rowing the middle 750 meters of the race. The last piece was a sprint finish. The purpose of breaking it up like that was to focus, in these short pieces, on what we would do in the different sections of a full 2,000-meter race piece. There were switches between coxswains and rowers in each of the boats on each of the pieces as Joel is still working on selecting the best and most effective crew for the first boat.

Williams took three out of the five pieces against the varsity boat and swept the second varsity races. Each crew put in good racing for all pieces, keeping contact with each other throughout the races.

I appreciated the day's practice as a time to learn racing without the stress of race-day. Competition is always fun. Having a new crew beside us to practice against was a great challenge that taught us a lot without thinking about the work we were putting in. It was a beautiful day out on the water. We enjoyed having many parents out to watch, too.

This Easter weekend we have time off to rest up and prepare for our last week of practice before the varsity heads to San Diego. We will be leaving on Thursday afternoon, April 4, for a weekend of racing out west. Joel will leave with the trailer of boats on Monday after morning practice. Laura will coach us for the rest of the week.

Going to San Diego is a treat that we are all looking forward to. Among the things to be excited about are our seedings in the races, the beautiful setting in which we get to row, and the fun we share being on the road in such an exciting place. The coaches have set up some great things to do and places to eat while we're out there in addition to the racing. It is sure to be another great experience.

Your Tar Heel Pal,

Yoder