Boys Paddling Summary
by Chuck Nakoa
We started the season with optimism and excitement. We had six canoes re-done and beautifully finished. There was a large turn out of young men, well over sixty in number, and much enthusiasm.
We ran into some difficulties during the season, however, that needed to be resolved.
Attendance and team commitment were less than satisfactory.
With over 60 paddlers signed up, we were lucky to have 40 show up at any one time. We had scheduling conflicts with school performances during the start of the holiday season and other extra curricular activities taking place during the month of December. Complicating matters further, the start of the races was moved up to December 23.
We had three races during our Christmas vacation. We lost sixteen paddlers to trips over the holidays. Along with these obstacles facing the team, the season was shorter.
We managed to keep all our crews intact despite the attendance problems over the holidays. We entered all racing divisions during the holiday races and started building a base.
Optimism and enthusiasm continued, and the addition of some latecomers helped fill the void. As the season continued, attendance held steady as we hoped for better race results. We continued to train hard and put in four days a week in the canoe while conditioning on the other two days.
Each race brought hope of finishing in the top four.
The Varsity I crew paddled fiercely to the end and should be applauded for their effort. This is an encouraging message for the returnees to get ready for next year. It will take some time for the program to get to the point of recognition (top four).
We can only work hard and hope for the best. The Varsity II crew is inexperienced, but learned some valuable lessons this year.
The JV II crew probably had the most success this season, but lost their focus at the end. Frustration dealt a blow that caused the unit to fold. Their lessons learned will make them better as they paddle together in the future. We can work on these things and ways to bring the team together as one.
The season ended with us still holding on to our last shreds of optimism.
We almost had to scratch the JV I race, but managed to fill the seats with freshmen paddlers.
Finals and a make up race left us without much practice and conditioning time. The longer races at the end of the season were brutal for our paddlers.
Although we struggled, we finished, and that is a start for a program under new guidance. We can only get better. With a big heart and the intelligence we are blessed with we will be back next year.
