What a bummer it was last year for Sage to finally find a sport that she truly enjoyed only to have the season come to a screeching halt once covid struck, especially since it happened just as the most important part...racing season...was upon them. So when the season started back up at the beginning of her freshman year, we all held our breath hoping it would continue on as planned. Thankfully the club she rows for (OARS) was determined to get the rowers out on the water for the 20/21 season and they did just that. Granted it wasn't without daily temp checks, masks in the boathouse, occasional covid tests and a few online races (which I still haven't figured out exactly how those work) but that was a small price to pay for a taste of normalcy after such a disastrous end to the prior season. It was times like this I was especially grateful to be living in Florida, rather than the northeast or west coast where many of the clubs were unable to get their rowers on the water. Granted, spectators weren't allowed at many events but aside from the Head of the Hooch regatta in Tennessee that usually takes place in Nov being cancelled, all other races went according to schedule.
It turned out to be a great season for Sage who attended the American Youth Cup and got 1st and 3rd in her boats. OARS invitational...we don't discuss and we don't remember it with pictures she has told me...as it was not one of her better races...lol. She got first in both of her District races, and then attended States where her boat scored 4th in the Freshman 8. She was invited to attend regionals in Tennessee where she got 3rd in the 3V category and the icing on the cake was being invited to attend Nationals in Sarasota, rowing in the U17+ Women's 8 after the coaches assessed performance and had them compete in strenuous seat racing for a position. She was so happy she was in tears when she got the email she would be participating. Nationals usually rotates between California and Florida each year and how happy I was that it was in Florida and we could go watch! Her boat got 9th out of 24 overall in her category which she was very happy with, especially since half the boats don't even make it to the semi finals. And since ESPN live-streamed the whole event, it was so fun to go back and watch it through the eyes of the drone. She was invited to attend the Olympic Development Camp South East this summer which was quite a compliment as only a few get invited, but she chose to pass on this month-long camp since the boys would be leaving for their missions during this time and to her credit she wanted to be around them for as long as she could. A decision our pocketbook wasn't going to complain about either...
The one thing with rowing is it's not easy to get photos of her actually participating. We laugh that we drive hours, wait hours, and in the end only get to see seconds... Sounds familiar. So between me, Sage, and some of the other parents, here are a few of the photos I was able to rummage together to honor Sage with!
1 comment:
I’m so glad she has found something she loves to do and that she has made so many friends doing it.
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