|
| This page consists of Frequently Asked Questions for Parents, and Frequently Asked Questions for Students. |
|
Please note that answers to many of the latter may
be found in the INFORMATION FOR PARENTS page of this website.
|
| Q: My son/daughter can already
row/scull (and is using fine boats) so will the course still be suitable
for them? What will they learn from it? |
| Q: My son/daughter has never
rowed before. Will he/she be OK on the course? |
| Q: My son/daughter is not a
native English speaker. Can he/she still attend the Courses? |
| Q: My son/daughter will be coming
from overseas. Will you be able to meet him/her at the airport? |
| Q: My son/daughter will be coming
alone.... Will he/she have the opportunity to make friends? |
| Q: What is the proportion of
boys to girls on the Courses? |
| Q: My son/daughter suffers from
a medical condition [eg asthma/ diabetes/ epilepsy/ bronchitis/ food allergy/
sports injury etc]. Will he/she be safe on the Courses? |
| Q: What if my son/daughter is
injured or unwell during the Courses? |
| Q: What safety measures are
in place to protect my son/daughter during rowing activities? |
| Q: What type of supervision
will my son/daughter receive on the Courses? |
| Q: What levels of discipline
will be maintained during the Courses? |
| Q: How can I contact my son/daughter
during the Courses? |
| Q: Can I come and watch my
son/daughter rowing or sculling during the Courses? |
| Q: Can children with special
needs participate on the Rowing Courses? |
 |
| Q: What is the proportion of
training/ coaching/ racing in the rowing activities on the Courses? |
| Q: Can I have a good time if
I’m not a rowing enthusiast? |
| Q: How much will I be able to
improve during a week on the Courses? |
| Q: What type of boats and equipment
will I be able to use during the Courses? |
| Q: Will I be able to choose
who I row with, and which boats I can row/scull in as well? |
| Q: Who will be coaching me during
the week? |
| Q: How much freedom will I be
allowed on the Courses? |
| Q: What rowing kit will I be
given upon arrival? |
|
 |
Q: My son/daughter can already
row/scull (and is using fine boats) so will the course still be suitable
for them? What will they learn from it?
The Courses are unique in being able to accommodate students of ALL abilities,
ranging from complete beginners aged 12, to top level junior athletes aged
17&18, some with experience of racing at an international level. Every
student begins the week in a group of 9-10 participants of similar ability,
and groups will change through the week depending on how individuals progress.
The top groups obviously use better (faster) boats and focus on the more
advanced aspects of technique and training than the beginners groups do,
so that everyone can learn and improve during the week, whatever their ability.
For further details please see Who
can attend? and also Boats
& Equipment |
| |
Q: My son/daughter has never
rowed before. Will he/she be OK on the course?
Of course! No previous rowing experience is required, and beginners are
particularly welcome!” In fact, approximately 30% of the students
attending the Courses each year have never done any rowing or sculling before
(and most of these beginners are aged only 12-14yrs), but most of them finish
the week as proficient and competent scullers/rowers. All that is asked
of beginners is that they complete the swimming test on the first afternoon
- for details please see Who can
attend?. Eton College provides the very best environment for beginners
in the sport, especially as the Rowing Lake at Dorney now offers such a
safe still-water training environment – much more protected from the
elements, and with none of the river traffic that used to make life more
difficult for beginners on the Thames. All beginners start the week up at
the Lake, and are taken through a capsize demonstration before the first
sculling outing takes place. The chances of capsize can be greatly reduced
with a few simple principles of technique borne in mind, but should it occur,
students should have nothing to fear and are shown how to swim the boat
to the bank and get back in safely. In all rowing/sculling activities a
coach to student ratio of 1:4 (in many cases 1:3 for beginners) ensures
that help is always close at hand. |
| |
Q: My son/daughter is not
a native English speaker. Can he/she still attend the Courses?
Approximately 10% of those attending the Rowing Courses each year come from
overseas, and these students are especially welcome, even if English is
not their first language. However, for safety reasons it is very important
that all students can understand the proper procedures to be followed on
the River and on the Lake during rowing and sculling activities, so parents
are asked to bear this in mind before submitting an application. Some of
the staff can speak French, German, Spanish, Italian and even Japanese (!),
but this does not eliminate the need for all students to have at least an
intermediate grasp of the English language. It is equally important that
all students ask if unsure of any of the safety procedures etc to be followed
during rowing and sculling activities. If in doubt, please contact the Course
Director. |
| |
Q: My son/daughter will be
coming from overseas. Will you be able to meet him/her at the airport?
Yes – please refer to the Collections from Heathrow Airport or Local
Train Stations section of the INFORMATION
FOR PARENTS page. |
| |
Q: My son/daughter will be
coming alone.... Will he/she have the opportunity to make friends?
A: If your son/daughter is coming alone, he or she will be in the same situation
as the majority of students. For this reason, opportunities to make friends
are deliberately created during the activities of the Courses. On the first
afternoon, all students are placed into mixed groups of 9 or 10 based on
age and previous experience. These groups head off to supper with their
coach before the first sculling outing takes place on the Sunday evening,
and this way everyone has a chance to get to know the others in their group
from the outset. All rowing activities during the week are conducted in
these groups, although some individuals may change groups after the second
day if they show themselves to be worthy of promotion to a higher group.
Aside from the rowing, other group activities include afternoon games, dragon
boating trips (20 per boat), tug of war competitions. Furthermore, in the
free time each day, students may choose to go to the outdoor pool together,
or shopping in Windsor, or playing tennis etc. Although boys and girls are
accommodated in separate houses, all students eat all meals together in
the College Dining Hall, and the Social Room is open to everyone in the
evenings. |
| |
Q: What is the
proportion of boys to girls on the Courses?
There are equal numbers of boys and girls on the Courses. Students of all
ages between 12-18 are represented and welcome, but the majority are aged
14-16. |
| |
Q: My son/daughter suffers
from a medical condition [eg asthma/ diabetes/ epilepsy/ bronchitis/ food
allergy/ sports injury etc]. Will he/she be safe on the Courses?
After a student’s application form is received at Eton, the parents
are sent a medical form that must be completed and returned before the application
can be accepted. The purpose of this form is not only to confirm parental
details, the student's General Practitioner etc, but also to confirm the
student's medical condition, any details of asthma/diabetes/epilepsy/bronchitis/food
allergies, any previous or current injuries that may limit the student's
ability to take part in rowing or sculling activities, and finally, any
medication that the student may be currently taking. All information from
these forms is kept confidential, and is processed by the Course Nurse before
the Courses begin. Where appropriate, Coaches are made aware of medical
concerns specific to the students in their care, so that precautions can
be taken to avoid any problems (including the modification of activities
planned, if necessary). Parents are encouraged to provide as much information
as possible on the medical forms to ensure that all conditions are correctly
understood - and if needs be, the Course Nurse will contact parents for
clarification. With regard to food allergies, all meals on the Courses are
served in Eton's main Dining Hall (called Bekynton), where the majority
of Eton boys enjoy their meals during term time, and any allergies &
special diets can be catered for with prior notice. |
| |
Q: What if my son/daughter
is injured or unwell during the Courses?
Please refer to the Medical and/or Course Nurse sections of the INFORMATION FOR PARENTS page. |
| |
Q: What safety measures are
in place to protect my son/daughter during rowing activities?
Safety is of paramount importance in all activities undertaken on the Rowing
Courses. For details of the measures in place, please refer to the Safety
section on the INFORMATION
FOR PARENTS page. |
| |
Q: What type of supervision
will my son/daughter receive on the Courses?
Please refer to the General Supervision & Discipline section of the INFORMATION FOR PARENTS page. |
| |
Q: What levels of discipline
will be maintained during the Courses?
Please refer to the General Supervision & Discipline section of the INFORMATION FOR PARENTS |
| |
Q: How can I contact my
son/daughter during the Courses?
Please refer to the Contacting Your Son/Daughter section of the INFORMATION
FOR PARENTS page. |
| |
Q: Can I come and watch
my son/daughter rowing or sculling during the Courses?
Please refer to the Visiting During the Courses section of the INFORMATION
FOR PARENTS page. |
| |
Q: Can children
with special needs participate on the Rowing Courses?
It is part of the ethos of Eton College that every effort should be made
to accommodate students with special needs, and the Rowing Courses welcome
all applications of this kind. The priority at all times must be safety,
both of the student concerned as well as the others in the student's group.
It is of course very difficult to know of a student's suitability for the
Courses without fully understanding what they involve, and it may therefore
be helpful to look at the COURSE CONTENT page of this site. Should any applicant with special needs be unsure of
their suitability for the Course, please contact Mr
P.Highy who will be happy to assist. |
|
|
Q: What is the proportion
of training/ coaching/ racing in the rowing activities on the Courses?
The Aims of the Courses are to
allow all participants to experience, to learn, and to enjoy all aspects
of the sport of rowing. The Rowing Courses do not, therefore, focus only
on racing. It is our view that racing successes can only result from the
combination of correct technique, fitness and mental preparation, so all
of these aspects are looked at in detail. Similarly, a week-long Rowing
Course does not represent a boring training camp, either! The opportunity
to listen to an Olympic Gold Medallist, to visit the River and Rowing Museum,
to go on a dragon-boat trip up the Thames, and to take part in the Procession
of Boats - all of these (and others) are experiences that consistently make
the Courses so much fun for those that take part. While beginners start
the week without knowing the difference between a scull and a rowing boat,
by the end of the week they are able to paddle about happy as can be! At
a higher level, the excellent standard of coaching on the Courses, combined
with Eton's unparalleled facilities, allows for great improvements to be
made over a very short time, and we hope that those who benefit from the
experience will continue with their involvement in the sport thereafter. |
| |
Q: Can I have a
good time if I am not a rowing enthusiast?
Yes, absolutely. Approximately 30% of the students attending the Courses
each year have never done any rowing or sculling before, and so it would
be unreasonable to expect all of them to enjoy every aspect of the sport
from the outset. For this reason, every effort is provide all students with
the chance to try their hand at every aspect of the sport, whether in small
boats or large boats, whether rowing, sculling or coxing, whether on stroke
side or bowside, whether racing or training, and even whether sitting down
or standing up (as in the Procession
of Boats!). It is no secret that when learning is fun it is so much
more effective, and so we try to achieve this in the daily rowing activities,
using our experience from previous Rowing Courses of knowing what works
best. It must also be remembered that the rowing activities only occupy
about 4 or 5 hours each day, and the rest of the time is spread between
organized outdoor games (including frisbee, soccer, baseball, as well as
team games like "It's a Knockout" etc), free time (for swimming,
visiting Windsor, playing tennis/squash, watching videos) and the time in
the evenings for going to the Social Room with friends to listen/dance to
music, or watching videos in the houses. Please see the COURSE
CONTENTS page for further details. |
| |
Q: How much will I be able
to improve during a week on the Courses?
The purpose of the Rowing Courses is to instruct participants in the theory
and practice of sculling & rowing in such a way that they will leave
satisfactorily equipped to pursue the sport successfully and enjoyably on
their own. Not only is it possible for students to make huge strides in
their rowing and sculling during the week, but it is also hoped that after
the Course, students will return to their club or school boat club with
a renewed sense of purpose and motivation for the season ahead.
Rapid progress is made possible by the intensive instruction given by qualified
coaches and their assistants of the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA), and
by the 2-3 outings that take place each day, using quality equipment ranging
from Eton Phoenix single sculls to Racing VIIIs. Eton's excellent rowing
facilities include the international standard 8-lane course at Dorney Lake,
as well as 3 boathouses on the River Thames - all providing unparalleled
opportunities for a rapid rate of progress. What's more, all participants
are sent a report at the end of the Courses, completed by the Coach who
instructs them during the week and monitors their progress. |
| |
Q: What type of boats and
equipment will I be able to use during the Courses?
Please refer to the Boats & Equipment section of the FACILITIES page. |
| |
Q: Will I be able to choose
who I row with, and which boats I can row/scull in as well?
This will depend on the group that you are placed in, based on the results
of the Sculling Head Race on the Monday. Those of similar ability will end up in the same groups,
and the majority of rowing and sculling outings will take place within those
groups (although there may be as many as 30 students in the so-called Top
Group). The coaches of each group will do their best to accommodate the
requests of their students for boat types and their chosen crew-mates, but
everyone will be required to be flexible as the boats must be allocated
fairly, and there may not always be enough of the best boats to go round!
However, the fleet of boats available is so large that it is very unlikely
that any student will go home disappointed. |
| |
Q: Who will be coaching me
during the week?
From the first day of each Course, every student will be assigned to a mixed
group of roughly 9 or 10 individuals of similar ability, all placed under
the supervision of a Coach and a Course Assistant. The coaching team ranges
in age from 20 to 60 and consists of both male and female instructors, drawn
from experienced coaches from clubs and schools, and university students
currently rowing for their university. Some of the coaches are actively
competing on a regular basis, and many others have performed at the highest
levels of the sport in the past. All Coaches are either qualified by the
Amateur Rowing Association, or full time members of Eton College staff,
and roughly a third are former Etonian oarsmen. Many of the team have been
involved on the Rowing Courses for many years, so they bring with them a
considerable amount of knowledge and experience of how to ensure their students
receive the maximum benefit from a week spent rowing at Eton. |
| |
Q: How much
freedom will I be allowed on the Courses?
Almost all students spend a thoroughly enjoyable week at Eton, and since
2004 no less than 95% of all participants have said they'd like to return
the following year - a good indicator by any standard! All students must
participate in all of the rowing and coaching activities scheduled every
day, but this leaves a great deal of other time to be enjoyed. With permission,
students may go into Windsor (in groups of at least 3) during the afternoons,
and everyone can spend their time as they wish when in the houses. However,
for reasons of safety and the smooth running of the Courses, the course
rules must be followed at all times. These are distributed in a booklet
form to all students before the Courses begin, and the most important rules
are outlined by the Course Director at the Welcome Meeting on the first
afternoon. A copy of the rules may be seen here.
Any serious disregard of these rules may lead the Course Director to contact
a student's parents, or to arrange for their immediate return home. In particular,
students must note that the usage of cigarettes, drugs, illegal or alcoholic
substances of any kind is absolutely forbidden, and their possession alone
will be enough to ensure a student's immediate return home. |
| |
Q: What rowing kit will I
be given upon arrival?
Once a student's application is accepted, a letter will be sent out to parents
with general information including details of kit and clothing to be brought
for the week. On arrival, every student will also be issued with a T-Shirt
embroidered with the Rowing Courses logo. It may also be possible for students
to purchase Rowing Courses clothing, water bottles and other general kit
before the Courses begin, and which may then be picked up on arrival. Please
see the KIT AVAILABLE section of this site
for further details.
|
