lb recap

1. socow did not medal this year, but we went up a division, from mixed IIIC to IIIBB. even more impressive? we got 4th place; only one away from medalling! this year was weird cause we actually had too many paddlers and we had to ask someone to not compete (which is fine since he only had 1 practice anyway). also, i decided to not paddle our 200m since i missed 1.5 practices (food poisoning and steering clinic), but i'm really happy because it meant others got to paddle more. also, i think it sets a good example, like, see, not even captains are exempt from the attendance rule! (a lot of our team had 5 or 6 practices.) also, i helped marshal a bit, which was nice.

2. boston scientific did pretty well, considering. they were the more stressful of my teams this year. i didn't realize that they wouldn't take it seriously (probably because they're a corporate team). so lots of people came and left as the day progressed. in other words, i couldn't do a seating chart until just before marshaling.  also for each race we had ~4 people who had never paddled before. it was crazy! i tried to teach them during marshaling, but i forgot for our 2nd race and actually taught them on the water as we were paddling to the start line. sheesh! i think everyone had fun tho, and we did not place last in all our races. :)

3. space dragons did FABULOUSLY! red won gold in both 500, and 200m. women, open, and masters also medalled. (btw, did you know that last year guppies got gold in the 500m?) btw, i didn't paddle for them; they had too many ladies already. oh well, i rejoice in their amazingness!

4. what i'm most happy about this year is the steers. none of the major incidents involved long beach steers. YAY!!! there were a few minor collisions (heads clipping tails) which were caused by lb steers, but nothing serious. also, no one was reported to me as messing up. i had to send out lots of warning emails last year! alex told me that last year he was upset with me because of so many lb steers' incidents, but this year he could see the improvement. i'm SO happy. :) obviously i can't take much credit since i'm not steering for everyone, or even testing everyone, but this program that i help run is working! ::knock on wood:: also, it's getting bigger now too. besides just long beach, this year we've tested people from la harbor, nac, and ucsd. and all these people know that they don't have to get tested, they just wanted to. seriously. it's so awesome. :)