<p>Great questions trackandfield08. I will first address crew, then trainings.</p>
<p>Crew is known as the "cult" here at the academy. To be honest, I am not sure exactly why. Whenever a cadre asked what sport we were going to do, whenever someone said crew, they would reply "Oh, you're joining the cult?" One of my cadre were on crew. During SS, you will have sports period for about 2 hours twice a week. If you go to crew, there will be a BBQ waiting for you, and it's an amazing time to relax from the stress of SS. I'm sure other sports were good getaways as well, but crew has a lot of great people, and we're right on the water. You won't row during the summer - that will start in the academic year. </p>
<p>This year is the first year I ever rowed. I barely even knew how crew worked. Wait... we row backwards!?!? This year we had about 20 novices joined, which was great because we always had 2 boats out at once and we could race each other. I'd say at last 4/5 of the novices never rowed before. My good friend from SS rowed in HS, and one or two others rowed, but not are varsity good yet. This first season was all about technique and learning how to apply power with your legs. Lots of muscles you have never used before. And it's great because everyone is new and learning together. You become very close with the team.</p>
<p>There's not much to do to prepare for crew, because you probably don't have a boat or a team at your HS. However, ab exercises are best (get good at planks... it's good for crew and good for the academy). Lots of crunches too, and push-ups. A great exercise is squats because your legs are your main muscle groups in rowing, NOT your upper body. Order of importance goes legs, core, arms. That's the order you use when you're rowing. Also a nearby gym may have rowing machines. They may even live lessons with them.</p>
<p>Training. Most of them are, we consider, a waste of time but that's not for us to determine. They're really not that bad, though. Most of them at 7AM after formation when you'd be up anyway probably staring at your emails. They can also be at 1900 (7PM) but we don't have those too often. We often have Saturday morning Trainings. The time slot is 8-12, but that's not always the case. Saturday reveille is 6:30, but you don't need to wake up until 7:30 formation. Sometimes we have Damage Control training, but they usually let us out before 2 hours.There are rarely any trainings where it runs until lunch. Maybe one or two max a month. Also, most training times are with your Company Officer or Company Chief, which are nice because they're great people and it gets everyone on the same page. Oh, just to clarify... training isn't physical. It's always a lecture or powerpoint or discussion.</p>
<p>The worst training, unless you like it, is drill, usually on Friday 7AM - 7:45AM. It's basically a mini parade/formation with pieces (rifles). I'm in the Regimental Band and we play. It's not THAT bad. Friday evenings are Regimental Review from 4 - 5. We wear FDB's (the black uniform with gold buttons). They are REALLY sharp, but you get soooooo hot. Many people actually faint. If you don't drink water before it, you're guaranteed to faint unless you're lucky and there's a cloud blocking the sun. My roommate fainted at one of them. Other than drill, trainings aren't bad and you get the rest of Saturday off at noon until 1AM as a 4th class.</p>
<p>Well I'm going to get back to buffing my deck. I gave up my entire Friday to strip it all and rewax it. It took the entire day too!! Feel free to ask me more questions. You can also email me if it's something more private.</p>
<p>Have a great day.</p>
<p>Very Respectfully,
4/c George Glock
USCGA 2012</p>
<p>P.S. 4TH CLASS RUNNING SUITS WERE JUST APPROVED YESTERDAY SO WE DON'T NEED TO WEAR THE UOD (UNIFORM OF THE DAY) TO DINNER. SO HAPPY.....</p>