Mar 16, 2025 Club newsletter
Announcements
We are busy preparing for Ready to Launch, our annual event that combines community building, celebrating our graduating seniors, and kicking off the start of our competitive seasons on the water! We hope that our athletes and families are able to attend. We especially want to have our seniors attend. If your athlete is a senior and the cost is prohibitive, please email president@tcyrc.org and we will make sure your athlete and a family member are able to attend. Financial assistance is available for other TCYRC members as well.
We are continuing to update our TCYRC website, and a HUGE thanks to Nancy Bixby for helping with our website this spring. New website updates include:
The regatta webpage has preliminary travel information for our spring regattas.
For new families to TCY: Parents are not required to attend regattas, but you are certainly welcome to attend! Soon we will share information about flights that the coaches have booked, and rowers are able to book the same flights as the coaches to assist with travel if a family member is not attending.
For both Indianapolis and Midwest this spring, the Girls 1V8+ final is the final event on Sunday nights. If your athlete is expected to be in that boat, your daughter will need to plan on a Monday flight back to MSP. However, if your athlete is in any other boat, they should be able to take a return flight on Sunday evening. For more information about travel planing, please check out the "Upcoming Regattas" section on our website.
We are also hoping to use our website to highlight our graduating seniors who will be rowing in college next year! If you are a graduating senior this year and will be rowing in college next year (walk-on or scholarship), please send a picture of yourself to njbixby01@gmail.com along with your current high school, college name, parent name, and anticipated major/plan of study (if known). Thank you in advance for letting us highlight you on our website!
Soon many of our high schools will be having spring break. If your athlete is around over their spring break, practices will still be taking place six days per week. However, if your athlete will be out of town for their spring break, they just need to follow the regular attendance procedures (i.e. send an email to attendance@tcyrc.org with the dates they will be absent).
Upcoming Events
College Recruitment 101 - March 29
Is your rower a sophomore or junior and interested in rowing in college? If so, join TCY Program Director and Head Coach, Justin Richardson, for a College Recruitment 101 Session on Saturday, March 29 at 9:30 AM at the TCY Boathouse. As a former college coach, Justin will share an overview of the college recruitment process and NCAA timelines, and he will also be available to answer questions you or your rower may have. This session is for rowers and families. No registration necessary.
Ready to Launch - April 13
New to the team or have been on the team for years, all are invited to TCY’s Ready to Launch banquet. Ready to Launch is our annual team banquet where we “launch” the new rowing season and our seniors. This is a great opportunity to build community, meet other parents and team members, and we'd love to see everyone there! Grandparents and extended family are welcome to attend.
As our club's biggest fundraising event, we look forward to exciting raffles, silent auction prizes and other ways to support the team for a successful 2025! We are seeking donations for the silent auction and raffle (e.g. gift cards, sports tickets, gift basket items, etc.) Donations can be dropped off at the TCYRC Boathouse (rowers give to Jojo or Addie) by April 6, 2025.
Thank you in advance for your generous support! Tickets are $40 per person; discounts are available if that is a financial hardship. We hope to see everyone there!
Ready to Launch Location:
Red River Kitchen at Braemar Golf Course, 6364 John Harris Dr #100, Edina, MN 55439
Evening Itinerary:
Mingling 4:00 PM |Dinner 5:00 PM |Program 5:30 PM
Kowalski's Fundraiser - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We are on the schedule at the Kowalski’s in Eden Prairie for Saturday, April 19 from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
THIS is the DAY before EASTER! We need 4 -6 rowers for every two hour shift, plus one parent present for the day.
Rowers WILL NOT be bagging; they will carry out and make conversation with the customers. Rowers are welcome to sign up for more than one shift! (Did you know, rowers can submit this time as volunteer hours for things like the Presidential Service Award - for those high schools that participate? We will sign off.)
Kowalski’s will donate $250 to our club at the conclusion of our volunteer day. In addition, it’s great advertising for our club!
Sign up for a shift: Kowalski's Carry Out
Gerten's Fundraiser - Going on Now!
Go to: www.gertensfundraising.com
Store code 1046
Our club receives 30% of the sales of plants and 15% from the sales of gift cards.
Through on-line ordering, this fundraiser is an easy one to extend to friends, family and co-workers. Order early - items do sell out. There are hanging baskets, flats of annuals, pots of perennials and groupings for planting your summer pots.
Our store closes on March 31 at 10 p.m.
PICK UP at the Boathouse on Friday, May 9th - Mother's Day weekend!
Rowers' first names and last initial are on the list to select when you place an order. If your rower's name is missing, please email Nancy Bixby and she will ask Gerten's to add it to the list. Prizes will be awarded for top two sellers!
Our winter Gerten's fundraiser earned $300 for the club! Let's double this! Triple it!
Regatta Planning
Spring Regattas
We are close to finalizing travel information for our spring regattas, and more information will be shared in the coming weeks. There is preliminary travel information on the TCYRC website.
We will be attending two regattas this spring:
Indianapolis Sprints (Indianapolis, IN) - May 3-4 (This race will only be for varsity and experienced novices who rowed in the fall of 2024 because there will not be enough time on the water beforehand to prepare our new novices.)
Midwest Junior Rowing Championships (Bethel, OH) - May 17-18 (there was a typo in last week's newsletter - sorry about that! These are the correct dates for Midwest.)
Summer Regattas
We are still finalizing our summer regatta schedule. As soon as regattas are finalized, we will post information on the TCYRC website. If you would like to tentatively "hold" dates in your (busy) summer calendars, the tentative regattas include:
Minneapolis Sprints (Minneapolis, MN) - June 21
Chicago Sprints (Chicago, IL) - July 11-13
Midwest Summer Sprints (Zanesville, OH) - August 3