I began this blog on my birthday.  For me birthdays and blogs both represent firsts in my life.  This is my first experience with blogging.  Putting together this blog is a requirement for one of the on-line courses that I am taking this summer, Wikis and Blogs and Podcasts and Skype.  When I read the title for the course I couldn't help but hear, "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!"  Fortunately, thanks to the helpfulness of the instructor, the students, and the online course info, the course has not been too scary for me even though I am a digital immigrant. 

I am a former public and private elementary school teacher of 16+ years.  I currently homeschool one of my children.  Because I am not currently teaching in a regular classroom,  for this blog I decided to share a little about my family and their interests. 

I named this page "saras-crew" not only because I am sharing about my family, but because one of my children is on the crew team for the Rocket City Rowing Club.  My daughter enjoys the sport. It's great low impact exercise, competitive, and a true team sport.  My "crew club" daughter is also a spelling bee champ.  She has won several spelling bees in the past 2 years.  She has one more year of eligibility.  She keeps her dictionary close at hand. 

I want to feature the sport of rowing to my audience of Alabama teachers because the Rocket City Rowing Club is one of only 2 rowing clubs in the whole state of AL.  Not only do I want to feature the sport, I would like to promote the sport for several reasons.  For Alabma History teachers out there, you know that Alabama's system of waterways is so significant that they are represented on the Alabama State Seal. Our state also has numerous lake systems.  Because of all of the waterways, I think that our state is nicely suited for the sport of rowing. 

The coach of our team has 3 years of experience coaching Harvard's Rowing Team.  Harvard and other Ivy League schools are typically associated with the sport.  However, many colleges now have active rowing programs, including the Universities of Alabama and Auburn.  You may think that rowing is primarily a northern sport, however the sport of rowing has caught on significantly in the surrounding states of Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. 

Of particular interest to educators and their students who want to attend college, you should know that primarily female rowers, but also male rowers have great opportunities to earn college scholarships for rowing.  Information from an ESPN the Magazine article indicates that women rowers have more chance of being recruited as freshmen at a Division 1 School at 226.8 % compared to a woman playing softball at 1.5%.  Senior boys have a 52.1% greater chance of rowing for a division 1 rowing team than they do for playing basketball. 

I share this with you in the hopes that where you have influence, some of you might become instrumental in starting rowing programs in other parts of the state.  If interested in the sport check our the website for RCRC at:  http://www.rocketcityrowing.com.   

Now that my "raving" about the sport of rowing is finished, I would like to feature my other family members and some interests for each.  My youngest child enjoys ballet.  Last Christmas she loved participating as a Christmas Tree Angel in a production of the Nutcracker.  She has taken ballet since she was 3.  If I ask her to dance she breaks out into pirouettes and jetes.  She is taking gymnastics this summer and loves it.  She is such a joy as the youngest in the family.

My oldest child is getting ready to be a senior in high school.  She loves the sport of softball!  Life will not be the same here at home after she graduates and goes to college.  She is playing on a travel team this summer which keeps her busy playing softball in many different places.  She is constantly on the go with her activities.  She works on the yearbook, is very involved at church, does lots of babysitting and other activities.  She will be the senior class president this coming school year.

My husband is a software engineer.  He has many other talents and interests that he rarely has time to pursue because of our busy family life.  I appreciate his love for and commitment to our family.