A rising tide lifts all our boats
John Holt, President of the Pocock Rowing Club writes to his members to share the news of the club being officially open!
Dear Fellow Members of the now-launched Pocock Rowing Club. Our new club is officially open for business.
I am writing on behalf of the Pocock Rowing Club Board of Directors.
Today is an auspicious day. We have embarked on an effort to build and operate the best adult rowing club in the PNW. I have no doubt we will succeed.
During my business career, I developed a belief in the power of dividing things into smaller pieces to add focus. I have no doubt the GPRF will be stronger because of its exclusive and intense focus on transforming young lives through sport and team building, and I have no doubt our new club will be more successful as a result of a single-minded focus on creating a superb and inclusive rowing experience for adults of all skill levels.
Because we are sharing a facility and everything inside it, as well as a common cost structure, we are very much teammates and partners to the GPRF and the Pocock Youth Rowing program. The GPRF may own the building, but we own the experience we will have inside it…. and we will each be more successful if we are both successful. Community, courtesy, cooperation, and collaboration should be the hallmarks of our joint efforts. A rising tide will, without question, lift all our boats.
We are probably 30 members short of breaking even. We have to make sure every member who walks into the facility or onto the apron feels welcomed. We can all remember what it’s like to come to Pocock for the first time. Let’s make it as easy as possible by doing the little things when someone looks lost or unsure. It’s in our self-interest to be welcoming, and it creates good karma too.
We have many people to thank. We want to thank all our peers who’ve served on the Management Committee for the past thirty-plus years. Jenn Gibbons, Eric Phoun, and Padraic McGovern were good stewards for the GPRF, and honest and principled negotiators and they have earned our appreciation as well. The TC is very grateful to all the adult members who served on committees and volunteered for other tasks.
The smoke is still clearing, but it appears something like 230 people have signed waivers and codes of conduct, which is a pretty good proxy for our go-forward membership base. We are off to a very strong start.
But our work is not finished. Some members have not completed their sign-ups and we want to help you finish up so you can get back on the water. To become a member of the club, please stop by the office and talk to Rachel Le Mieux, or write us at prctransitioncommittee@gmail.com.
Now that we can begin to focus on running the club, there is lots to do to refine operations, policies, pricing, and strategy. As launch tasks subside, we’ll be restless thinking about ways to do things better. We welcome your input but please be patient, there’s lots to do.
Per Mr. Pocock:
“You had to give yourself up to it spiritually; you had to surrender yourself absolutely to it. When you were done and walked away from the boat, you had to feel that you had left a piece of yourself behind in it forever, a bit of your heart... and a lot of life is like that too, the parts that really matter anyway.”
If we apply ourselves in just this way, we will, together, enjoy a very bright future.
Thanks again for trusting the eight of us with the task of bringing PRC to life.
Warmly,
John Holt
President
PRC Board
Brooks Chase
Lawrence Cock
RuthAnn Hodel
Marcy Hupp
Linda Larson
Scott MacCormack
T. Omar
