Getting Out of Town - Training Camp

Small boat season is over with and now it’s time to hop in the 8+. Back at JU, I wasn’t often worried about my spot in the top boat, but here things are a little different. Ever since I switched to starboard, I have been a lot more focused on my stroke than before, which is good and bad at the same time. I don’t trust my automatic reaction to irregularities as much as on port.

Out of 10 men, the coaches had to pick the top 8 rowers for this boat. Some spots were already assigned due to qualifying performances at small boat nationals. For the remaining four spots in boat, we had to race 4 x 750m all out sprints in different crew combinations. That weekend went well for me as I won 3 out of 4 races with the smallest losing time gap.

With the end of classes nearing and inter-team racing, I felt a lot more relieved. Since then, we’ve done a lot of rowing and a ton of heavy lifting due to the fact that we are now racing a 500m sprint. It feels so good lifting and working on my max weight. We’ve been extremely lucky to be given a new-ish Filippi 8+ and be put in the best equipment. In the past month, there has been some work in the 8+, but also in the 4- since some work late or were out of town on vacation. I was able to leave for a little over a week to head back to Jacksonville and watch Emily and my friends graduate as well as work on my papers for finals week.

Once I landed back at Charles de Gaulle airport, I had just under 24h to get situated at school, work, and practice before leaving that next morning for training camp. It gets old rowing in the same place all the time especially when the weather doesn’t agree with you. So we packed for a long weekend, thanks to a national holiday, for Brive la Gaillarde near the South West of France. 

We got to work on just rowing the 8+, put a lot of miles in, and focus on working together all while adjusting our own little issues. I am sitting 7 seat right behind the stroke, who couldn’t come and was replaced by our top rower Romain DELACHAUME. Last year, he finished 6^th at the World Championships in the 2+.

We did a little bit of racing, but this upcoming weekend is our first race (Thomas will be missing from the lineup) to see where we stand amongst our region. We have about a month before Nationals. I have one week of finals starting today, training goes on, and no jetlag. I'm a happy guy!

Until then, here is a little video of our coxswain killing it at 5 seat for our first session while filling in for Thomas.

Quand le barreur tient la baraque 😉 - when the coxswain does more than his job!#teamencou #8encou #aviron #rowing #remo #rudern #monbarreurcestgladiator

A video posted by Msc Sport Conseil (@msc_sport) on May 6, 2016 at 1:58pm PDT

Much love.

The Closest I've Even Been to Russia

I acknowledge knowing a lot of people and having a pretty large network of people around the world, but I do believe I only have a few true friends.

One of them is Bernadas "Bernard" Vingilis. I met the 6ft6in Lithuanian at Jacksonville University initially as a teammate. We then became very close friends and housemates. Being a year ahead of me, he graduated and decided to go back to Lithuania and live there. At this point I had started my Master's degree in France, and after nearly 2 years of physical absence amongst our friendship, even though we communicated regularly, the moment seemed right for him to come visit. 

This visit started a truly weird pattern. He showed up around mid January 2015, a few days after the Charlie Hebdo attack and other terrorist activities. This did not hinder his trip and the opportunity to visit Paris.

Had a stellar weekend hanging out with @bernardasv and getting to show him around Paris. We haven't seen each other in a year and half but it was just like old times. That's the type of friend you keep close. He flies back to Lithuania today, much love my friend.

A photo posted by Scott Del Vecchio (@scottdelvecchio) on Jan 19, 2015 at 3:07am PST

Almost an entire year later, I found an off weekend from my training schedule and decided to go visit him in Vilnius. No more than a few days before my trip, the Paris terrorist attacks happened. Such a weird coincidence, but there is no correlation, just randomness. 

On the brighter side, I had never been further east than Hamburg, Germany so this was definitely an adventure, a 48 hour one. During this trip, I wanted to take in everything the country had to offer and try to understand why certain things are the way they are; especially in a post-soviet country. The whole idea was to make Lithuania look beautiful and exciting even in December through my film.

In Lithuania this weekend. Today we walked around Trakai and visited this awesome castle even in the freezing wind 🏰

A photo posted by Scott Del Vecchio (@scottdelvecchio) on Dec 5, 2015 at 7:25am PST

Three Crosses in Vilnius, Lithuania. Giant crosses on top of the Vilnius skyline. Very neat view and impressive monument.

A photo posted by Scott Del Vecchio (@scottdelvecchio) on Dec 6, 2015 at 1:20pm PST

I was astonished on how low the cost of food and drinks was. A full meal for two plus 2 liters of beer cost 14 euros! That's how much one plate would cost in Paris. I had such an exciting time eating as much as I could, drinking as much I could, and understanding the language as much as I could. For the most part, Lithuanians are just a regular laid back people. I don't know how they deal with sundown being at 3 pm, but besides that, are very nice and open. 

To say the very least, this place has a lot to offer: castles, forests, churches and cathedrals, and lots of beer. 

Thank you for having me Bernard, I had an awesome time.

Here is the film I made

Much love.