General Announcements – Page 2

The Latest Update On Aztec Rowing

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Dec 182020

On November 20th, SDSU announced the discontinuation of the Women’s Rowing Program. The Open Letter by the University describes their stance and reasoning for the decision. Unfortunately, there appears to be little opportunity for the Women’s team to continue as a fully funded program after Spring 2021. The decision represents a loss for both San Diego State athletics and the rowing community at large, which has seen funding for many teams disappear due to budget cuts this year.

Coach Craig Doan and the athletes have been following this closely, and will update the board on women’s rowing potential club status as the 2020-2021 season unfolds. The H. Del Beekley foundation is committed to supporting the team’s decisions throughout this process and providing guidance as needed.

Both teams share facilities, including the boathouse and erg room that will be affected by this decision. The board is considering releasing funds to assist the Men’s team, if necessary. It is possible that funds planned to be used for a new shell in 2021, may be utilized to help the team during this time. We will do the utmost to keep our membership informed of this as we assess the situation.

If any of our members have questions, or would like to discuss the state of the team, please reach out to us here directly at the H. Del Beekley Foundation.

Unfortunately, the state of COVID has led us to cancel our events this year. Despite this, the H Del Beekley is on track with its fundraising! Thank you to our monthly contributors, who have added great stability to our fundraising. We have been engaging alumni personally, and are working hard to expand our membership. Please consider donating to the 1925 Campaign and bring the team out of COVID strong!

Happy Holidays to all,

Bernard Aparicio
H Del Beekley President

2020 brings uncertainty and challenges for the Aztec Rowing. Consider doing your part to help make the foundation successful by contributing to the foundation monthly via our online donation system.

October Newsletter

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Oct 302020

Fall is upon us, and the school year is underway at SDSU. It has been a tumultuous year for everyone, and we hope this newsletter finds you well. For SDSU Men’s Crew, the pandemic has hit the racing season hard, but the team continues to persevere. After the cancellation of the spring racing season, the team has been quarantined since March. While unable to row as a team, the athletes have stayed in good shape, and are itching to get back on the water.

The Upcoming Season…

With rowing in team boats impossible, the team has kept their fitness with weekly workouts and zoom meetings. The team has adopted a socially distant virtual fitness program. As the campus continues virtual classrooms and strict dormitory quarantines, athletes will continue to train within reasonably safe conditions. At SDSU the Aztec Recreation Center is closed, along with the Aquaplex. The Mission Bay Aquatic Center is open; however, there is little possibility of rowing team boats out of the facility. With these constraints in place, the team will continue virtual workouts, with the hope of conducting socially distant in person workouts at open space areas (Presidio park, Mt. Soledad, the infamous Tecolote Canyon). In addition to these land workouts, Craig is taking tentative steps to get the team in singles – where you can’t blame the other guy for bad set!

The 1925 Campaign

SDSU Men’s Rowing was established in 1925 (year up for debate). In this 95 year history, the team has both achieved victory and suffered defeat. It is an amazing experience, where walk-on athletes row not for scholarship, but for a pursuit of self-excellence. The sacrifices needed to succeed in rowing are important to it’s lessons, and these stay with alumni for life.

To perpetuate these traditions and continue the growth of the team, the H. Del Beekley Foundation is launching the 1925 Campaign. This campaign will raise money for the boat fund – enough to purchase another 8+ for the team. From September 2020 to August 2021, we ask alumni to donate $19.25/mo via our donate page. Our goal is to commit 44 SDSU Men’s Rowing supporters to sign up for this campaign. We would raise $10,000 over the course of the year! Let’s pull together and make it happen.

Join the 1925 Campaign

Virtual Happy Hour

With our alumni row impossible to hold this fall, the foundation is setting up a “Virtual Happy Hour”. Grab a beer and reminisce about the good ol’ days. Spread the myths and legends of Aztec Rowing without worrying about finding a person to drive you home! We hope to see you at the happy hour, held over Zoom. Event details will be sent out soon! Please let us know if you are interested, so we can have a rough idea how many to expect. Mention if a particular day works best!

Updated Websites

The Head Coach and Board have invested time to update both AztecRowing.com and BeekleyRowing.org. Take a look at the awesome updates, which include:

Special thanks to Head Coach Craig Doan for putting in tremendous effort to update the team website.

Wishing all our readers and their families the best,
Bernard Aparicio

Go Aztecs!

2020 brings uncertainty and challenges for the Aztec Rowing. Consider doing your part to help make the foundation successful by contributing to the foundation monthly via our online donation system.

Annual Recap & Team Update

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Jun 242020

Even with the season cut short, both the team and the foundation would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the supporters who have contributed this year by donating or attending a race. Below are some of the highlights from this very unusual year.

Annual Meeting

With the 2020 Crew Classic canceled, the foundation held our first ever virtual meeting on April 5th. Eleven members attended via phone and webcam to discuss the future of the team, the foundation, and elected officers to the board. (You can read the meeting minutes here.)

2020 Elected Board Members
President – Bernard Aparicio
Vice President – Matthew Stewart
Treasurer – Steve Lewis
Secretary – Brandt Watson
At-Large Member – Kameron Kennington
At-Large Member – Andy Olson

New to the board this year, is at-large member Kameron Kennington. Kam rowed for the Aztecs from 2011-2015, serving his final year as the club’s Public Relations Officer. Kam joins the Foundation in 2020 as a member at-large. He is eager to continue to follow the team’s growth, and is honored to have a chance to help create positive momentum for current and future Aztec oarsmen.

State of the Team – From Head Coach Craig Doan

On Thursday March 12th, Associated Students and the Sports Club Council suspended all club activities before correctly cancelling the remainder of the spring season two-weeks later in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While this was an unprecedented, and admittedly painful, way to end the season (particularly for our 5 graduating seniors) this was not completely unexpected. With the cancelling of the Ivy League season just the day before, we knew the dominos would be quick to fall and spoke to the team in advance of that Thursday morning practice. We hit the Mission Bay water that morning focusing the day’s session on making sure we understood the value of our time on the water with the people who shape our daily lives and collegiate experience, unsure of if and when we’d get the chance to experience it all again. We hadn’t yet heard an announcement from the University when we left the H Del Beekley Boathouse that morning, but everyone understood it was an inevitability. Following the announcement, the entire team joined me at my home to say our goodbyes to the season and each other as the students quickly departed for home in order to be with their families.

On May 12, one month after cancelling the current spring season, the CSU board overseeing San Diego State University announced that the fall 2020 semester will take place primarily online. While nothing has been stated officially at this time, it is believed that this will directly impact the team, with practices being unlikely to be allowed on Mission Bay, effectively cancelling the fall season. This situation is still ongoing, and the Foundation is committed to supporting both Head Coach Craig Doan and the team during this uncertainty.

Throughout this, the team has stayed active and engaged. The athletes are meeting monthly on zoom to catch up and plan for the coming year. After finishing out the semester logging workouts against one another, they have entered a short detraining phase and will begin summer workouts in preparation for next season in a few weeks. In the meanwhile, the Executive Board is meeting bi-weekly via Zoom to discuss and plan for next season and will be posting updates via social media and the team website. Amidst this unprecedented situation, I have consistently been impressed by this team’s ability to see this extended leave as an opportunity to take advantage of, and to make this team better going forward. While I know so many have found this time to be discouraging, I have been continually impressed by the drive and positive attitudes of those involved in Aztec Rowing.

Craig Doan
Head Coach, SDSU Mens Crew

Annual Meeting and Elections – Crew Classic canceled

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Apr 012020

Because of the safety issues brought about by the coronavirus, the 2020 San Diego Crew Classic was canceled. Therefore the H Del Beekley Foundation will be holding our annual meeting and elections online Sunday April 5th at 4:00pm PST. If you would like to participate please send an email to info@beekley.org.

10th Anniversary Boat Fund – We’re Making Progress!

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Jun 142018

Since the announcement of the 10th Anniversary Boat Fund, the Foundation has raised over one third of the $35 thousand dollars we will need to outfit the team with an updated 8 man rowing shell. As the team continues to build and grow in size, carrying 5+ eights of athletes through the Fall and 4+ eights through the early spring races, we are finding that we not only need to have the right number of boats, but that we need to have updated equipment across the varied weight categories to remain competitive.

Working with the coaches and boat vendors, we’ve determined that the team needs to purchase a one to two year-old upper-mid weight shell rated for crews with a boat average of up to 190 lbs. Thanks to boats purchased through the foundation 5 years ago, the team currently has decent coverage in the heavy and the lightweight ranges. But the lack of depth in the mid-weight range had the Novice crew – who placed 4th overall at Crew Classic this year – racing through the spring in a 15 year-old boat.

The technology behind rowing shells have come a LONG way since my day, an older boat can now maintain its rigidity longer and can still be a great fall season training boat. However, just like a car, rowing shells tend to require significantly more maintenance as they age to keep them running well enough to train in, let alone to be competitive in the spring races.

The foundation needs your help to purchase a top tier racing shell, which will allow the team to cycle one of the older boats out of their spring racing fleet. Please consider heading over to our Donate page to make your tax deductible donation today.

Donate Online

Regardless of your ability to donate at this time, we also need all of your help to get the message out. So, we’re asking you to please help us by reaching out to any of the people you rowed with to ~~harass~~ encourage them to donate as well. Anything you can do will help make this goal a reality.

July 2017 Updates

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Jul 122017

Hello SDSU Rowing Alumni, Family & Supporters!

Welcome to the dog days of summer. The rowing season is now over, and the rowers are around the world enjoying their summer. Soon, though, it will all end, and the next season of SDSU Crew will begin!

First, thanks to all of the alumni who showed up for our alumni row on May 6. We ended up with 3 full 8s of alumni. We had many generations of SDSU Crew rowers involved, but all of the alumni and team were especially impressed with the performance of Dennis Coates, who last rowed in SDSU colors under Del Beekley in the 1960s! Thanks to your generosity, we raised over $600 for the team! All the photos are available here: https://goo.gl/Aeftrj

The team’s varsity 8 was faster than any of our alumni boats, but the Aztec Alumni gave a spirited attempt to push the team before they headed off to Georgia for the American Collegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta (ACRAs).

Speaking of ACRAs, SDSU finished the year by sending the Varsity 8 to the ACRA rowing championships in Georgia. The team drove themselves from San Diego to Gainesville, GA. Upon arrival they found out they were going to be racing against 35 other colleges, most of whom flew out to Georgia. The team rowed their best races of the season, and finished 21st overall. To read the full trip report, click here: http://www.aztecrowing.com/acra-2017-recap-growth-and-success-on-and-off-the-water/

The team is looking forward to having a large number of returning rowers next spring. They are lead by Chris Jonsmyr, who is team President for the 2017-2018 season. We will send information about all of the officers in our next email!

Events

We have several events planned over the next few months! These events are a great way to get re-acquainted with your former teammates, and meet other alumni and the current team members.

First, on July 29, we are going to head to Petco Park to watch the Padres play the Pittsburg Pirates. Both teams are fairly evenly matched, so it should be a great game! If you are interested in attending, tickets will be $30/person…respond to this email (info@beekelyrowing.org) for information on how to purchase tickets!

Our next event after that will be SDSU homecoming weekend. On the morning of October 14, we will have another alumni race against the team, followed by a tailgate at Aztec Warrior Stadium (a.k.a. Qualcomm Stadium), where SDSU will compete against Fresno St! We will send out more information on how to join the festivities later this fall!

In February 2018, expect to see the 2nd H. Del Beekley Golf Scramble. More details will be forthcoming, but if you or your company are interested in sponsoring the tournament or a hole or helping us with event preparation, please let us know!

Finally, everything is leading up to the Crew Classic on March 25 & 26, 2018. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the H. Del Beekley Rowing Association, and we are expecting a large number of alumni to be traveling for the event. Please mark that date on your calendar, and try to make it to San Diego for the event!

H. Del Beekley Event	Day
Alumni Race	6-May-17
Padres Game	29-Jul-17
Mens Crew Recruitment Meeting	31-Aug-17
Mens Crew Recruitment Meeting	7-Sep-17
Alumni Row	14-Oct-17
SDSU Homecoming Game	14-Oct-17
Alumni Golf Tournament	?-Feb-18
SDCC Banquet	23-Mar-18
SDCC Race/Meeting	24-Mar-18
Alumni Row	?-May-18

SDSU Mens Crew Event	Day
Mens Crew Recruitment Meeting	31-Aug-17
Mens Crew Recruitment Meeting	7-Sep-17
Alumni Row	14-Oct-17
Head of the American	28-Oct-17
San Diego Fall Classic	12-Nov-17
Head of the Harbor	?-Now-17
San Diego Winter Classic (tentative)	10-Dec-17
Gruenberg Cup	?-Mar-18
Lake Las Vegas Invitational (tentative)	?-Mar-18
Opening Day Regatta (tentative)	?-Mar-18
Parker Cup	?-Mar-18
Newport Regatta	?-Mar-18
San Diego City Champs	?-Mar-18
SDCC Banquet	23-Mar-18
SDCC Race	24-Mar-18
WIRA	28-Apr-18
Alumni Row	?-May-18
ACRA	26-May-18

Crew Classic 2017 Final Update

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Mar 312017

Aztec Alumni, Family and Supporters,

Crew Classic weekend is finally upon us and we’re looking forward to a great weekend of racing and catching up with old friends. The weekends events kick off with the Varsity 8 in Heat C of the American Specialty Health Cal Cup at 7:36 AM on Saturday morning. Then the 2nd Varsity 8 will start at 9:20 AM in Heat A of the Sharp Memorial Cup. Then the Novice 8 will close out the days preliminary schedule at 10:52 AM in Heat B of the Derek Guelker Memorial Cup. Those of you not attending the race in person can follow along on the USRowing live stream at https://www.youtube.com/user/usrowingorg and catch the results on the official results page at https://herenow.com/results/#/races/20339/heats.

After the acing events of the day conclude, we’ll also be returning to the tradition of hosting the annual meeting of the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation at 5:00 PM in the SDSU tent at the race course. This meeting is open to all alumni of the mens rowing program, and all current members in attendance will have an opportunity to vote on and/or run for a seat on the board for the upcoming year. If you’re not currently a member, the meeting will be a good time to make a donation of $25 or more to officially become a member. This year we know we will have a couple of board positions open, so please let us know if you have interest in serving for the coming year.

Sunday’s racing events will be determined by the results of the races on Saturday. All updated heat information will be posted on the results site at https://herenow.com/results/#/races/20339/heats as the heats complete and the lane assignments are drawn. Please check back for updated information.

In addition to any racing that happens on Sunday, we will also be hosting the annual BBQ at the team tent starting at about 11:00 AM. As usual, we will be serving carne and pollo asada burritos with all of the fixings that we’ll be grilling up on site.

We look forward to seeing you at the events of the weekend.

Go Aztecs!

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Nov 182012

Our coach, Doug Perez, frequently sends out emails to his many contacts. These emails can be sent as often as 3 or 4 times a week. I’m going to start posting some of these emails, so you can stay in closer contact with the team!

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