Thank you all for the wise words. I’ll have him refocus on staying on top of his academics. He’s a strong student, but over the past few weeks he’s been worrying about whether he made the right choice by not rowing for his high school team. The high school team is decent—we’re in Northern Virginia, where public school rowing programs are generally solid—but he really likes his coach and the private club, especially now that he’s built a history and strong connections there.
I also have a daughter in the same private club. She’s a coxswain, currently in 8th grade, and probably loves the sport even more than my son (which is saying something!). She’s also proving to be a very strong coxswain—she’s on track to be in top boats this competitive season, already edging out some senior coxes with several more years of experience. We had been considering whether she should shift to the high school team next year, but based on everyone’s feedback, we’ll table that decision.