If you want to learn how to casually
putter about a lake in a traditional rowboat, there are a variety of places you
can learn to row a boat. Check with your local parks department, YMCA/YWCA, scouts,
boys & girls club, or other youth organization for rowing lessons. But if you
want to learn competitive rowing (i.e., the sport of crew), you need to learn
from a program set up by a rowing program at a school or rowing club.
A competitive
rowing boat, more properly called a shell, is built for speed, not stability.
The sides of the boat are only a few inches above the water line, and the boat is
very narrow, with barely enough room to fit your hips inside the boat. So for safety's
sake you don't want someone trying to learn on their own, without supervision. Even
experienced rowers have unexpectedly found themselves in the water quite a few times,
for a variety of reasons.
If you aren't
attending a school that has a rowing program, or homechooling, you should look for a rowing club.
Most rowing clubs aren't listed in the phone book – at least not in a way
you could find them. The best way to find a rowing club in your area is to do a
search on the internet – use your favorite search engine, simply type in rowing
and your location, and you will probably find some good results. Rowing used to
be confined to only a few areas of the U.S, but in the past decade it has grown
greatly throughout the country.
Generally,
there are three types of rowing programs: Junior programs, which are primarily
for high-school age rowers; collegiate programs, which is for competition in
college; and masters, which are for rowers 25 years old and older. When choosing
a rowing club, check to make sure they have the type of program you need. You will
find that most rowing clubs are quite enthusiastic about recruiting new rowers.
Be aware that
rowing has several seasons, so your rowing program may want you to begin at one
of those seasons. The biggest season for junior rowers (high school age) is in
the spring, concluding with the US Rowing national junior regatta in Cincinnati
in June. But most rowing programs also have some programs for the summer and fall,
also. If you already participate in a sport, you can simply row in the off-season
for your other sport.
A beginning
rower (called a novice for their first year of rowing) will probably be expected
to pass a swim test before beginning training. But after that, most rowing clubs
expect that you won't have any prior experience, and will teach you everything you
need to know. Quite a few college rowers never even picked up an oar before joining
a crew team. In fact, one of the members of the undefeated Univ. of Washington Men's
Varsity Eight (2007 national champions) had never rowed before college, or really
competed in any sport prior to rowing.
Rowing is
also a bit of an unusual sport in that it doesn't require a specific body type or
talent to do well. It is true that long and lean is considered the ideal for
rowing, but at the junior level it doesn't make much difference. What the rowing
coach is looking for is somebody who is willing to take instruction, work hard,
and has the heart to compete.
But make no
mistake – competitive rowing is an athletic sport, and you will be working
very hard to build strength, endurance, technique, and teamwork. Quite a few rowers
who participate in other sports report that they worked at least as hard, if not
harder, in rowing as they did in football, track, basketball, swimming, and wrestling.
Expect to spend a lot of practice time on land building strength and endurance
- running, weight-lifting, wall-sits, erging, etc. A favorite tee-shirt worn
by rowers is one that says Real Athletes Row – Everybody Else Plays Games.
But it really
is worth it? You bet. The discipline and teamwork you learn as a rower can't be
matched in any other activity outside of the military. A local businessman once
said that he would always hire a rower before anyone else. "They know the value
of hard work, teamwork, and discipline. You can't learn that in too many other places
these days". In general, kids who become rowers tend to be better all-round
persons than the average high-school athlete. There is a running joke in some college
circles that they keep the rowing programs going so they can double the GPA of the
entire athletic department. The friends you make rowing will often last you a lifetime
– some people refer to it as the fraternity of rowing.
Rowing certainly
looks good as an outside interest on any college application. It is not unusual
for college rowing coaches to recruit high-school rowers, passing out college applications
along with a return envelope marked athletic department, which is sure to provide
some added benefit.
Your parents
might also be interested in rowing as a college scholarship source, especially with
respect to high-school age girls. Title IX requires all U.S. colleges to have an
equal number of scholarships for both men and women. Since the football teams take
up an inordinate number of scholarships in a sport in which women don't participate,
colleges have been setting up rowing programs around the country to provide an outlet
for their women-athletes.
So check it
out – I think you will be glad you did.
Copyright
2007 by NorthwestRowing.com – used by permission. A guide to rowing and sculling in the U.S. Pacific Northwest - featuring rowing club directories; rowing classified ads; rowing scholarship information; rowing products; and links to rowing articles, humor, pictures, and books.