What IS rowing/crew?

Question

I'm interested in joining the crew team at my school, but I don't really know exactly what crew IS. I know you row in races but that's about it... Also, what does it take to be good at crew? As in, being strong in which parts of your body, cardio health, etc. I'm kind of nervous about joining because i've never done it before so I'm just trying to get some info about the sport. Thanks!

Answer 1

>I'm interested in joining the crew team at my school, but I

>don't really know exactly what crew IS.

Calling rowing "crew" is a US-ism. When you think about it, it's kind of like calling football "team". The sport is really called "rowing" and rowing teams--particularly the set of rowers in single boat--is called a "crew".

Other answers have explained the sport pretty well, so I won't repeat them. One clarification: the shorter races in the spring (in the US) are sprints, the longer races in the fall (called "head races") are endurance events. I've never even heard of a 1500 meter sprint, BTW. Here in the southeast, junior and collegiate sprints are always 2k, and master (adults) are often 1k. The 2k races usually last 7-8 minutes, and head races are more like 20-30 minutes.

>Also, what does it take to be good at crew?

Strength, fitness, determination, and technique. You might have the first three without ever having touched an oar, but technique will take time in a boat to develop. Being tall is an advantage. If you're very small and/or lightweight, you might want to consider coxing: the coxswain is the non-rowing member of the crew who steers the boat and tells the rowers what to do.

>I'm kind of nervous about joining because i've never done

> it before so I'm just trying to get some info about the sport.

Don't worry--almost nobody has any rowing experience before high school, and even some collegiate rowers had never rowed before. If you think you might like it, give it a try.

Answer 2

it really takes a lot of muscle to be on a crew team.  the upper body is pulling the oars, but the lower body has to be able to push the upper body.

Answer 3

To give you just the basic idea you can check out the US Rowing web site here http://www.usrowing.com/newtorowing/inde...

Hope that helps a little

Answer 4

It's possible to row for many different purposes: competition (most high-school races are 2000 meters in the spring and 3-5 miles in the fall), recreation (just for fun), and touring (going places in your boat), but high-school programs concentrate on competition--rowing in races, as you said.

Here is a page that USRowing put together for parents of high-school rowers, who typically don't know a lot about the sport until their child starts:  http://www.usrowing.org/parents/index.as...

Crew requires both aerobic capacity and physical strength.  I know it looks as though you are "pulling" the boat with your arms, but you are really "pushing" the boat with your legs, using your back and arms to a smaller degree.  Abs and core strength are also crucial.  The best world-class rowers tend to be tall, with long arms, but that isn't always true for the specialized classes like junior (high-school) and master (over 21 or 27).  There is also a light-weight category for women/girls under 130 pounds and men/boys under 160 pounds.

A good place to get information might be the team's web page or at a rowing demo on June 9, which is "Learn to Row" day at many clubs--USRowing has a list of clubs participating at http://www.usrowing.org/events_regattas/...

Why not attend one of your school team's regattas to see first-hand what it's all about?  I'm sure they'd love your support, too!

You can also try rowing at a summer program--check with your local clubs or call the coach of your school's team--before investing the time/money in a season of crew.  

Once you try it, I'm sure you'll be hooked!

PS  To clarify race distances for you and for joe s (below), juniors race 2000 meters at *all* official USRowing regional and national championships and at the FISA (international governing body for rowing) world championship regatta.  At local regattas, the distance can be as short as 1000 meters, depending on the body of water.  On the west coast of the US, most local regattas are held on 2000-meter courses (although the prestigious Brentwood College Regatta in British Columbia is on a 1500-meter course).  joe s is correct in his assertion that the scholastic rowing leagues in the Northeast race a 1500-meter distance.   Sorry, I should have made that geographical variation clearer.