What is Crew?

Question

I've never heard of this sport, until someone answered my other question. What do you do? How do you prep for going out for it? Requirements? What are the (if any) positions? How often is practice? etc...

Check out my other questions, thanks! : 3

Answer 1

Simply put, crew is rowing. Local high school crew around here practices daily like every other sport. To go out for crew make sure you are STRONG and ready to work hard! And it helps to be able to pee in a boat without hesitation hahaa... Here's more info:

The positions are rowers and a coxswain. The coxswain (pronounced cox-ən; often called the cox or Coxs'n) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering.

To be more specific and taken from Wikipedia: Whilst rowing, the athlete sits in the boat facing backwards (towards the stern), and uses the oars which are attached to the boat at the rowlocks to propel the boat forward (towards the bow). This may be done on a river, lake, sea, or other large body of water. It is a demanding sport requiring balance as well as physical strength and cardiovascular endurance.[2] Racing boats (usually called "shells") are long, narrow, and semi-circular in cross-section in order to reduce drag to a minimum. Originally made from wood, shells are now almost always made from a composite material (usually carbon-fibre reinforced plastic) for strength and weight advantages.

There are a large number of different types of boats. They are classified using:

Number of rowers. In all forms of modern competition the number is either 1, 2, 4, or 8.

Position of coxswain. Boats are either coxless ("straight"), bow-coxed (also called bowloaders), or stern-coxed.

For more, check the Wiki article below!

Answer 2

I don't know about women's crew but i know for guys height is a very important criteria.. i think they like long arms and legs :)   but who knows.. depends on your school?  or crew team...

Answer 3

i've done crew for 5 years, so I can answer your question.

Alright, crew is rowing. The boats are as follows:

Single

Pair

Coxed Pair

Double

Quad

Coxed Quad

Four

Coxed Four

Eight (always coxed)

Octuple (thats a pretty rare boat type...but that is also always a coxed boat).

There are 2 different kinds of rowing: sweeping, and sculling. If you are going out for your team at a high school or college, you will probably be sweeping. It means that you have one oar. Sculling is 2 oars. The sweeping boats are the pair, four, and eight. the other ones are sculling.  

You will probably be rowing in an eight. If not that, then a four, but you will probably learn on an 8 because they are the steadiest boats. The boats are called "shells". There are multiple companies that make boats, but it won't make any difference really at the beginning.

I'm not gunna lie...it's hard. It's frusterating at first. Very frusterating. But, if you stick with it, you will probably like it, and you will be sucked into the crew lifestyle :) (like me!)

So, what do you do? The rowing stroke is as follows. At the catch (the "beginning" of the stroke) you put the blade in the water. this is when you're seat is all the way up, and your arms are over your knees. Then, the stroke is Legs, Back, Arms. The seat rolls (most neglect to notice that, but its probably the single most important thing in rowing). So, you push off the foot stretchers (in a nutshell...foot stretchers are shoes on a board that you push off of). Ok, so once you pushed your legs down, then you follow with back swing, and arms pull in. Then, you release the blade, and come up the slide again (arms, then back, then legs). You'll learn that when you start though.

To prep for it. I'd say that you should contact the team and tell them that you want to try it. Maybe they will take you out in the coaches launch (coaches motor boat that goes aside the crew during practice) and then you will see the team in action, and decide if you want to try it. Then, if you choose, you can see if you can get in a boat. If its in the middle of the season, then it'll be harder. It depends on where you live what seasons you do, but a good time to start is the summer because there are camps and clinics for inexperienced people like you. Thats the best way to start. There is a machine, called the "ergometer" (aka erg), which is a "replica" of the rowing stroke. there is a handle which is like the oar which is connected to a fan, and a rolling seat. They probably have one at your local gym, but i wouldn't suggest trying to erg first. I definetly suggest getting in a boat first.

There really aren't many "requirements" for rowing, you just need to know how to swim. You can be big, or small to do it. But, If you want to row, you have to be big. You can still be on crew and be small. I'm 5'1" and I'm a coxswain. The coxswain (pronounced "cox-in) is the one that pretty much steers, and motivates. they tell you when to row and such. They are like a mini-coach...in the boat. So, from your other question you said you are 5'6". You would definetly be a rower. You need to have endurance, but if you don't, then thats ok, you'll pick it up if you get really into crew. There have been girls on my team with no endurance and they were really weak, but they stuck with it and now they are good.

The positions are the coxswain, and the seat you row. either 8,7,6,5,4,3,2, or 1. (that would be in an 8). I dont think im gunna explain the seats and placement, because you'll learn that when you try it. They'll probably go over the whole thing with you before you even step in the boat.

Practice for high schoolers is once a day, usually after school for 2-3 hours. Right before big races, the boat may choose to practice before school to get extra prep in. In the summer and on vacations, be ready to get up early. Crew is known as the "early-bird" sport. Practice may be as early as 5:00. If you go to college, teams practice anywhere between 1 and 3 or 4 times a day, depending on how competitive your team is.

So, that was really long, but its hard to explain it short. Its a competitive sport, and I suggest you try it!!!

Good luck! let me know if you need more information!!