Junior Austin von Dras loves to compete, in fact, he’s a self-described sports fanatic, yet people are always surprised when he tells them the sport he channels all that athletic energy into: rowing.
Few people are familiar with rowing as a sport other than some event they might have seen once on the Olympics, and even less are aware of its popularity here in St. Louis.
More and more students have been joining the St. Louis Rowing Club to compete against rowers from all across the country.
“I like rowing because it’s a challenging sport,” von Dras. “There’s a lot of traveling and racing, and colleges love it.”
Sophomore Roz Cuneo just began rowing this season and has grown to enjoy other aspects of the sport.
“I love going out on the water,” Cuneo said. “It’s fun to be out on the lake and meet girls from other schools.”
Regardless of which aspects of rowing people like best, its growing popularity has proven it’s a sport that appeals to all. The St. Louis Rowing Club has been growing larger and larger each season.
“Rowing is definitely a growing sport,” sophomore Katherine Nachbar said. Nachbar has been on the team for the past two seasons.
“The team’s really big this season, so I think people are spreading the word,” Nachbar said.
Von Dras agrees that rowing is quickly becoming more and more prominent in the sports world.
“Rowing is a really fast growing sport, its global,” von Dras said.
No matter the reason for the increased popularity, students certainly aren’t joining the St. Louis Rowing Club in hopes of finding a low-intensity sport. Rowing requires rigorous, six-days-a-week practices and a dedicated work out routine.
“Anyone can pick up the technique,” Cuneo said. “But to be a good rower, you have to be really strong.”
Rowers at CHS have been working on developing that strength and technique everyday after school as well as on the weekends. A typical practice involves a warm-up run, a work out, and practicing drills on the lake.
“There are a lot of ways to prepare for a rowing meet,” Cuneo said. “We typically practice drills to solidify our technique, do work outs such as erging, or stationary rowing, and run.”
The rewards of such hard practice come around about 12 times a year. Students compete against each other in regattas, where rowers from all across the country meet in one place to demonstrate what they’ve been working so hard on.
Though few know about rowing, it’s easy to see what attracts students to the sport and with if its rapid growth continues, people certainly won’t remain oblivious for long.