Since being among the original sports of the modern Olympic games, rowing has blossomed into an intensely competitive sport. Although rowing gets little publicity compared to other high-powered sports such as football and baseball, many CHS students have found it to be special in different ways.
The sport itself is a unique one. Teammates sit facing forward in a long boat either “sculling”, meaning to have an oar in each hand, or “sweep rowing” with both hands on one oar. The key is to keep one’s strokes in sync with that of your teammates’. This proves to be quite difficult, but for junior Katherine Nachbar, it’s her favorite part.
“My favorite thing about rowing is that it is a team sport,” Nachbar said. “No one can slack off without affecting the speed of the boat. Every single person has to do their best.”
Nachbar has been rowing for a year and is already adjusted to its intense conditioning schedule. She is a member of the St. Louis Rowing Club, which practices six days a weeks and throughout the entire year. The team has regattas on Creve Coeur Lake, and in the winter the rowers condition on rowing machines.
Rowing is the second most aerobic sport next to cross country skiing. It focuses on upper body strength, but also targets many leg muscles and abdominal muscles, too.
Freshman Alex Watkins started to row for the St. Louis Rowing Club last year and says that she has never been so passionate about a sport before.
“My favorite thing about rowing is the way I feel after my team wins,” Watkins said.
Both Watkins and Nachbar defined the sport as the ultimate team sport, as rowers are literally in the same boat as their teammates. Every stroke of the oar affects the group.
Tim Franck, who has been coaching for five years at the St. Louis Rowing Club, says that rowing is all about technique.
“It takes several weeks, even months, to learn the technique,” Franck said. “But once you’ve got it, you can get right into the sport.”
Franck’s favorite thing about rowing, like Watkins, is the competition.
“Everyone has to train hard and support each other,” Franck said.
For Watkins, her introduction to rowing was overseas.
“I lived in Italy for a year,” Watkins said. “There, the sport is huge! I rowed a lot but stopped until high school.”
Rowing as a competitive sport has gained publicity through the annual, highly anticipated Harvard v. Yale regatta. The rowing opportunities among Ivy Leagues is what influenced Watkins’ choice to pick the sport up again.
Nachbar also enjoys rowing for a much different reason than sportsmanship.
“I love that rowing has its own vocabulary and set of words,” Nachbar said.
Rowers have adopted phrases such as “catching a crab” to mean oar problems and water conditions, yet another thing that makes the sport so unique.
“Catching a crab means to have the oar swing back and hit you,” Watkins laughed.
Although it is not well known, rowing is popular among some CHS students because of its true team spirit and exhilarating work out routine.