Do you have high
school rowing or other high school athletic experience?
Do you want to carry
on that athletic experience intercollegiately?
Do you want to be
the biggest BAMF out of all your friends?
Want to make your
parents, family, friends and community proud?
BEWARE! ROWING IS NOT
FOR THE FAINT HEARTED (literally) or UNMOTIVATED.
Why row in college?
Have the ultimate college athletic experience as a URI Oarsman.
Develop self-discipline, confidence, and make life-long friends.
Become fitter, stronger and bigger than you ever have been
in your life. Rowing experience almost always trumps any other
extracurricular activity you might put on your resume. Finally,
compete for one of the top club
rowing programs in New England.
If you are interested in rowing for URI, simply email Head
Coach Mike Mcdonald directly at
mfxmcd@townisp.com .
Want to see what rowing
is all about? Below is the "Inches" video produced
by the Canadian National Rowing Team:
2) Do you offer
scholarships?
URI is a club rowing program, and does not offer scholarships
based on athletic achievement. We do have several small endowed
memorial scholarships (like the Bill
O'Hara Memorial Scholarship) which are awarded to current
oarsmen who meet certain academic, character, and athletic
qualifications.
3) How big
is your team?
Team size varies from year to year, but on average we carry
between 30-40 athletes, or around 3-4 eights, including varsity(experienced)
and novice (inexperienced).
4) What is
the difference between Varsity and Novice?
Varsity is for those rowers who have at least a year of rowing
experience. If you are a high school rower coming to URI,
then you will row with the varsity as a Freshmen. Novices
are rowers with less than a year's experience. As a novice
in the fall of your freshmen year, we will teach you the basics
of the rowing stroke, how to row with a crew, and get your
formal training started.
5) What is
the practice and race schedule? Practice
and training starts in September to prepare for the racing
season in the spring. We may have some "Head-style"
races in the fall, such as Head
of the Charles, but our real focus is to train for sprint
racing from April through May. Practices are 6 days a week,
and training will take up anywhere from 2-3 hours a day. With
fluctuating training cycles, loading and tapering, the number
of hours per week may run as low as 12 hours or as high as
20. Your training hours per week will never exceed 20. Click
here for our racing schedule.
6) Will I have
time for both school and crew? If you
are a high school rower, or a year round high school athlete,
chances are that you are already managing the school/sport
balance. It will not be any harder in college. In fact, when
you get to college, your disposable time increases (as do
the amount of useless distractions). Regular and consistent
crew practice offers structure to help you stay focused on
the things that matter, school and rowing. Finally, we have
an entire team of 30 athletes who are clearly able to manage
school and rowing, and they weren't too different from you
in high school!
7) I heard
you have to be really big to row/Do you have lightweight crews? It is
true that, like many other sports, greater height and weight
offer an advantge. However, also like many other sports, how
hard you work, and how hard you "pull" will ultimately
decide on how successful you will be. We do not prioritize
leightweight rowing (crew average weight of 155lbs) but we
have had some very successful lightweight crews in the past.
What
is Rowing?
Nine insights to the sport of rowing from
USROWING.ORG
1. Rowing is a
total body workout. Rowing only looks like an upper body
sport. Although upper body strength is important, the strength
of the rowing stroke comes from the legs. Rowing is one of
the few athletic activities that involve all of the body's
major muscle groups. It is a great aerobic workout, in the
same vein as cross country skiing, and is a low impact sport
on the joints.
2. Rowers are probably
the world's best athletes. Rowing looks graceful, elegant
and sometimes effortless when it is done well. Don't be fooled.
Rowers haven't been called the world's most physically fit
athletes for nothing. The sport demands endurance, strength,
balance, mental discipline, and an ability to continue on
when your body is demanding that you stop.
3.
Sweep (like a broom) and Sculling (with a "c"). There
are two basic types of rowing: sweep rowing and sculling.
In sweep rowing, athletes hold one oar with both hands. In
sculling, the athletes have two oars, one in each hand.
4. The boat.
Although spectators will see hundreds of different races at
a rowing event, there are only six basic boat configurations.
Sweep rowers come in pairs (2s), fours (4s) and eights (8s).
Scullers row in singles (Ix), doubles (2x) and quads (4x).
Sweep rowers may or may not carry a coxswain (cox n), the
person who steers the boat and serves as the on the water
coach. All eights have coxswains, but pairs and fours may
or may not. In all sculling boats and sweep boats without
coxswains, a rower steers the boat by using a rudder moved
with the foot.
5. The equipment.
Today's rowing boats are called shells, and they're made of
lightweight carbon fiber. The smallest boat on the water is
the single scull, which is only 27 30 feet long, a foot wide
and approximately 30 pounds. Eights are the largest boats
at 60 feet and a little over 200 pounds. Rowers use oars to
propel their shells. Sweep oars are longer than sculling oars,
typically with carbon fiber handles and rubber grips (although
some sweepers still prefer wooden handles). Sculling oars
are almost never wood.
6. The Crew.
Athletes are identified by their position in the boat. The
athlete sitting in the bow, the part of the boat that crosses
the finish line first, is the bow seat or No. I seat. The
person in front of the bow is No. 2, then No. 3 and so on.
The rower closest to the stern that crosses the finish line
last is known as the stroke. The stroke of the boat must be
a strong rower with excellent technique, as the stroke is
the person who sets the rhythm of the boat for the rest of
the rowers.
7. Race watching.
The crew that's making it look easy is most likely the one
doing the best job. When watching a race, look for a continuous,
fluid motion from the rowers; synchronization in the boat;
clean catches, i.e. oars entering the water with little splash;
and the boat with the most consistent speed.
8. Teamwork is number
one. Rowing isn't a great sport for athletes looking for
MVP status. It is, however, teamwork's best teacher. The athlete
trying to stand out in an eight will only make the boat slower.
The crew made up of individuals willing to sacrifice their
personal goals for the team will be on the medal stand together.
Winning teammates successfully match their desire, talent,
and blade work with one another.
9. Rowing is the ultimate walk-on sport. (It's easier
to get started that you think.) US ROWING is a membership
organization that serves rowers of every age and ability from
the beginner to the experienced rower to the national team.
So there's definitely a place for you.
3.
Sweep (like a broom) and Sculling (with a "c"). There
are two basic types of rowing: sweep rowing and sculling.
In sweep rowing, athletes hold one oar with both hands. In
sculling, the athletes have two oars, one in each hand.