High School Crew

[Anonymous]

What has been your experience with High School Crew?

[Anonymous]

The best thing that ever happened to my daughter. Crew tends to attract a lot of diligent, hardworking kids and she has found her love in the crew team.

[Anonymous]

What crew is not:
A ticket to Ivy League or college recruitment
A source of external validation or recognition from peers
Easy
Inexpensive

What crew is:
A way to make a small group of very close friends
An outlet for intrinsically motivated kids to push themselves
An incredible workout
A way to spend time outdoors, on the water
A place where "non-athletic" kids can find pride in their physical accomplishments

Crew has been one of the defining experiences of my son's high school experience. But he is very hard-working and has a lot of internal drive. He's done it because he finds it rewarding for itself, not for anything external that might come with it (because not much does - I don't think a classmate has ever been to a single race).

It is also a tremendous time commitment, with morning weight room workouts, and then a long round-trip drive from school to the water every day, that often has him not getting home until close to 7:30. Take a shower, eat dinner, and homework doesn't even start until 8, unless he works on the bus - which happens sometimes, though not as often as it probably should. It also sucks when you have only a handful of races all season, you get up before dawn on the weekend for a long drive to get there, and then it's cancelled by high wind - like last week's race in Baltimore.

But it's been great for him: the friends, the coaches, the self-discipline, the pride in his accomplishments, and the time management skills he's learned. Plus I'm not too upset when he's too tired to go out on the weekends, or has to get up at 5 a.m. Saturday to go to a regatta, or doesn't want to put harmful substances in the body that he's worked so hard to get in peak condition. And I've made better friends with parents, huddled together for warmth on a river bank 100s of miles from home, than anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What crew is not:
A ticket to Ivy League or college recruitment
A source of external validation or recognition from peers
Easy
Inexpensive

What crew is:
A way to make a small group of very close friends
An outlet for intrinsically motivated kids to push themselves
An incredible workout
A way to spend time outdoors, on the water
A place where "non-athletic" kids can find pride in their physical accomplishments

Crew has been one of the defining experiences of my son's high school experience. But he is very hard-working and has a lot of internal drive. He's done it because he finds it rewarding for itself, not for anything external that might come with it (because not much does - I don't think a classmate has ever been to a single race).

It is also a tremendous time commitment, with morning weight room workouts, and then a long round-trip drive from school to the water every day, that often has him not getting home until close to 7:30. Take a shower, eat dinner, and homework doesn't even start until 8, unless he works on the bus - which happens sometimes, though not as often as it probably should. It also sucks when you have only a handful of races all season, you get up before dawn on the weekend for a long drive to get there, and then it's cancelled by high wind - like last week's race in Baltimore.

But it's been great for him: the friends, the coaches, the self-discipline, the pride in his accomplishments, and the time management skills he's learned. Plus I'm not too upset when he's too tired to go out on the weekends, or has to get up at 5 a.m. Saturday to go to a regatta, or doesn't want to put harmful substances in the body that he's worked so hard to get in peak condition. And I've made better friends with parents, huddled together for warmth on a river bank 100s of miles from home, than anywhere else.

This is a great assessment -- overall -- of crew.

[Anonymous]

Crew isn't limited to the privates in this area. MoCo has crew teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What crew is not:
A ticket to Ivy League or college recruitment
A source of external validation or recognition from peers
Easy
Inexpensive

What crew is:
A way to make a small group of very close friends
An outlet for intrinsically motivated kids to push themselves
An incredible workout
A way to spend time outdoors, on the water
A place where "non-athletic" kids can find pride in their physical accomplishments

Crew has been one of the defining experiences of my son's high school experience. But he is very hard-working and has a lot of internal drive. He's done it because he finds it rewarding for itself, not for anything external that might come with it (because not much does - I don't think a classmate has ever been to a single race).

It is also a tremendous time commitment, with morning weight room workouts, and then a long round-trip drive from school to the water every day, that often has him not getting home until close to 7:30. Take a shower, eat dinner, and homework doesn't even start until 8, unless he works on the bus - which happens sometimes, though not as often as it probably should. It also sucks when you have only a handful of races all season, you get up before dawn on the weekend for a long drive to get there, and then it's cancelled by high wind - like last week's race in Baltimore.

But it's been great for him: the friends, the coaches, the self-discipline, the pride in his accomplishments, and the time management skills he's learned. Plus I'm not too upset when he's too tired to go out on the weekends, or has to get up at 5 a.m. Saturday to go to a regatta, or doesn't want to put harmful substances in the body that he's worked so hard to get in peak condition. And I've made better friends with parents, huddled together for warmth on a river bank 100s of miles from home, than anywhere else.

This is a great assessment -- overall -- of crew.

+1, based on my experience with a son who did crew in high school.

[Anonymous]

It definitely is not a ticket to the Ivy. People sometimes think that because the kind of kids who do crew are often the kind who are very successful in school. Those acceptances usually have very little to do with rowing though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Crew isn't limited to the privates in this area. MoCo has crew teams.

As does DCPS.

[Anonymous]

DC just started crew as a freshman this year in FCPS. Great sport to watch. The level of fitness needed requires workouts that I think are a very good alternative to the academic pressures of entering high school. Watching the regattas is an experience. It takes a lot of time, work, money for various fees, and energy from the rowers and parents to get them places. And you won't make family spring break travel plans because that is prime training season. But so far DC loves it and we do too.

[Anonymous]

It was a great ticket to the Ivies for my dd and many of her guy/girl friends from elite privates

[Anonymous]

I was a high school rower, college rower, and still now occasional recreational rower. Rowing was life changing for me. It did things for my confidence and comfort in my skin that swim team never did. I don't know why that is, but there is something about sitting in a narrow sliver of wood connected to 7 other people making a boat go very fast that is just...magical.

[Anonymous]

And okay, I just dated myself by saying a boat is a sliver of wood. Sliver of fiberglass composite.

[Anonymous]

From a spectator perspective, I think it's a lot of waiting to watch your kid whiz by for 30 seconds. Or so I've been told.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It definitely is not a ticket to the Ivy. People sometimes think that because the kind of kids who do crew are often the kind who are very successful in school. Those acceptances usually have very little to do with rowing though.

Didn't I see on another thread that a bunch of the kids on the GDS rowing team are going to Harvard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From a spectator perspective, I think it's a lot of waiting to watch your kid whiz by for 30 seconds. Or so I've been told.

This part is true. But the other parents are usually much better to hang out with than your average travel soccer parent. I've done both, and the former are usually chill and friendly while that latter range from nice to ... downright psychotic.