rowing

[Anonymous]

A lot of people posting here have no idea what they're talking about. My daughter was recruited for lightweight rowing to Princeton. That means she had to weigh in at under 130 pounds...for boy lightweights 160 pounds. Heavy weight boys have no weight limit nor do "open weight" girls.

Mine started rowing after 7th grade in a summer program. She went to a private school here. There were some kids on her summer team from BCC and Whitman who were recruited...one was a cox recruit at Harvard. When daughter was being recruited, we bought some books about recruiting from Amazon. They were very helpful. I just googled to find some free information about the recruitment process for rowing:
https://crewconnection.squarespace.com/recruiting-101/college-recruiting-101. In addition to summer rowing for club team, daughter rowed for HS team. Not for the faint of heart, but she loved it. It is true that it is easier for girls to be recruited than boys. That is because of Title 9. Schools have to balance numbers of girl sport recruits to boys. So since there are bigger boy teams such as football, baseball, etc., that doesn't leave slots for boy rowers.

AMA - daughter loved HS + college rowing. She left college rowing after 2 years because of injuries from other sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people posting here have no idea what they're talking about. My daughter was recruited for lightweight rowing to Princeton. That means she had to weigh in at under 130 pounds...for boy lightweights 160 pounds. Heavy weight boys have no weight limit nor do "open weight" girls.

Mine started rowing after 7th grade in a summer program. She went to a private school here. There were some kids on her summer team from BCC and Whitman who were recruited...one was a cox recruit at Harvard. When daughter was being recruited, we bought some books about recruiting from Amazon. They were very helpful. I just googled to find some free information about the recruitment process for rowing:
https://crewconnection.squarespace.com/recruiting-101/college-recruiting-101. In addition to summer rowing for club team, daughter rowed for HS team. Not for the faint of heart, but she loved it. It is true that it is easier for girls to be recruited than boys. That is because of Title 9. Schools have to balance numbers of girl sport recruits to boys. So since there are bigger boy teams such as football, baseball, etc., that doesn't leave slots for boy rowers.

AMA - daughter loved HS + college rowing. She left college rowing after 2 years because of injuries from other sports.

How tall are lightweight rowers, usually? Did you or she worry about weight gain in college? I’d hate to have a kid focusing on maintaining weight for any sport.

Bummer she got injured, what else did she play?

Was she always a morning person?

[Anonymous]

Fair point on lightweight opportunity for more typically sized people. However, aren’t there about a dozen lightweight women’s teams vs about a hundred open weight teams?

It is possible, but not as common.

[Anonymous]

Light weight women at the elite level are usually around 5'8", 130. And super strong! The ones I've known have been distance runners.

[Anonymous]

Olympics are moving from lightweight rowing to coastal rowing and a lot of schools are dropping lightweight rowing because the weight restrictions/cutting are so crazy/dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fair point on lightweight opportunity for more typically sized people. However, aren’t there about a dozen lightweight women’s teams vs about a hundred open weight teams?

It is possible, but not as common.

Is lightweight even an NCAA sport? All the programs I've heard of are club+. You can't get "recruited" for a non-varsity sport.

[Anonymous]

All the men on HYP lightweight rowing I know were 6”0+. The weight cutting was pretty brutal.

[Anonymous]

OP, get her to try out the sport. It's very different from a sport that requires running a lot. It's primarily a strength sport where short bursts of intense endurance is required. The recruiting angle is very much dependent on the erg times. It's just not possible without an extremely competitive erg time because you'll be blown out of the water with int'l athletes or within the transfer portal. So before giving up a sport she's good at (and could potentially be recruited for), I'd see how well she stacks with strength. She has a long runway if she's in 8th grade but you have to be able to develop strength.

Also, I don't think you can just row for a high school team and think that will get you recruited to top schools. High school rowing typically has winter conditioning and a spring season where they perform at a set number of regattas. That's honestly not what top schools are looking for in a recruited rower. They want to see the year around training and regatta experience. That's why the elite private schools have an advantage. But ultimately, you'll primarily be judged on your erg metric. It's the only way to tell who on a 1V boat is getting the job done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recruiting aside, it is worth mentioning that many clubs allow dedicated walk ons. A friend’s reasonably tall son was an academic admit at Bowdoin. To bridge the purported narp/athlete divide, he showed up for the rowing info session and joined the team. He’s actually decent, does not feel the pressure to perform that the recruited kids feels, and now has friends in all sorts of groups on campus. Don’t underestimate the opportunity to walk on D3. This option is for hard workers only. It’s less transactional than recruiting, and can lead to a deep sense of satisfaction and discipline.

There are enough people who love and promote the sport for lifelong fitness, the relationship to the water, the ability to be part of a team in perfect sync and the friendships that grow from the time together that it takes to achieve that state.

The sport only benefits as more people become interested. The elite pathways are well worn, but many programs take newcomers.

(Finally, I will share that I had a private laugh when reading the recent angsty posts from parents of daughters worrying about how were they ever to find a tall mate, from a pedigreed family, who attend(s/ed) an elite university? Well, there are usually about 60 of them in one location at the same time everyday on campus. On many campuses, in fact. Start there, ladies. Start there.)

Guessing the OP does not actually care abut the rowing part but is looking for an admissions boost

OP here — I do care about the sport. As I mentioned my child is pretty athletic and plays another sport (that is also very expensive and very hard to play in college even at D3 level), so I was wondering about having her switch and if it’s too late. She does happen to be tall and her sport requires running around the court so could translate well to rowing.

DP here. What grade is your kid in? If she's in 10th or younger, then it's not too late. Honestly it's too late if she's in 11th.

If she's still young enough, then see if she can do a trial with the crew team after her sport season ends. She'll know pretty quickly if her erg scores are competitive. If she's tall, strong, and has good endurance, then she has a shot.

PP here - just saw that your kid is in 8th. It's not too late at all. Have her do a 2 week trial or a week of summer camp to see how her erg scores stack up. Rowing technique takes a little longer, but the erg scores will show the potential.

An athletic, coordinated, tall, strong kid could absolutely start in 11th. The right kid could do a fall season with novice rowers, train all winter and be in a good boat in spring. It's one of the easiest sports to join late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought there used to be lightweight rowing. Is that not a thing anymore? Then you can “only” be 6’0, no?

Well, my DD is 5’ 9.5” and 125 so you can actually be both. She’s long and lean. Started crew in 9th at our public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, get her to try out the sport. It's very different from a sport that requires running a lot. It's primarily a strength sport where short bursts of intense endurance is required. The recruiting angle is very much dependent on the erg times. It's just not possible without an extremely competitive erg time because you'll be blown out of the water with int'l athletes or within the transfer portal. So before giving up a sport she's good at (and could potentially be recruited for), I'd see how well she stacks with strength. She has a long runway if she's in 8th grade but you have to be able to develop strength.

Also, I don't think you can just row for a high school team and think that will get you recruited to top schools. High school rowing typically has winter conditioning and a spring season where they perform at a set number of regattas. That's honestly not what top schools are looking for in a recruited rower. They want to see the year around training and regatta experience. That's why the elite private schools have an advantage. But ultimately, you'll primarily be judged on your erg metric. It's the only way to tell who on a 1V boat is getting the job done.

Thank you for this information. What if rowing is not offered at DC's school but DC is active year-round at one of the local clubs? Would that be a significant disadvantage for getting recruited to college for rowing compared to the kid who also has a high school rowing team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There are enough people who love and promote the sport for lifelong fitness, the relationship to the water, the ability to be part of a team in perfect sync and the friendships that grow from the time together that it takes to achieve that state.

I respect your opinion and admire that you can wax poetic based on your experience and memories, but imo it is an awful sport. This thread reeks of striver parents searching for an athletic hook for their tall and potentially goofy/unathletic kids. Let your kids play volleyball or soccer for the luv of god - let them have some fun.

signed,
former goofy ivy rower

Why do you assume rowing is less fun?

It’s brutal. My kid rowed all 4 yrs of undergrad. Had to get up at 5 every morning & practice 6-8 am. Often in nasty weather. The team cohesion & mutual support that stem from shared sacrifice & agony are what keep most kids from quitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recruiting aside, it is worth mentioning that many clubs allow dedicated walk ons. A friend’s reasonably tall son was an academic admit at Bowdoin. To bridge the purported narp/athlete divide, he showed up for the rowing info session and joined the team. He’s actually decent, does not feel the pressure to perform that the recruited kids feels, and now has friends in all sorts of groups on campus. Don’t underestimate the opportunity to walk on D3. This option is for hard workers only. It’s less transactional than recruiting, and can lead to a deep sense of satisfaction and discipline.

There are enough people who love and promote the sport for lifelong fitness, the relationship to the water, the ability to be part of a team in perfect sync and the friendships that grow from the time together that it takes to achieve that state.

The sport only benefits as more people become interested. The elite pathways are well worn, but many programs take newcomers.

(Finally, I will share that I had a private laugh when reading the recent angsty posts from parents of daughters worrying about how were they ever to find a tall mate, from a pedigreed family, who attend(s/ed) an elite university? Well, there are usually about 60 of them in one location at the same time everyday on campus. On many campuses, in fact. Start there, ladies. Start there.)

Guessing the OP does not actually care abut the rowing part but is looking for an admissions boost

OP here — I do care about the sport. As I mentioned my child is pretty athletic and plays another sport (that is also very expensive and very hard to play in college even at D3 level), so I was wondering about having her switch and if it’s too late. She does happen to be tall and her sport requires running around the court so could translate well to rowing.

DP here. What grade is your kid in? If she's in 10th or younger, then it's not too late. Honestly it's too late if she's in 11th.

If she's still young enough, then see if she can do a trial with the crew team after her sport season ends. She'll know pretty quickly if her erg scores are competitive. If she's tall, strong, and has good endurance, then she has a shot.

PP here - just saw that your kid is in 8th. It's not too late at all. Have her do a 2 week trial or a week of summer camp to see how her erg scores stack up. Rowing technique takes a little longer, but the erg scores will show the potential.

An athletic, coordinated, tall, strong kid could absolutely start in 11th. The right kid could do a fall season with novice rowers, train all winter and be in a good boat in spring. It's one of the easiest sports to join late.

Reread what I said. I said that if pp's kid is in 11th *NOW* then it's too late. No decent coach would seat a brand new novice rower in the middle of the spring racing season.

Fall of 11th grade is the latest to start and have a shot at being recruited to good D1 schools. But it's mid-February.

[Anonymous]

We have a friend who is rowing recruit for a NESCAC school. Had other D3 options that people on this forum would kill for. He knew early on where he was going.

[Anonymous]

I know a girl who switched to crew in 11th and was recruited. From a public school, believe it or not.