Rowing

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. My dd will be in her first year of college this year (hopefully) and her college wants rowing walk-ons. Is someone who is 5”3, 118lbs, with long legs too small to do rowing? I don’t mean cox. TIA.

[Anonymous]

There is a separate lightweight category (under 130 or 135 pounds, I don’t remember).

[Anonymous]

What’s her erg score?
If she doesn’t have an erg score, does she have mile and 5k times?
How much weight can she add when she’s lifting heavy (if she has in the past?)
What sports did she do in h.s?
What type of college? D1? Ivy? D2? Nescac? D3? How established is the team? Depending on your answer, the college will have different expectations for a walk-on. For example, I know girls who were technically walk-ons at their school but had already had national-level success. And others who were small like your DD but made 3V and 2V boats are D1 programs by their senior years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s her erg score?
If she doesn’t have an erg score, does she have mile and 5k times?
How much weight can she add when she’s lifting heavy (if she has in the past?)
What sports did she do in h.s?
What type of college? D1? Ivy? D2? Nescac? D3? How established is the team? Depending on your answer, the college will have different expectations for a walk-on. For example, I know girls who were technically walk-ons at their school but had already had national-level success. And others who were small like your DD but made 3V and 2V boats are D1 programs by their senior years.

Pp is right. It really depends on the program. If it's Division 1, unlikely that she will be able to walk on but there are lots of schools with less competitive programs that would welcome her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s her erg score?
If she doesn’t have an erg score, does she have mile and 5k times?
How much weight can she add when she’s lifting heavy (if she has in the past?)
What sports did she do in h.s?
What type of college? D1? Ivy? D2? Nescac? D3? How established is the team? Depending on your answer, the college will have different expectations for a walk-on. For example, I know girls who were technically walk-ons at their school but had already had national-level success. And others who were small like your DD but made 3V and 2V boats are D1 programs by their senior years.

Mile is 6:20, 5k is 22:00 (fastest official times). Not D1 or Ivy. Did cross country, track, indoor track, and briefly swimming in hs. She can do a lot of
Pushups and pull-ups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s her erg score?
If she doesn’t have an erg score, does she have mile and 5k times?
How much weight can she add when she’s lifting heavy (if she has in the past?)
What sports did she do in h.s?
What type of college? D1? Ivy? D2? Nescac? D3? How established is the team? Depending on your answer, the college will have different expectations for a walk-on. For example, I know girls who were technically walk-ons at their school but had already had national-level success. And others who were small like your DD but made 3V and 2V boats are D1 programs by their senior years.

Mile is 6:20, 5k is 22:00 (fastest official times) in running. If that’s what you meant. Not D1 or Ivy. Did cross country, track, indoor track, and briefly swimming in hs. She can do a lot of Pushups and pull-ups.

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP with all the questions.

Here is some advice:
1) is school D2? If D2, check the team roster. Some of them, for example, Florida Tech, bring in a ton a international rowers who are tall and experienced. That could make walk-on a challenge but some teams need to fill boats and would still welcome one.
2) is school D3? Again, check roster, but might as well contact the coach and express interest and ask about when the pre-season meeting will be. Many programs (even Div 1 ones with tons of success) will have a recruiting meeting during freshman orientation if it’s the week before fall classes.
3) if answers to 1 and 2 above are encouraging, talk to friends, upperclassmen, or anyone else you know about a summer fitness/workout plan. If you live in the DC area, there are definitely kids doing training for fall and it would be easier to work out with a friend.
4) learn to erg, if you have access to a Concept 2, but don’t learn to erg from anyone who isn’t already a strong rower with good form or your DD will get made fun of (best case scenario) or hurt (worst case). Fall will be about learning to row and race (for novices) and getting fitness, so any fitness that can be gained now will help a lot
5) depending on where you live and what’s open, find a summer club learn-to-row program to see if your DD actually likes rowing. I’ll never forget my roommate quitting rowing after putting a ton of work in because she realized she liked being in a boat and watching waterfowl but could not care less about racing.