High School Crew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a minority who pays full tuition and he participates in crew. He's not the only one. Check your preconceived notions.

That's nice, but it's an overwhelmingly white sport in college and high schools.

And basketball has become overwhelmingly a sport for Afrocan-American makes. What of it? (or should teams put a quota on A-A's in order to have more diverse teams?)

Stupid AND racist -- a two-fer. (And great job defending the sport of rowing.)

So it's not racist to suggest that crew is a elite white sport yet it is racist to point out the obvious, that varsity, college and NBA are dominated by black athletes ?

[Anonymous]

Why are we letting them into crew? Aren't basketball and football enough?

[Anonymous]

I was a solid "B" student at a top private, and crew helped me get accepted at Georgetown, Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I was a varsity tower, but not best or biggest. So it can be a ticket to college if you have decent grades and are any good. And you have the body type required to succeed in competitive rowing in college. But it's not for the faint of heart. It's a big commitment timing wise, early mornings, long weekends, and lots of travel. Plus it can be very competitive and you're often competing against your friends and team-mates for seats which is not always easy.

[Anonymous]

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

As do the NoVA schools - W-L, Yorktown, McLean, TC Williams...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a minority who pays full tuition and he participates in crew. He's not the only one. Check your preconceived notions.

That's nice, but it's an overwhelmingly white sport in college and high schools.

And basketball has become overwhelmingly a sport for Afrocan-American makes. What of it? (or should teams put a quota on A-A's in order to have more diverse teams?)

Stupid AND racist -- a two-fer. (And great job defending the sport of rowing.)

So it's not racist to suggest that crew is a elite white sport yet it is racist to point out the obvious, that varsity, college and NBA are dominated by black athletes ?

One is reminded of the aphorism: "Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and the pig likes it." The fact that you seem to think these situations are analogous demonstrates that you don't get it, and likely won't no matter what arguments are made in response.

With that said, basketball is widely, widely played in this country, by all races and classes. If African Americans dominate the ranks of the NBA and many of the most successful Division I teams, it is because of merit. Rowing is not a broadly participatory sport for many reasons. Is there active racism in the sport today? I'm sure there is not in this day and age. Is there severe underrepresentation of anyone other than affluent whites in the sport? Yes. US Rowing has recognized this and has started programs to encourage participation among more diverse groups (similar to golf and tennis's outreach efforts to underserved communities, which have shown some success).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a solid "B" student at a top private, and crew helped me get accepted at Georgetown, Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I was a varsity tower, but not best or biggest. So it can be a ticket to college if you have decent grades and are any good. And you have the body type required to succeed in competitive rowing in college. But it's not for the faint of heart. It's a big commitment timing wise, early mornings, long weekends, and lots of travel. Plus it can be very competitive and you're often competing against your friends and team-mates for seats which is not always easy.

Curious when you rowed -- 80s or 90s? It can still be a ticket but check out Harvard's heavyweight roster -- very, very international. There are fewer "tickets" for American rowers than there were 25 years ago, although certainly still some (but I've seen it more at schools like Columbia and Penn).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a minority who pays full tuition and he participates in crew. He's not the only one. Check your preconceived notions.

That's nice, but it's an overwhelmingly white sport in college and high schools.

If people are serious about promoting socioeconomic diversity, the school crew clubs would earmark a significant amount of money for financial aid and make it clear that the school, not the parents, is in charge of the aid determination. That way not just the full-paying AA/Latino/White kids can row. Saying "rich people of every color can participate" is not a great recipe for diversity.

Why doesn't this happen? I will posit that it is for one of two reasons: (1) cost -- it's pricey to have to raise the money not just to fund the club and those sleek Vespoli shells, but to have a big enough pool to cover all potential financial aid need from year to year; and (2) competition -- parents who see crew as a potential ticket to a better college for their child don't have an incentive to expand the pool of potential competitors for places on the team.

Capital Rowing Club member again. I know I sound like a broken record, but folks should check out the Capital Juniors Rowing program because they do subsidize kids who can't pay for the program.

[Anonymous]

Non ivy-schools often give scholarships to rowers, since it's a great coed sport (title ix) and the equipment can be shared easily.

I rowed for 3 years in high school and 4 in college. Loved it. However, I do not know of one person from my college 8 that didn't end up with a nagging injury -- backs, hamstrings, wrists. It's not just the time on the water, but the year round conditioning with running, weights, etc. This is generally better in high school, and very coach-specific, but something to not ignore.

Two of our best rowers in college were AA walkons. One went to the Olympics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a solid "B" student at a top private, and crew helped me get accepted at Georgetown, Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I was a varsity tower, but not best or biggest. So it can be a ticket to college if you have decent grades and are any good. And you have the body type required to succeed in competitive rowing in college. But it's not for the faint of heart. It's a big commitment timing wise, early mornings, long weekends, and lots of travel. Plus it can be very competitive and you're often competing against your friends and team-mates for seats which is not always easy.

Curious when you rowed -- 80s or 90s? It can still be a ticket but check out Harvard's heavyweight roster -- very, very international. There are fewer "tickets" for American rowers than there were 25 years ago, although certainly still some (but I've seen it more at schools like Columbia and Penn).

+2. The crew recruits I know about aren't B students, and they're all the best of the best these days. Also, there are now a lot of recruits from Eastern Europe, which makes the competition even tougher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a minority who pays full tuition and he participates in crew. He's not the only one. Check your preconceived notions.

That's nice, but it's an overwhelmingly white sport in college and high schools.

If people are serious about promoting socioeconomic diversity, the school crew clubs would earmark a significant amount of money for financial aid and make it clear that the school, not the parents, is in charge of the aid determination. That way not just the full-paying AA/Latino/White kids can row. Saying "rich people of every color can participate" is not a great recipe for diversity.

Why doesn't this happen? I will posit that it is for one of two reasons: (1) cost -- it's pricey to have to raise the money not just to fund the club and those sleek Vespoli shells, but to have a big enough pool to cover all potential financial aid need from year to year; and (2) competition -- parents who see crew as a potential ticket to a better college for their child don't have an incentive to expand the pool of potential competitors for places on the team.

Capital Rowing Club member again. I know I sound like a broken record, but folks should check out the Capital Juniors Rowing program because they do subsidize kids who can't pay for the program.

That is great and worth getting out there.

[Anonymous]

What about crew for girls? Which high school has the strongest team? Who has the best program for summer rowing for a high schooler?

[Anonymous]

Generally Visitation or sometimes NCS, or the large VA public schools such as Madison and TC Williams (but presumably if you are asking you are thinking more of privates). Visi and NCS have fall crew (unlike the coed schools such as Sidwell and GDS, where the female athletes are needed for the fall sports teams since half as many girls at at all female schools such as NSC and Visi).

Summer rowing in DC usually out of Thompsons, but also lots of rowers go to college crew camps to get seen

[Anonymous]

Visi does not have fall crew.

[Anonymous]

It has really sucked with the long winter, and now the unpredictable weather. DS has an upcoming regatta this weekend, and TBC appears to be close today, and maybe for the rest of the week. They have gotten so little water practice this season.

NCS has the strongest girls crew in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has really sucked with the long winter, and now the unpredictable weather. DS has an upcoming regatta this weekend, and TBC appears to be close today, and maybe for the rest of the week. They have gotten so little water practice this season.

NCS has the strongest girls crew in DC.

GDS is a rising team this season.