Anonymous wrote:
Anyone know about crew teams in MD -- looking like we'll wind up at BCC, Walter Johnson, Whitman or Churchill... How hard is it usually to make a high school crew team anyway? Is it considered Varsity or a Club sport?
In Arlington County and Alexandria, crew is a varsity sport partially funded by the school system (coaches' salaries, bus transportation, and other miscellaneous fees). But most of the funding is still on the students and their families. Annual dues can be as high as $500, and there are usually fundraising requirements. There are scholarships for students who can't afford the dues. Even in Montgomery County, DCPS, and Fairfax County where crew is a club sport, it is an officially recognized sport by the schools and students receive varsity letters... All students make the team, but coaches determine who rows on what boat. The varsity 8 is the elite boat for most crews.
For this upcoming season, in Maryland and DC, B-CC should be one of the top teams with Whitman a close second. For the privates, St. Albans and Gonzaga have relatively new rowing programs (about 18 years) but they are perennial powers. In Virginia, the strongest public school programs over the past few years have been Yorktown, W-L, Madison, and TJ.
High school rowing is a cherished DC tradition. The oldest high school programs are W-L (1949), TC Williams (1966), and JEB Stuart (1966).