By Katherine Kelly, Reporter and Designer
& McKenna Anderson, Reporter and Staff Artist
Crew is usually associated with long hours and hard work. No matter what the weather is like, rowers make sure to put their nose to the grindstone and keep it there. Rowing in freezing waters almost everyday is not for the faint of heart, and the crew team is well aware of this.
Many rowers participate in the sport to continue it in college, or in their later lives. The girls team captain, junior Riley Lynch, is one of many who wishes to continue the sport in college.
“In the near future I would like to row in college, and possibly with the Under-23 national team,” Lynch said.
Winter training is the optional period of time between when fall season ends, and when spring season begins. Not all athletes have to participate in this portion of the year, but many athletes who are aiming for a varsity position do.
“[I participated in winter training] because I think it’s a really important part of developing yourself as an athlete,” Lynch said. “If you’re truly serious about the sport, you have to find any time you can in order to train when others are not training.”
Junior rower Emma Greenlee is also looking to possibly row in college, although she is looking to go to a school for the academics first.
“Rowing would be a secondary thing,” Greenlee said. “I’d pick the college that I want to go to, and maybe there’s rowing there. I did participate in winter training because I want to make boats that I’m in go as fast as I possibly can. Winter training is a good way to do that. My goals for this year is to improve technically, and physically.”
Over the past five years, the team has competed in Youth National Championships and has had the fifth-most boats in the nation for Youth Nationals. Out of nearly a thousand junior rowing clubs in the United States, 35 different boats from the team have qualified from 2012-2016.
Vashon Crew members have obtained athletic scholarships to universities such as University of Washington, University of California, Princeton, Tennessee, Northeastern, Oklahoma, Boston University, University of San Diego, St, Mary’s, Temple, Miami, and Dartmouth. Those who go for scholarships get at least partial awards, even if they do not receive full scholarships.
Many of the events the team attends are even well known in the sport.
“We send crews to the Head of the Charles in Boston, MA, which is the largest rowing regatta in the world, attended by many Olympians and world champions,” head coach Richard Parr said.
For the team to be able to reach their potential, they need motivation, and the coaches offer nothing less than their full support to each member.
“We like to develop all of our rowers as people — I know that sounds corny, but it is something that Tom (the other coach) and I take VERY seriously,” Parr said. “We tend to coach in a way that encourages personal development and athlete ownership of what they do.
“We have a great bunch of eighth and ninth graders, and seeing them develop confidence and life skills is always a priority for our program,” he said.