<p>I'm an incoming freshman to Dartmouth and I'm interested in rowing crew. I've done it a few times before casually, but I have no real experience to speak of. I've been working my upper body and back pretty extensively this summer to prepare though, for whatever that's worth. I've heard that it's really easy to walk on to the crew team without experience at Dartmouth. Is this true? Are there different crew teams other than the actual varsity team, and if so, what are they? And how do I join? Do I talk to specific people at orientation? Are most of the people who join experienced, and if so, will I get laughed off if I try to join?</p>
<p>all i know is that crew is the only division 1 varsity sport that has a freshman team with its own league/championship because it is such a walk-on friendly sport. my friend rowed in high school and he says hes going to walk on at his college. i could be mistaken but i think there are 2 different types of crew: lightweight and heavyweight. you probably wont have much success on the heavy level if you arent really big though, and the lightweights that are recruited have marathon runner endourance. if you have previous aerobic experiance from a former sport you should be fine though</p>
<p>First of all, how big are you? If you're 165 or below, you want to blitz <a href="mailto:jsp@dartmouth.edu">jsp@dartmouth.edu</a>. That's Steve Perry, who's the lwt. coach. If you're above 175 or 180 or so, you should blitz Topher Bordeau, the new heavyweight coach. If you have good aerobic endurance and are reasonably strong, you should be able to hold your own. I think that there's going to be a bbq at the boathouse on Sept. 19 for freshmen to come down and see the facility. You will walk on to the freshman team, and there will most likely be a 1F and 2F boat, and that will get sorted out later in the year.</p>
<p>I'm 5'9 and 145 lbs... i run around a 6 minute mile (though it's been a long time since i've timed myself... i tend to run at a steady pace for distance nowadays for a workout). I can roughly bench my weight (only 1, maybe 2 reps though).</p>
<p>It sounds as if my weight would put me on the lightweight crew team... based the above, do I stand a chance of actually being a part of the team, or will I just walk on and then be politely asked to walk off?</p>
<p>My son was recruited for the crew team class of 2010. I believe that walk-ons are very welcome, especially someone in great shape like yourself. All first-year rowers are novices - even kids that rowed in high school. Also think about being a cox, you may be small enough.
Dartmouth has a fabulous crew house, right on campus! Crew is a great sport and a great way to make friends.</p>
<p>I believe walk-ons are very welcome. However, I've heard from several classmates that crew is probably the single most time-consuming sport at Dartmouth. Were it not for that, I probably would have tried joining.</p>