<p>Youtube ‘St. Ignatius Vs. Shrewsbury Recording/Tribute’ and ‘2010 Wilkinsons cup, Rowing. cox version’. I would say they’re both pretty good examples.</p>
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<p>My daughter was a ‘walk on’ at Princeton, after having rowed for several years in high school.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Harvard, but at Princeton, the decisions are not made by the student… ie, getting seat placement, assignment as rower or cox, etc - it will be decided by the coaches. They are not interested in what you want to do; their focus is on building a winning team.</p>
<p>I suggest that you contact them in advance, and tell them you haven’t rowed; tell the other sports you’ve done. Ask them what they expect from walk-ons (ie, folks who haven’t rowed before).</p>
<p>Chances on, they’ll have certain endurance tests etc for you to do; if I remember correctly, my daughter had to pass an erg test (rowing machine, which she was familiar with).</p>
<p>Once you know the requirements, you can decide whether or not to spend your summer preparing for the ‘entrance exam.’</p>
<p>The time commitment on this is intense, it means giving up a lot of other really wonderful opportunities, and you’ll be at the ‘bottom of the heap’ - meaning you’d attend practices, but it’s highly improbable that you would set foot in a boat for a race, as a walk-on. </p>
<p>My daughter did not stay with the team long; she was too light to be a heavy-weight, but had to watch every morsel she ate so as not to be too heavy for the lightweight team. At 5’7" she was too short to be a competitive rower with the other girls on the team.</p>
<p>^^Harvard and Princeton could be different from MIT, but my guess is that the novices (people who haven’t rowed before) generally start from scratch. Generally, the first month they teach the novices how to row in addition to training. Practicing on the erg could be counterproductive if they don’t have proper technique. If you want to train ahead of time you might want to start running 1-2 miles or more. But it’s not necessary to do stuff in advance. </p>
<p>Also, I doubt they would force anyone to be a coxswain if they didn’t want to. The coaches certainly will decide the seat arrangements, but cox is not even the same animal so they won’t force that. From my recollection Harvard and Princeton both had a number of freshman boats (at least 4), so you didn’t have to be super-great to be able to compete. I knew a guy who was like 5’ 7" who rowed on the third boat (novice) of Princeton. He didn’t have exceptional strength or endurance to make up for his height either. My point is that if you are enthusiastic and do the workouts, they’ll let you compete somewhere.</p>
<p>Thing is, when I start something, I want to become really good at it. So if my height prevents me from becoming one of the better rowers, then I’m more inclined to become a coxswain…</p>
<p>^ I understand what you’re saying about wanting to be good at what you do but I hope you are actually enthusiastic about being a coxswain (rather than just doing it as an alternative to rowing). Surely you will not be a very good coxswain if you lack passion for the role.</p>
<p>^Plus, you can always switch over to coxswain after freshman year. Even if you don’t make the 1st boat, you can compete in the Head (and Foot) of the Charles and the Eastern Sprints, and win medals. It’s a pretty cool experience if you can handle it.</p>
<p>Coxswain is a totally different animal from being a rower.</p>
<p>Whenever I start something, I always put all my heart into it. So if I wasn’t interested in becoming a coxswain, then I wouldn’t be planning on doing it. Sure, I wanted to be a rower, but from hearing all the advice from people here, it doesn’t seem plausible.</p>
<p>Though I will say I’m still not 100% positive that I want to let go of my desire to be a rower…would strength help make up for my height? I’m thinking that even if I tried to make up for my height with ridiculous strength, it’d never be enough. Am I right in thinking that?</p>
<p>Thanks again for everyone’s input. I know it seems like I’m obsessing over crew, but I like to do a lot of research on possible future activities before I commit to anything. This way, when I do finally commit, I’m 100% positive about it and can focus all my attention on it without any worries.</p>
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<p>It depends. No one on here knows how good an athlete you are. Leg strength is very important.</p>
<p>I remember a rower on Yale’s first boat (freshman) that looked like he was 3 or 4 inches shorter than me, making them 5’9 or 5’8". So yeah, it is possible.</p>
<p>Regarding leg strength, freshman year when I did track, I did the 4x100 relay with the upperclassmen.</p>
<p>^^Considering what you just said, I think it’s worth trying out. Given that Harvard’s 1st boat will have experience and be conditioned, if you can make the 2nd boat after a semester then you may be able to work your way onto varsity. Rowing doesn’t require that much skill (and the feel for when to pull and when to let the boat run out under you will probably be natural to you since you’re a good athlete), so you’ll probably know pretty quickly if you’re suited for it.</p>
<p>I think I remember that MIT’s lightweight team had a guy who was relatively short (5’9") who made the national team. And there was a guy who was 6’2"-6’3" that made the olympics in heavyweight men’s rowing. Most of the heavyweight rowers are 6’5"-6’6" or even more. So it’s possible…</p>
<p>OP is female, 5’2"</p>
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<p>I’m not trying to be negative, but, think you are swimming upstream, and there are better uses for your time.</p>
<p>@mtpaper</p>
<p>since you deem it to be near impossible, then what sport do you suggest i do?</p>
<p>^You could always try sailing. Or skiing if you are a good skiier.</p>
<p>Those are the only other sports I’ve heard of that you don’t have to have experience in competition before arriving. You probably already know if you can walk-on in the other sports you do.</p>
<p>My daughter is a walk-on rower for Williams and loves it. The cox does not work out with the team as their job is directing and encouraging/pushing during the work-out. But, other teams use their cox differently and on the men’s team they work out with the team. They welcome all walk-ons, no matter what height or weight. Everyone who sticks it out gets a position on a boat. Several of the walk-ons have converted to cox. It probably differs from Harvard as it is division 3 (but a very successful and dominant division 3 program) and I suspect fewer recruits and therefore, more dependent on walk-ons. Most of the novice rowers are new to the sport and get a year to be brought along. The fall season is less competitive and a good opportunity to see if you like it. D is short compared to the others, so just has to work harder (unfortunately no light-weight program there). I would show up for practice and see what happens. D loves it partly due to the intense work-outs.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I believe I’ll take GTalum’s advice and do what his/her daughter does and just work harder to make up for my height.</p>