<p>Anyone rowing next year or is currently on the rowing team? can u give me more details about practices and 2k times and such. thanks!</p>
<p>i'd like to know about this too.. is it hard to join rowing (or any sport) if we don't have much experience? i haven't even been on a sports team since middle school.</p>
<p>Some sports are clubs, rather than members of the athletics department. Rugby and ultimate frisbee come to mind in that category, and the teams are open to all students. I'm pretty sure that the dorms each have mostly-for-fun crew teams, and you can also take a sailing class for PE credit. There are also intramural sports organized by community members.</p>
<p>I don't know much about the teams associated with the athletics department. At least some of them probably take participants with no experience, but you can find substitutes for them fairly easily if you only want a regular activity that gets you moving.</p>
<p>When I visited Wellesley, there was one freshman girl who joined rowing and had no experience in it beforehand, so it is possible to join. She loves it and from my understanding, the practices are very intense. However, I think one thing she mentioned is that height is considered for whether or not you are allowed to join? Not positive about that, but I think that is one factor.</p>
<p>hmm... so is it good to be tall or short? I'm.. medium. ha.</p>
<p>thanks for the answers.</p>
<p>im actually a current rower and im deciding between Boston College (div I) and Wellesley rowing (div III) . Obviously division I is more intense than Div III but i just wanted to know specific differences. I think that Wellesley crew does not officially practice in the winter so to anyone thats currently on the team, what do you guys do during the winter and any other info would be great! </p>
<p>also, height is important in crew,, coaches do like tall girls but if you're strong, have good technique, you can make up for the height. As long as ur medium size,, (idk what u consider medum size) then u should be fine. I'm 5'7 and am considered shorter-average size rower.</p>
<p>Rowing has a varsity team and a novice team. The latter is for people who have limited to no prior experience. I have no idea what the tryouts are for rowing, but I do know that if you look at top rowers, they're all tall and have broad shoulders.</p>
<p>In addition, there's class crew and dorm crew. This is a lot more laid back and for fun. It's a tradition that goes back to the 1800's, I think. Basically, there's a race out on the lake for class crew in the fall, and dorm crew in the spring [the order might be switched, I don't remember]. </p>
<p>Most of the other varsity sports have recruited athletes on the team, but I'm pretty sure they have open tryouts at the beginning of the season as well. I have no idea how competitive it is for each sport; my suspicion is that it'll fluctuate from year to year.</p>
<p>Club sports (rugby, ultimate frisbee, equestrian team, sailing, water polo... I can't remember any more) are open to all students, regardless of skill level. Many of the teams are quite good and will compete against other schools and participate in tournaments around New England.</p>
<p>monv84 (and anyone else interested)-</p>
<p>I am currently a varsity rower at Wellesley. I started rowing my novice year with absolutely no experience. Granted, I've grown up doing sports, but there are plenty of people who start rowing for Blue Crew with little or no athletic ability/experience. You (anyone) may wonder how this is even possible, but the majority of people on the varsity team started off as novices. So to start this post, if you're interested in rowing or any new sport, Wellesley is a GREAT place to give it a shot.</p>
<p>Now monv84, I have to say, your post is the reason why I reregistered for CC just so I could respond...</p>
<p>ROWING AT WELLESLEY IS AMAZING!!!</p>
<p>I'm abroad studying in London right now, and hands down, the one thing I miss the most is being away from the team. ESPECIALLY during spring/sprint season. I'll try to give you an idea of what being on the team is like, but please feel free to respond with more questions. I'll do my best to answer them all.</p>
<h1>1) The coaching staff is incredible. I'm not sure if you've already been in contact with them, but Tessa Spillane is the head coach and probably one of my favorite people.. ever. She'll push you further than you ever thought you were capable of, both as a person and as an athlete. She and our novice coach, Becca Carleton, came to Wellesley from Lewis and Clark College three years ago, and I have to say, their arrival has probably been the best thing that could happen to Wellesley Crew.</h1>
<h1>2) You'll come to notice that the crew team is close-knit, but not smothering in the sense that you can definitely have a life outside of crew. I know from experience how important it is to have an outlet other than rowing and that's entirely possible/encouraged at Wellesley. Our athletes are involved with so many other things on campus in case you're worried that you won't have time for anything else. For example, our 1V cox (and one captain) is a member of the hula club, another captain and a sophomore rower are members of the Blue Notes (one of the campus a cappella groups), and the third captain, apart from being a member of the improv comedy group 'Dead Serious,' just received a Fulbright to study religion and politics in Turkey next year.</h1>
<h1>3) Practices are every morning (Mon - Sat) and "optional" workouts in the afternoon (no afternoon workout on Sat). I'll be honest with you, our goal is NCAA this year, and we've been putting the work in to get us one step closer with every regatta, so the reason why optional is in quotes is because everyone is really committed in making this team even better.. and basically, everyone does it. It's optional because we are Division III, so if you can't make it to an afternoon workout, it's not the end of the world, but what's nice is that the team is a social bunch who like to work out together so you're almost guaranteed to never have to lift/erg alone.</h1>
<h1>4) I don't know what your high school program is like, but I can assure you that Wellesley Crew isn't based on numbers and erg scores. You can be successful and in the first varsity boat even if your number isn't in the top 8 of your team. Tessa takes so much more into consideration and works hard to try to make us see rowing/erging in a different light. She always says that we are a "rowing team" and not an "erging team," and apparently, this mentality works. People's scores drop significantly throughout the season so I wouldn't worry too much on where you're at right now. If anything, Tessa will be more concerned with how you do on the water and your coachability. So if you're flexible and willing to trust her and her coaching, I have no doubt in mind that she can make you a better rower and an awesome asset to the team.</h1>
<h1>5) I forgot to mention, practices are in the early mornings. The bus leaves campus at 4:45 and returns by 8am for those w/ 8:30 classes. Tessa is really good at getting us back on time. We usually take over the dining hall (either Tower or Pom) for breakfast, which is a nice way to start the day. We share the Charles with a lot of other schools/scullers, but see BC quite often since we used to row out of the same boat house. They're in there pretty early as well from what I can remember.</h1>
<h1>6) I almost forgot about your question regarding Winter Training. Referring back to what I said earlier about the team being "in it to win it," our fall season officially ends at the end of October, but Tessa gives us an "optional" workout to follow that goes all the way until we meet again in February. As a DIII school, you probably know that Tessa can't "coach" us in any way during Winter Training. This may seem like a downer, but it's actually a nice way to mesh with everyone without having the coaches around. Basically, we're in there helping each other out, lifting together, giving advice with technique, etc. If you want specifics, our workouts alternate from erging, lifting with the Strength and Conditioning Coach, circuits, and hills depending on the day. Usually it's 2 days of erging, 2 days of lifting/circuits, a day of cardio besides erging, and hills on Saturday. When we come back in February, the weeks leading up to Spring Break when we are together as a team again is probably one of the most rewarding experiences because you can see and feel yourself getting stronger. It's awesome. And Spring Break, haha, wow.. ridiculously good time. Hard work, definitely, but we're all in Georgia together (Lake Lanier where they had the '96 Games), just growing as a team and building on everything we've established so far.</h1>
<p>Ok, I can go on and on about Wellesley crew, but I'll just wait and see if you have any other questions that I can answer. If you want my email address, let me know, as I would be happy to talk with you more about all of this. Congrats on Wellesley and Boston College. I just realized that I was in a similar situation as you back when I was a senior, choosing between those two schools. Well, minus the rowing thing. :)</p>
<p>what is "erging" ? and is it possible to start as a sophomore? whats the dorm crew like?</p>
<p>An ergometer is to a treadmill as running is to rowing in a boat. It's essentially like a stationary rowing machine and can be used for teaching good technique, testing rower's abilities, and all around training. At Wellesley, we erg in the afternoons as part of our secondary workout, usually 2 or 3 times a week.</p>
<p>It is absolutely possible to start as a sophomore.. or even as junior if you're interested! I know that one of the novices this year is a junior, in fact.</p>
<p>Dorm crew is very different from varsity crew. I'm not familiar with all the specifics, but normally, people on the crew team will volunteer as coaches for the different halls and teach people how to row. Practices are a few times each week and scheduled at a time convenient for everyone. Since most of the coaches are on the varsity team, dorm/class crew practices are usually in the afternoon. There is a race at the end of the semester between the different halls/classes and it's always fun to watch.</p>
<p>Essentially, if you're looking for a taste of what rowing is like (basically the gist of the rowing motion with some technique and racing strategy thrown in) and want a fun way to help fulfill the PE requirement, dorm/class crew is a great option. However, if you're looking to see what it's like to be part of the crew team at Wellesley, I would suggest signing up for the novice squad in the fall and giving it a shot.</p>
<p>rev09-
I was accepted to Wellesley this year and am trying to make the college decision between Wellesley and a D1 school with rowing.</p>
<p>What is the boathouse like on the Charles River (you said that you used to share it with another team)? How many boats does the team have? Are there ergs at the boathouse on the Charles and are there ergs on campus?</p>
<p>thanks,</p>
<p>Do rowers get any sort of financial aid boost at Wellesley?</p>
<p>Hi eg0441,</p>
<p>Wellesley is a Division 3 school. That means that no athlete - regardless of sport - gets an athletic scholarship. However, all students - athlete or not - would be eligible for need based aid. Wellesley only offers need based financial aid; there are no merit scholarships or special talent scholarships, like for music or art or leadership.</p>
<p>Thank you for the answer! It was wishful thinking on my part.</p>