<p>I'm going to be a second year this fall, and one of my incoming-freshman friends asked me to check out crew (rowing) with her once school starts. I wanted to join last year, but didn't know where to look/go so it never happened.. now that I'm starting my second year, should I even bother with joining a sport? My school is Division II btw.</p>
<p>Let me just add, I spent a ridiculous amount of time last year being homesick and lonely so I haven't joined any extracurriculars whatsoever, nor have I made much friends outside the girls who lived on the same floor as me. I'm hoping joining crew would help me branch out more and distract me from having more negative feelings this year.</p>
<p>Also, I'm planning on doing grad school (public health, maybe), and I know an internship/job would look better than a sport, but would a sport look good? or help my chances in anyway?</p>
<p>On top of that, I'm also in dire need of a job this year. Is managing time between sports, academics, and a part-time job going to be possible...?</p>
<p>Nooooo don’t do crew!!!
I never participated in rowing personally (save for the ergs at the gym) but know people who have/one of my apartment mates used to be on the crew team.
At my university, the crew kids go to bed at 9 pm, wake up at 4 am for practice. At a school as nerdy as mine where sports teams get little recognition for most things, whether the crew team does well or not goes almost entirely unnoticed. I even asked my apartment mate about what he thinks and he suggests definitely not doing it. It’s a huge time commitment, really hinders your social life (if I had a nickel for everytime I heard someone say, “I can’t, I have crew in the morning…”), and it would probably be very difficult to juggle doing well in school, a varsity sport, and a part-time job. </p>
<p>And in my (humble/uninformed) opinion, yes comparatively speaking a job or internship in a related area would look much better than a sport. </p>
<p>Perhaps my views are somewhat jaded, or perhaps speaking as someone who never participated in this activity my thoughts aren’t worth as much, but still, I really don’t think it’s a great idea.</p>
<p>The previous post really does have some points about crew…</p>
<p>Check the times you would be rowing, because a lot of crews row in the early morning. Mens crew at my school is 2pm-4pm (which many find more preferable), while the women have to wake up early (before 6am).</p>
<p>If time is not an issue then maybe look on YouTube to learn or get a friend that knows how to row/erg. Hop on an erg and try it out.</p>
<p>It’s one Hell of a workout if done correctly.</p>
<p>If you can deal with the physical aspects and you really want to do it, then do it. I joined Quidditch at my school and met a lot of great people.</p>
<p>don’t do a sport because you think it would look good on a resume. do it if you like it. you’ll be cramped up in a boat as wide as your hip, and you will need really good cardio and strong legs. it would be better if you’re tall, because they can row farther and do more work per stroke. and yes, it will take a lot of time like maybe 10 hrs/wk excluding competitions.</p>