Walking on to crew, what should I expect?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I'm walking on to Men's Lightweight Crew as a freshman and practice starts in a few days. I'm wondering what I should expect at the first few practices, preferably from someone who's been involved with the program in the last few years. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Bump da bump :D</p>

3

<p>Be prepared to work your butt off! I hope you’re in good shape because the first few weeks are plain brutal! I’m not familiar with the lightweight program but you’re going to be mostly conditioning and doing tank work before being allowed to go out on the water. This is to a) weed people out who aren’t cut out to be rowers and b) teach you basic techniques before actually going in a boat.</p>

4

<p>Someone told me that after a while there’s a triathlon that we must all complete, with erging a certain distance, running 4.2 miles, and doing a full stadium workout as the components. Any truth in this?</p>

5

<p>Yeah that’s all true. The triathlon consists of a 7500m erg, a 4.8 mile run, and a full stadium. The team does it sometime toward the end of November.</p>

6

<p>It’s pretty brutal.</p>

7

<p>Holy crap. What kind of time constraints are there for the triathlon? Do you think the team practices are enough to prepare for it, or should I do extra workouts? Lastly, got any extra tips like what workouts are best outside of practice? Thank you so much for the help!</p>

8

<p>Believe it or not, your body will adjust pretty quickly to the amount of physical activity assuming you take the training seriously. I’m not a distance person, but running 4 miles felt like nothing afte a month of rowing. I’ve done cross-country before and it felt brutal, but something about training on the erg makes running long distances easy.</p>

9

<p>So I’m slowly adjusting, and I had one last question: Do we get any free stuff for being on the team?</p>

10

<p>Yes, but you have to “earn” it. You don’t really start getting equipment (uni, etc) until spring season.</p>

11

<p>Do we get jackets? I’m trying to decide if I need to buy a new one</p>

12

<p>You’re a walk on. They recruit. Why don’t you see how things go first before you start thinking about stuff.</p>

13

<p>You do eventually get a splash jacket but hold off on buying anything. A LOT of walk ons end up quitting after winter break. Only the best get to go on the Florida trip.</p>