<p>^^ Depending upon the OP’s location and her child’s age, there are summer camps with a focus on crew. This might be the best intro. –
That
Every single club or rowing program has a “learn to row” program for absolute beginners. Its worth trying to see if you like the sport.</p>
<p>In terms of an ERG, while a used on for 500 may be a good price, what of storage? The thing is like having an extra size large teenager in the room. Even when folded. But beyond bulk, I would have issue with what you say about technique. How can a newbie perfect their own technique if they do not know it in the first place? You would need an instructor. To use the golf club analogy - you will not purchase a set of clubs and let your kid loose on the neighbors’ lawn (or at least for your neighbors sake I hope you wont). You would teach your kid in an appropriate setting , or if you dont play yourself, you would bring your kid to a place where they do. Same with crew.</p>
<p>You can’t learn technique on the ERG (no oars, no boat, no water), but that’s not what it’s for. You ERG to improve strength and stamina. You row a boat to learn technique. I do agree that you should determine whether or not you like rowing on water first before investing in equipment. As for size and bulk of an ergometer, you can say the same thing about many pieces of fitness equipment. If you don’t the space to set it up or store it, then the local gym or fitness club are your alternatives.</p>
<p>+1 on the endorsement of St. Andrew’s (DE) as a strong crew school. These things change year to year of course, depending on the kids in the program and who graduates…but I’d say that SAS is a very crew-centric school. Having the boathouse and course on campus helps.</p>
<p>Not that the gear makes the program, but SAS has a bazillion shells, including some apparently very high tech boat the varsity mens 8 uses.</p>
<p>My daughter tried the sport for the first time ever last year and rowed in the Freshman B boat, but had a fun time and we had a great time at the handful of regattas we attended. Great camaraderie with fellow parents, teachers, and staff. Pretty sure she’ll go out for it again this year.</p>
<p>There is a certain technique to rowing quickly on an erg, but an experienced rower can teach a newbie how to do it. I know this because my kid has taught a friend from home who is two hours’ drive from the nearest rowing club but hopes to be recruited by a D3 school. We live in a small house (not in Paris, unfortunately!) and the thing does take up a lot of room. However, it stands on end, so it takes up less floor space (when it’s not in use) than most exercise equipment.</p>
<p>While I hate to defend a competitor :} , SPS’s new boys coach hasn’t been there long enough to prove his strength in terms of wins, but he’s already piping kids into the junior national program, which is, I’d argue, more important when it comes to college recruiting than an individual school’s win-loss record. If you go to the U.S. Rowing site, you can see which prep schools have sent kids recently to development and selection camp. </p>
<p>The best crew teams often have a competitive season for both fall and spring crew. Other teams do quite well with club crew in the fall and competitive crew in the spring, but my kid would probably say that the teams that have varsity rowing in the fall have a competitive edge (his school doesn’t).</p>
<p>^^ What classicalmama said - someone has to teach a newbie to use the correct erg technique. In her son’s case, he did a nice thing and did it for a newbie. If the Op doesnt have classicalmama’s type of son around the ERG won’t help him.
In terms of listing schools with good crew teams - the OP asked “which BS has the highest ranked regatta crew team”. The answer to that would be Kent.
full disclosure - son rowed for a competitor of Kent, and I have zero contact with anyone on the Kent crew team, or at the school.</p>
<p>Agree with nhmm (my son’s team loses regularly to Kent). NEIRA rankings are pretty darn accurate in terms of the best teams. Mind you, both Andover and Exeter beat Kent in overall points at NEIRA’s this year. But their teams are deeper, with more students to draw on. Overall, all of the top NEIRA teams are great.</p>
<p>I was jumping beyond the OP’s original question, making assumptions about why someone might want to go to a school with a top-ranked team. Deerfied, SPS, Exeter (those are just the ones I know) all have strong links to the U.S. Rowing program, which is a fantastic next step for athletes who want to take rowing to another level. And with a coach who’s in the loop, little prior experience to rowing is necessary–some of those kids got on an erg for the first time a season or two before going to camp.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that New England does not hold a monopoly on strong crew teams. I would throw St. Alban’s and Gonzaga (DC area) into the mix as well.</p>
<p>That said, for a school to invest in an indoor tank as I think Kent has, says A LOT about the importance it puts on rowing.</p>
<p>Sorry, I have no idea which boarding school has the best crew team.</p>
<p>However, it might be good to know exactly why youre asking.</p>
<p>Ill assume from your post …</p>
<p>*Are there a few schools that are consistently regarded as being in the top three or five? Also, how can you get involved in crew before starting high school *</p>
<p>… that youre interested in rowing when you get to high school. Thats a great thing. But going to a school with the best crew team is not necessarily a great thing … for you.</p>
<p>You will be a lot less likely to make the team or row in regattas if everyone else on the team are top rowers and better than you.</p>
<p>Just keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Personally, Id rather play than sit on the bench. YMMV. Good luck.</p>
<p>Exeter has a very strong crew program. I was sad to see, however, that they only do spring season. I do crew yearround, but then again I live in the west coast.</p>
<p>And on the topic of ergs, it’s a basic motion of body-legs-arms. And then arms-legs-body. Go on YouTube and type in “Rowing machine technique” or “Rowing motion.” It’s basic once you have the proper technique. Although, everyone mainly focuses on the rowers more so than the coxswains, which is what I am.</p>
<p>Rizzle: Exeter does have club crew in the fall, and lots of the varsity rowers prepare for the spring season there. It’s not as rigorous as year-round competitive crew, of course. Cross-training does have its benefits in the winter season, and varsity rowers at Exeter get recruited every year to Ivies. That said, crew on the West Coast is a whole different ball game, and I think lots of the Exeter rowers would love to have a competitive fall rowing season, to have the chance to row competitively in 4’s and pairs.</p>
<p>Ah, I see. We learn something new everyday! West coast and east coast rowing is also different in the sense that we have mainly on eight’s over here, while they have more four’s over there. I do know they had an eight in 2008 at USRowing Junior National’s. Can you give any insight on whether they prefer coxswains or rowers?</p>
<p>I don’t know who has the best crew team because that will probably depend on the student body of each particular year. But I would guess that Saint Andrew’s School, Delaware (SAS), probably has among the finest facilities, equipment and program, given that the school sits on it’s own 2.5 mile lake, with it’s facilities right on the water, steps from the dorms. The campus itself sits on 2,200 acres. Crew is probably the most active sport program of the school with almost 50% of the students participating. Schools from miles around come to SAS to compete, And SAS occasionally competes in the Royal Regatta in the UK. Here they are defeating Eaton College: [SAS</a> vs ETON - YouTube](<a href=“SAS vs ETON - YouTube”>SAS vs ETON - YouTube)</p>
<p>It’s actually “legs, core, arms”, with 60% of the power derived from the legs, 20% from core and 20% from arms. The return is characterized in reverse “arms, core, legs”.</p>
<p>For women’s crew, Exeter has a strong program recently (crew fall and sring) and their coach was just voted best junior coach at Nationals; they also won the Henley women’s regatta in England.</p>
<p>@strangeusername: I think it’s more like 30% (100 rowers out of about 300 kids)…but still very high percentage of kids in crew program. The facilities and equipment are great…and as you note, the boathouse is right on campus, steps from dorms, classroom buildings, etc. — no bus needed. Great spectating area for SAS fans, and I hear the visitors area across the way is good too.</p>
<p>I think SAS has enough space in their program to pretty much have a seat for anyone who wants to row/people who have never rowed before…you might be in a thirds boat, but I don’t think there are “cuts” per se. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>@SevenDad - my daughter was encouraged by the girls NOT to do any kind of summer rowing program so as to not miss out on the “new-to-crew-bonding” that takes place.</p>
<p>We got the impression that getting cut wasn’t an issue.</p>