Athletics and the FSU Seminoles go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sports like football, soccer, baseball, and basketball can sometimes be a bit of a “spotlight thief” when it comes to Volleyball, Tennis, Water Polo, or even Rowing. But what about crew?
Remember that scene in “The Social Network” where the Winklevoss twins were desperately trying to win their regatta? Yeah, regattas are really that intense. (A “regatta,” for anyone who doesn’t know, is a crew meet like a track meet or swim meet) Interestingly enough, Harvard was one of the racers participating. Rowing happens to be one of the oldest intercollegiate sports within the United States, having begun (according to www.gocrimson.com) about 150 years ago when Harvard went head to head with Yale in a regatta. Ever since then, rowing (or Crew as it’s known in the collegiate world) has taken the scene by storm and has even made its way into the Olympics.
At first, the idea of rowing a boat may come across as easy or something that anyone can do, but outside of the physical demands that it makes, there is a lot of mental toughness required in order to maintain focus while training and racing. Erin Cornfield, a junior and member of FSU Crew and a women’s 8 vasity racer, says that the “coxswain helps guide the girls as they row and gives us motivation to keep racing. The 2k sprint is one of the most mentally and physically taxing activities in the athletic world and because of how much work it requires of our body; sometimes we don’t always remember actually having raced. The coxswain also makes sure we don’t pass out while racing”. For those thinking they can handle that kind of rigor, FSU Crew trains five days a week, where three out of the five days have the racers up and practicing by 5:45 in the morning until about 8 a.m. at Lake Talquin.
While the practices may dissuade a potential member of crew, it’s not anything that should be a complete turn off from joining. The FSU women’s crew has created amazing dynamics and family like relationships amongst the girls because of the amount of time that they spend together. It’s also not a pre-requisite to have had prior rowing experience. As the FSU Crew club has boats of four and eight that are categorized under “Varsity Men, Varsity Women, Novice Men, Novice Women, and occasionally Lightweight Men and Women”. No matter your experience level, there’s a place for anyone willing and dedicated to the hard work that is put into rowing crew for FSU.
For those interested in possibly joining Crew, this coming Saturday, April 6th, the FSU Crew will make its way down to Sarasota, Florida for FIRA (Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association). The Regatta will be held at Nathan Benderson Park and will be a great way to get a bit of an insight into what all the hard work will result in. At their last race in Gainesville, GA, the Crew team had to deal with pouring rain which led to setbacks in the race times. Hopefully, the weather will remain cloudless and not too windy as they take on Nathan Benderson Park. If you have the opportunity to go and cheer FSU Crew on down in Sarasota, make the trip and lend them all the support you can as a fellow Nole.