Indiana University Athletics
IU Rowing Team Holds Annual Walk-On Clinic
9/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
Sept. 13, 2006
The Indiana women's rowing team began its annual learn-to-row event on Monday, August 28, with a combined men's and women's rowing clinic. The clinic, which concludes on Friday, Sept. 15, will help the Indiana coaching staff select members for its novice teams. Indiana students interested in rowing should contact assistant coach Fran O'Rourke at (812) 856-1156 or by e-mail at forourke@indiana.edu for details on how to try out for the team. The team practices at Lake Lemon at 6:30 a.m. or 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Below are O'Rourke's reflections on the clinic so far.
The first meeting was held at the south side of Assembly Hall, followed by the first challenge of the clinic: a run to the team's ergometer room at University Gymnasium. The introduction to rowing began at the Hoosier's on-campus training facilities, which are shared with Indiana's volleyball and wrestling teams in the University Gymnasium, also called the U School. The U School holds more than 25 of the team's rowing machines, or "ergs."
After a short run to the erg room, brand new rowers-to-be took their first-ever strokes as Hoosiers. Prospects new to rowing learned the order of the basic stroke - legs, body, arms, arms, body, legs - as well terms such as "sit ready at the finish," "pause at body angle," "hang on the handle" and most important, "weigh-enough" or stop! Experienced athletes worked on their steady state rowing and did several full pressure pieces.
Integral to the success of any good athlete is cardiovascular base fitness. By slowly introducing more time at a base 155 heart rate, the novice will firm up and increase her stamina. Here is where the "walk-on" is invaluable. A good athlete is a good athlete - she'll start pushing the recruits within just these next few weeks. Then the fun begins! Watching an experienced rower go head-to-head with an inexperienced rower with raw determination and heart is a win, win situation coaches live for!
During the course of the clinic the prospects-turned-student-athletes will learn the role of the coxswain versus athlete, port versus starboard and bow versus stern. Even people with boating experience will learn a whole new perspective when sitting backwards in the 60-foot-long shell. With eight athletes and one coxswain per crew, there is a whole world of new sensations going on in a novice's head. Picture each athlete precariously balancing the boat with an oar approximately 15 feet long. Anyone with athletic coordination and skill, boating savvy or water sports knowledge will be reminded that she was a beginner at one time or another! That said, I annually marvel at the exponential learning curve of the novice.
As assistant coach Carmen Mirochna likes to say, "It's easy to learn how to ride a bike, but it's not easy to be good at it. Lance Armstrong is the exception, right? Similarly, it's easy to learn how to row but not necessarily easy to be good at it." But what is so unique to rowing is that unlike most sports, the harder you work, the better you get. There are no innate advantages of skill in rowing like in basketball or soccer - this is pure athleticism. The more you try, the more progress. What sport is more rewarding!?
