The Sport of Rowing
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Rowing: is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water. The sport can be both recreational, focusing on learning the techniques required, and competitive where overall fitness plays a large role. It is also one of the oldest Olympic Sports. In the United States, high school and collegiate rowing is sometimes referred to as Crew.


     

    The video above is of the United States Mens Olympic Rowing team, who took first in the 8+ in the Olympics that were held in Athens, Greece in 2004. The United States Mens Rowing team set a world record  in this event. This video gives anyone who watches it a real picture of what rowing is all about. For more information and understanding of what an 8+ is, reference the Boats and Equipment page. 



How Intense is the Sport of Rowing?

                 Ashliegh Teitel, a rower for Maritime College Crew summed up the sport of rowing perfectly when she once said that "Marathon runners talk about hitting the wall at the Twenty-third mile of the race.  What rowers confront isn't a wall; it's a hole - an abyss of pain, which opens up in the  second minute of the race. Large needles are being driven into your thigh muscles,  while your forearms seem to be splitting. Then the pain becomes confused and disorganized, not like the windedness of the runner of the leg burn of the biker but an all-over , savage unpleasantness. As you pass the five hundred-meter mark, with three-quarters of the race still to row, you realize with dread that you are not going to make it to the finish, but at the same time the idea of letting your teammates down by not rowing your hardest is unthinkable... Therefore, you are going to die. Welcome to this life." This quote perfectly paints that picture of what a rower feels like during the coarse of a regatta or during a race. 



    The Beauty of Rowing

        Rowing is a sport that is Intense but it also very beautiful to who ever participates in the act and art of Rowing. The morning sun rising off crisp beautiful water that almost looks like glass from a rowers eyes,  is one of the most beautiful things in this World. Rowing also involves working as a team and thus making long lasting friendships and great connections though out a rowers life, which is another beauty in the sport of rowing. Rowing teaches the participants many things about life as well,  because of the hardwork put in, goals being set, and athletes fighting to leave a legacy, fighting to win a championship, and fighting be the best they are capable of becoming. This would be another beauty among many that the sport of rowing offers to participants and we can see in life that team work, the ability to never give up, the ability to set goals for yourself, to aspire to be the best you are capable of becoming, and the mentality to work hard to make dreams become reality is something every rower takes with them after their rowing careers are over. Jim Dietz, rowing coach at United States Coast Guard Acadamy at the time, once said that "Rowing is a sport for dreamers. As longs as you put in the work, you can own the dream. When the work stops, the dreams disappears." and in life, we see the very same principles and ideas at work for in rowing as in life, there are competitors and there are racers. The competitor works hard and rows to his limit. The racer does not think of limits, only the race.