Try-It-Out Day Aims to Push Rowing into Mainstream
Festivities Saturday, in the Wharf District
Morgantown Dominion Post
3 June 2011
By Devon Unger
Row, row, row your boat quickly down the Mon.
The Monongahela Rowing Association is preparing for the second annual
National Learn to Row Day on Saturday. MRA members will be at the
boathouse in the Wharf District to give demonstrations and allow folks
a chance to go out on the river.
Festivities will be held at 40 Donley St. from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Saturday (rain day is Sunday). It is free and open to everyone age 10
and up.
(Because of the nature of the sport, MRA cannot accommodate individuals
with certain disabilities and reserves the right to prohibit an
individual from rowing.)
MRA President John Duarte said he hopes the day will help publicize the
sport, which has a long history in Morgantown but doesn’t receive much
attention.
“Rowing was the first collegiate sport at WVU. MRA was started in 1966,
and has been in continuous operation since 1975,” he said. “Rowing is a
great sport. Morgantown has a great river. It puzzles me why we don’t
have more activities on the river.”
According to the MRA website, local newspapers reported rowing on the
Mon River as early as the 1880s, and WVU’s first yearbook had pictures
of men’s and women’s crew teams from 1894. WVU now has men’s and
women’s crew teams. The women are fully supported by the WVU Department
of Intercollegiate Athletics and the men’s team is part of the WVU
Sports Club Program.
About 50 people, ages 10 to 67, came last year. MRA started a youth
program in the fall, and Duarte hopes events like Learn to Row Day will
help get young people interested in the sport.
Duarte’s goal is to generate enough interest to form a club team, made
up of high school students, who would compete in races around the
region.
He said the possibility of getting a scholarship has encouraged more
youth to look into the sport, but MRA has had a hard time getting a
coach to stay with the program.
“This year I think we have more youth involved than before,” he said.
“This is a volunteer program; the hardest thing is getting a coach to
commit without being paid.”
Duarte said the transient nature of Morgantown adds to this difficulty
because coaches with rowing experience often will come to attend WVU,
spend some time with the organization and then leave town once they
have completed their degree.
MRA also holds “Learn to Row” courses during late spring and summer.
The classes offer everyone a chance to learn the sport.
“A rowing shell is not like a kayak, it takes a little knowledge,”
Duarte said. “The Learn to Row course is about 12 hours of instruction.”
Barbara Linn joined MRA with her husband last year, and said she was
surprised by the strength and skill the sport requires.
“I sail, canoe and kayak, but this isn’t like anything I’ve done
before,” she said. “It was a lot harder than I thought.
There is a definite coordination you have to learn. If you catch an
oar, it’s very easy to end up in the water.”
She said that along with the fun she has had rowing, it has provided
her with a relaxing, unconventional way to get in shape.
“It’s an all-over exercise. It’s 75 to 80 percent legs, but your arms
and core are also involved,” she said. “It’s very serene and peaceful
on the river. You get to see wildlife; it’s a really unique experience.”
The course costs $300 — $150 for the course itself plus a $150 fee to
join MRA, and members must be able to meet some physical requirements.
Course participants must becomfortable in the river, be able to swim,
carry 30 pounds, and get into and out of the boat without help.
There are two main types of competitive rowing styles, sculling and
sweep. In sculling, rowers use two oars, one in each hand, and use
four, two, or one rower without a coxswain. In sweep, rowers use an oar
in groups of two, four or eight and may use a coxswain, a nonrowing
team member who steers the boats and helps synchronize the rowers.