By Jasmine Sprangers (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: October 8, 2014
Early mornings, freezing water, and aching muscles. It may seem brutal, but it’s all worth it. You’ve all seen the posters around campus trying to convince you to join the rowing team. To be honest, at first, I wasn’t too thrilled about the conditions of the sport. However, once actually trying it, I realized it wasn’t as brutal as people make it out to be.
Not only is it enjoyable, but rowing is a great full-body workout. The constant push-and-pull does wonders for your abdominal and shoulder muscles. It’s not even just the exercise that makes it appealing, but the power behind the motions. The power that you feel as your oar cuts through the water, the feeling of achievement when your team is finally in sync, eight people in a boat moving at exactly the same time, with the exact same speed. It’s exhilarating.
It’s just one month into the season, and the varsity and novice teams are already becoming noticeably stronger. There has been major improvement within the novice team, where they went from being all over the place, to balanced and synchronized. As far as varsity goes, times are improving, as well as the strength of the team. The plan is to be strong enough to bring home the victory in upcoming competitions, which begin in the next few weeks. With the varsity team heading to Seattle for a competition, the novice team will have a home race against SFU.
A final shout-out to all rowers out there: keep up the good work, sleep well, train hard, and let’s do our best to bring victory home!
