UNIVERSITY CREW PROSPECTS

The University crew squad began its winter rowing at the University Boat House yesterday afternoon. The following men reported: Brownell, R. Derby, R. A. Derby, Dillingham, Duffy, Dunbar, George, Greenough, Hall, Hartwell, Lindsay, Lloyd, McGrew, Sanger, Stevens, Tew, Webster. The men were given a short practice on the machines and were coached by Wray and Vail. After the machine work the squad was sent out on a brisk run. Today the Freshman squad will report for work on the machines, and hereafter the two squads will row regularly on alternate days. For the present the University squad will practice on the machines and in the rowing tank. This work will continue until the beginning of the midyear examinations, after which the regular daily training will begin.

Any attempt to predict at this early date the chances for a good University crew next spring must necessarily be rather inadequate. In the making of a fast crew, so comparatively little depends on the individual ability of the material, and so much upon the training of the men to row as a unit that the prospects at present are, to say the least indefinite.

In respect to the training, the fall practice of the University squad under the incentive of Mr. Courtney's presence and the early start of the indoor work, make a beginning that leads one to believe that every possible effort will be made throughout the season. For the first time in a number of years appears the happy tendency to devote more time to the development of the material chosen.

In the less vital matter of material, the prospects, in so far as can be judged at present, are not so encouraging. Only three men remain in College from last year's eight-McGrew who stroked, Ayer who rowed at 5, and Foster who rowed at 4. Shuebruk is in the Law School, but is not likely to row again. McGrew and Ayer rowed also on the 1901 crew. Brownell and Derby, stroke and two, on the last two winning four-oared crews, are the only other men left from the squad of last season.

Most of the men on the squad have been picked for their size and weight, in the hope that watermanship can be taught them. Under this principle, the present efficiency of the material matters comparatively little, but the great responsibility of developing it falls more than ever upon the coaches. Rowing experts in general seem to lean toward the opinion that this is the best system of making crews, and it has been adopted successfully at many other colleges. This method in its application here is in measure an experiment, and, in the present dearth of old material, seems a very good one.

The present squad is likely to be the one from which men for the crew will first be drawn, though doubtless from the men who will join the squad after mid-years additional material will be developed.