Pedalling Crew to the Freshman

"As you probably know, since 1964 the Harvard crew has been one of the most successful athletic units in the world."

So reads the letter which Harvard heavyweight crew Coach Harry Parker sent out to almost 100 freshmen in July. The letter goes on to detail the Crimson's past successes on the water--in both international and intercollegiate competitions, on both the varsity and freshman levels.

Both Harvard's and Radcliffe's rowing records are not only consistently impressive--more important, they're impressively consistent. Few are the years in which a Crimson boat or rower hasn't won some major award.

To maintain its winning record from year to year, the Harvard and Radcliffe rowing programs need more than its extensive facilities and good coaching. They need a steady supply of rowers.

And where do all those sweeps come from?

Of course, the coaches benefit from the enthusiasm veteran scholastic rowers have for both Harvard and Radcliffe programs.

Juliet Thompson '89 rowed on the varsity for four years at St. Paul's, and plans to row with the Radcliffe crew this spring. The Radcliffe program's reputation was a factor in her decision to come to Cambridge.

"The program is well known," she says. "If you're in the so-called 'rowing circuit,' you're familiar with it."

Brooks School graduate (and its 1985 varsity crew captain) Donald Fawcett '89 agrees with Thompson. "Harvard has the finest program on the college level," he says. "Mainly due to its facilities and coaching. There was never a question in my mind whether it was best."

To maintain the reputation that draws so many high-school rowers, the Harvard and Radcliffe coaches engage--to varying degrees--in recruiting talented oarsmen.

Lisa Stone, the Radcliffe heavyweight coach, says, "We go to the high schools and prep schools which we know have strong programs. We keep an eye open for rowers who have the necessary academic credentials."

Fawcett describes being recruited to row for the Crimson. "They sent me a few letters, and invited me up here to take a look at the facilities, even though I was already familiar with them."

The Radcliffe programs don't recruit nearly as actively, in Thompson's view. "I had to seek out the coaches--they didn't come to me. I didn't receive any information on the crew program until I wrote and specifically requested some. It was the same with the other colleges I applied to."

The combination of recruting--no matter how active--and the crew program's reputation convinces many veteran rowers to train on the Charles for four years. "Crew is a big time commitment," Fawcett says. "And I decided it would be best to spend all that time with the best program possible."

But Radcliffe doesn't seek talent only in scholastic rowing programs. "In fact," Lisa Stone says, "most of our recruiting is done here, once people got to Harvard."

Black & White lightweight Coach K.C. Dietz says her program works the same way. "We recruit a few people--about three of four--who request information about rowing. Then we recruit on-campus, at registration, This year, we got four eights to come out as a result of our efforts [at Memorial Hall]."

Harry Parker and his staff also engage in on-campus recruiting, by posting leaflets throughout the Yard during freshman week encouraging both veteran and novice rowers to come to the opening crew meeting.

At the meeting, Parker and Freshman Coach Ted Washburn give what those who attended termed "a very well done, convincing speech," inviting athletes to give rowing a shot.

Heavy Letter

And, most important, both the men's and women's heavyweight programs send out a letter each summer.

The letter, quoted earlier, is aimed primarily at athletes who have no background in crew. Incoming freshman who based on Department of Athleics records are the "right" height and weight to row or express an interest in crew receive it.

As usual, the letter brought a substantial response this year. Nearly 90 inexperienced rowers came out for the men's heavyweight program, and 100 gave the light-weight program a look. Coach Stone reports that 48 women (including upperclassmen who have not rowed) signed up for the women's novice boats.

Making an effort to seek out novice talent has been very profitable for Harvard. "Last year was the first since I've been here in which we didn't have a former novice oarsman on the varsity," Parker says. "As a rule, there are always several members of the first freshmen, varsity and JV crews who have never rowed before college.

"We've been pleased with the interest in our program the letter has generated--by the people and the quality of novice rowers we've seen."

Coach Stone must be equally pleased. Of the eight sweeps in her first heavyweight boat, six began their Radcliffe careers as novices.

"Rowing is really a sport you can start in college," she says. "The girls find that hard work pays off. You don't have to be a natural athlete to be good at crew.

"Of course, high school experience helps, But it's within anyone's reach to make the first novice boat one year and be on the varsity the next. As long as the athlete is physiologically suited for rowing, she just has to be excited by the sport and willing to do the work."

That's also the main message of the letter sent out to the male athletes. And to make crew even more appealing, the letter assures that "...work out times are held strictly under sixty minutes in the fall and no more than ninety minutes in the spring," and that "No sport at Harvard demands so little daily time."

While many letter recipients shrug those claims off as propoganda, Crimson oarsmen say they're realistic.

Steve Wayne '88, who hadn't rowed before coming to Harvard but made last year's first freshman boat, says, "crew wasn't that hard to start up.

"Of course I had a lot of catching up to do, because other freshmen had been rowing for a long time and already had their technique down. I've worked at getting my technique down, although I wouldn't say I'm caught up yet. Coach Washburn was really good. He takes everything slowly, so that you gradually get into crew."

"The workout itself is only an hour long, like they claim," freshman novice Matt Lenoci says. "I end up spending more time than that, but only because it takes a while to walk to the boathouse and back. But any extra time I spend at the boathouse is voluntary."

Well, most of the time, at least.

"We do occasionally have a longer workout or a weekend event," Lenoci adds. "But those are so few and far between that they're not a problem."

Both Lenoci and Wayne were attracted to crew in part by the letter. But their reasons for actually going down to the boathouse differed.

Lenoci was attracted "primarily by the success of the people who hadn't rowed before, and by the small time commitment," he says Wayne decided to row "to meet people, and just to try something new."

Crew is something new for Wayne, but not for Harvard, which has been rowing--and rowing better than anyone else for over 130 years.