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Rowing Articles
Five-Year Student-Athletes Graduate, Then Compete
Many colleges awarding athletic scholarships strongly encourage their students to plan to be in school for the full five years of their NCAA athletic eligibility. This allows them to take a reduced course load each term while working hard at training for their sport. Others will "red-shirt" their first year, giving themselves more time to recover from high-school injuries or bring themselves up to the collegiate level. Some rowers have opted to spend their fifth year of college in studies abroad. But a few are being allowed to graduate at the end of their fourth year, even though they still have a couple of class requirements open. This allows them to concentrate on their sport their final year, with only one course per term to distract them from their training (Seattle P.I., June 9, 2006).
Everett Rowers Hitting Scholarship Gold
The Everett Rowing Association (located about 35 miles north of Seattle) must be doing something right. It is sending three boats to the 2006 U.S. Rowing Junior Invitational in Cincinnati, including the women's varsity eight, the men's lightweight eight, and the men's varsity four. Seven of the junior women rowers are returning to Nationals, having earned a silver medal in last year's competition.
Seven of the eight rowers on the women's varsity boat have full or partial rowing scholarships lined up for the fall (all of the seniors, the remaining rower is a junior). Six other Everett rowers have also received scholarship offers this year. In the past four years, 37 Everett rowers have received college scholarships. (Note: There is a nice picture of the Everett Jr. Women practicing on the Snohomish River - Click here.
"'In rowing,' Coach McGovern said, 'stories abound about kids that have been rowing for a year or two years and then get a full-ride college scholarship.' However, he stressed, 'they work hard for them. I've never seen anybody ease their way into a scholarship.' (Everett Herald, June 7, 2006).
This is a nice showing by a club which is decidedly not a "prep" or "ivy league" team. In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, rowing is mostly a club sport, not part of any particular school (there are a few exceptions to that rule). The Everett club draws rowers from a wide variety of high schools and backgrounds, and their parent's occupations have traditionally ranged from business owners and Boeing engineers to mechanics, welders, truck drivers, and other blue-collar trades. It makes a nice mix, the parents are very active and work together well, and the results speak for themselves.
NCAA Adopts Academic Reforms
The NCAA has adopted reforms intended to encourage the academic eligibility and graduation of student-athletes, including stiffer college entrance requirements which might effect scholarship athletes. (Seattle Times, April 30, 2004).
Luke Huard's Experiences Show Need for Caution re: Rowing Scholarships and Transfers
Luke Huard is a football player and youngest of three famous brothers from Puyallup High. But his football career ran aground at North Carolina due to coaching changes, injuries, and health problems, and the NCAA disqualified him after he transferred to a Div. II school. His story serves as a cautionary tale to those considering college rowing scholarships and especially those considering transfering schools (Seattle Times Nov. 8, 2002).
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