Men's Club Crew Team: Unnoticed but not Untalented

For most students their first classes start around mid afternoon and a few as early as 7am, but for the crew team, the days start at 6 in the morning. Monday through Thursday crew practices start at 6am, which consists of a short warm-up on an ergo meter, then they row on the Hillsborough river for about an hour and a half up to Davis island and back. The varsity crew team doesn’t get much attention, as it’s a small organization totaling at only 8 people (including the coxswain). In fact, the men’s crew team didn’t even exist until last year when Jeanette Nicewinter, who was the novice coach, organized the program.

In a school with a varsity team for almost every sport, and a very strong baseball program, the men’s crew team is unnoticed, as few students even know the team exists. The men’s crew team isn’t even classified on the UT athletics website! If it weren’t for the men on the crew team spreading the word, no one would ever know it existed.

But even though the men’s crew team may go unnoticed, they have already achieved a strong reputation among the crew world. At last year’s F.I.R.A. (Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association) Championship the UT men’s crew team came in third place, beating out Emery Riddle University, Central Florida, University of Florida, Georgia Tech, University of Southern Florida, and Stetson University. Coming in third place for first time ever competing in a state wide tournament is a very impressive accomplishment.

When asked what it’s like to be part of the crew team, junior Matt Rossetti responded, “It’s really physically demanding. Like, it’s really hard, and the waking up at 6am every morning doesn’t help. I’m sore after practicing every day, and sometimes we even need to go “erg” (using the ergo meter) some nights after practice. I’m basically killing myself every day.” A response like that doesn’t make the crew team very appealing, so I followed with the question “Why do you do it then?” and Rossetti simply responded, “Why does anyone do anything?”

Sophomore, Ben Wood is the Coxswain for the men’s crew team, which is the person who sits at the front of the boat, steering it, and calling out how fast the team should be rowing, keeping everyone on beat, and monitoring how close to other boats they are. When asked what that job is like Wood responded, “I’m basically the brains of the boat. Imagine a car and the rowers are the engine, and I’m the car computer, making sure everything’s working in sync and efficiently. It’s kind of stressful, because if I mess up it affects the whole boat, and that’s a lot of pressure on me to do everything right.”

With the teams rigorous training schedule and the confidence from placing third in last year’s F.I.R.A. championship, the team is confident on its capabilities to continue to do well this year in upcoming events. The team’s first big race of the year is “The Stetson Sprints” on February 27, in Deland Florida. There are 5 other matches in the year, which the team will hope to dominate. Although the men’s crew team may not be well known, the 8 people on the team take their sport very seriously. No other sport in UT requires athletes to wake up at 6am four days of the week.