First rowing clinic nets 36 women for team

Carmen Mirochna and Fran O'Rourke decided to join the IU rowing team's coaching staff this year for several reasons, but the main attraction was the man who would be their boss. IU rowing head coach Steve Peterson is so willing to look at new ways of doing things in the country's oldest intercollegiate sport that the two assistants did not want to pass up the opportunity to work with him. \nThe decision resulted in their being put in charge of the IU team's first ever walk-on clinic, held Sept. 13 through 18 at the varsity boathouse on Lake Lemon.\nThe purpose of the clinic, which attracted 49 participants, was to increase the awareness of rowing and to introduce women to the sport, said O'Rourke. \n"This was a chance for women to learn to row and to see if it is something they want to pursue," she said.\nThe event also resulted in Peterson's making another change on the IU crew scene: the formation of a competitive co-ed rowing club.\nCoaching clinics are not new to IU athletics. The softball and baseball teams hold one-day programs. But Division I women's rowing depends more heavily on walk-ons because of the lack of high school and junior programs due to the nature of the sport, explained Peterson.\n"We have to teach them about rowing, find out their coachability and see if the sport is a good fit for them," he said. "It also is a chance to look at good athletes who might not have had the opportunity to row."\nThe clinic served as an advanced course on competitive rowing. The aspiring rowers were divided into two groups, each attending daily 90-minute sessions. \nThe schedule included an introduction to the boats, or shells, in addition to rowing on the lake, where learning the parts of the stroke and the technique of pulling an oar were emphasized. \nRowing machine workouts, as well as sport-specific strengthening and stretching exercises, took up the balance of the program. One day's agenda was devoted entirely to NCAA compliance rules. \nAmong the women attending the six-day program were athletes accomplished in other sports who had never rowed and high school rowers who were recruited but not offered scholarships. A third contingent consisted of scholarship athletes, a few of them beginning rowers who excelled in other sports. \nJunior Laura Mills, a three-sport athlete in high school who took a needed break from competitive sports when she arrived at IU, is drawn to rowing because it encourages beginner involvement.\n"Rowing allows girls to come out fresh and without experience," Mills said. "It's a great sport." \nLaura Tuteral is a freshman non-scholarship athlete who was a coxswain for four years for her high school crew team in Virginia. Peterson told her it would be promising for her to try out for the IU team.\n"It reminds me of what I didn't know when I started rowing," Tuteral said. "It's been interesting and a lot of fun." \nThe program met the coaches' objectives. Thirty-six walk-ons will be invited this week to join the IU novice crew team after they have passed their NCAA-required physicals. \n"The clinic has done exactly what we want," Mirochna said. "We want to expose people to rowing, find some good walk-on talent for the team and help contribute to making fast boats."\nAnd it has done more. \nWith Peterson as the impetus, the remaining 13 women will combine with the floundering men's rowing club to form a co-ed organization. Like Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Michigan, IU's club will serve as a feeder system for the varsity women's program. \nThe direction of the IU crew program has inspired the varsity rowers. \n"We know the program won't die," sophomore Elaine Deppe said.\n-- Contact staff writer Bill Meehan at wmeehan@indiana.edu.