IU rowing clinic session expands to 3 weeks

IU's rowing clinic expanded its session to three weeks this year to better prepare walk-ons and novices for the realities of life in America's oldest intercollegiate sport.\n"Last year we taught them how to row, but we didn't teach them what rowing was about," head coach Steve Peterson said. "There's a big difference, and we needed more time." \nAssistant coach Fran O'Rourke, who heads up the novice program, said the rowing clinic introduces the sport to students across the campus, gives them a chance to learn to row and helps them decide if it is something they like and would want to pursue for four years at IU. \n"(Coaches and varsity rowers) walk around campus and go to freshmen orientation and stop students who look like they might be decent rowers," O'Rourke said.\nO'Rourke said they look for tall women, especially those who appear to be athletic and might have played basketball or volleyball. Swimmers, however, make the loudest sounds on the recruiting radar. \n"Swimmers make good rowers because they understand the training that's involved," O'Rourke said. "They compete at comparable levels." \nThe clinic's daily 90-minute sessions began with an orientation to rowing shells and an introduction to rowing technique, designed to get as much time on the water as possible.\nAlso included in subsequent sessions were strength training routines and cross training methods, in addition to regular workouts on rowing machines and an overview of NCAA compliance rules. \nO'Rourke said she looks for improvement, effort and athleticism in the participants, while trying to determine if they might enjoy rowing. \nAmong the women attending the program were accomplished high school athletes new to rowing, but who had caught the coaches' attention, and high school rowers who were recruited but not offered scholarships. \nFreshman Emily Clarke, a swimmer from Bloomington High School North, awoke every morning to the clunk of Hoosier oars outside her bedroom window, which overlooks IU's rowing venue, Lake Lemon. \n"They would row by as soon as I got up every morning," said Clarke, who drove to the IU boathouse one morning during her senior year to meet the coaches and find out more about rowing. \n"I thought 'That looks cool," Clarke said. "It looks like fun.'" \nClarke said getting into a shell with seven other rowers made her more aware of the sport's dependence on teamwork. \n"It's all about the team," Clarke said. "You have to rely on everyone else. It's a group effort."\nFreshman Madison Spruell played soccer in high school in Mt. Carmel, Ill., but had her eye on the one seat in a shell where lean and mean rowers can not fit. \n"I always wanted to be a coxswain because of my size," Spruell said.\nThe pint-sized Spruell, who received a recruiting letter from the IU coaches, said she fits the role of the coxswain, who commands the crew and steers the boat. \n"Coxes have to be outgoing and organized," Spruell said. "I'm both."\nForty-two women from the clinic were invited to row for the cream and crimson. \n"We're excited about the potential athleticism and speed of this year's novice class," O'Rourke said. "We're eager to do some more rowing and to get racing"