Whether you are an inexperienced rower or completely new, the Carnegie Mellon University Rowing Club welcomes all to join them on the water.
The University Rowing Club of Carnegie Mellon had its start on September 26, 1987 when Harry Printz, the founder of the Club noticed a crew race happening downtown and began a conversation with Don Schock of the Three Rivers Rowing Association (TRRA) who expressed interest in having a Carnegie Mellon student row for them. When the club first formed, there were eight members and they competed in their first race in the spring of 1988.
Since then the club has grown considerably-- today the team
has19 members on the varsity team and around 30 on novice.
They row on all three of Pittsburgh's rivers, but spend most of
their time on the Allegheny. The boathouse is located on
Washington's Landing, an island accessed from the 31st St. Bridge
near downtown Pittsburgh and the Strip District, which is just a
few miles from campus.
In collegiate rowing programs, all rowers have a full year of novice rowing. This is when members learn to row and begin to bond with teammates. After a year, they move up to varsity crew. Novices typically row 4+ or 8+, while the varsity members also row singles and pairs.
However, not every member of the team pulls an oar. Rowing also requires coxswains, who are charged with steering and leading crews during races.
Last Spring the University Rowing Club welcomed Alyssa Enslen (Aly) as the new Varsity Head Coach and this fall is excited to welcome Hilary Lovett as the new Novice Coach.
Aly explains that her favorite part of coaching “is being able to have people respect [her] for what [she] know[s].” She says, “Coaching is a learning experience for both the coach and the athletes. I love how much this team has taught me about myself and rowing. Being able to teach someone to work together for a common goal as a team, prepares them for the real world and being able to work effectively as a team in any aspect of life.”
For Hilary coaching the Carnegie Mellon Rowing Club is her first
coaching experience, but she says that she is “excited to
start coaching the novices!” Hilary hopes that in the
2014-2015 season “the novices will not only learn how to row
skillfully, but will experience the excitement that can only come
from rowing in a boat that is set, and flying down the river.
It’s an indescribable feeling of success.” Hilary also
encourages the novices to take advantage of the wonderful network
that Carnegie Mellon Rowing provides.
Women's team captain, Alyssa Meyer, shares a little of her experience on the rowing team. “The reason I give so much to the sport of rowing is because it’s given so much to me. It taught me commitment and time management, it taught me to believe in myself and what I do, it taught me to trust my teammates and how best to work with them, but more than anything it taught me that the hard work is worth it. At CMU, I continue to give as much as I can to the team and the sport, as it’s continued to give back to me in return. The opportunity to see and contribute to all the little behind-the-scenes things that a team has to deal with is something I never would have gotten to see in a big varsity program."
"Rowing for this club has given me a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the sport and the tasks and people that surround it. This team has made me laugh even after a bad row, they’ve given me fond memories of the daily post-practice dinner at Resnik or breakfast at Schatz, of playing volleyball or joking around between practices at camp Bob, of just sitting and talking for hours on end, of that last race at Dad Vails where everything finally started to come together after a rough season. The practices when everybody comes off the water happy with the row and how we’ve improved inspires me to keep working so that it can happen again. This team might not have given me the medals I got in high school, but I will continue giving it my all to help us get there, because I love seeing my teammates happy and proud of what they’ve done. I keep giving so that the sport will give to my teammates what it has given to me," Alyssa explained.
The Carnegie Mellon Rowing Club will begin competition in Pittsburgh this Saturday, October 4 in the Head of the Ohio Regatta.
Head of the Ohio Regatta (Pittsburgh, PA) - October 4
Head of the Charles Regatta (Boston, MA) - October 18
Head of the Schuylkill Regatta (Philadelphia, PA) - October 26
Head of the Occoquan Regatta (Fairfax Station, VA) - November 1
For more info on Rowing:
https://www.facebook.com/tartancrew
president@tartancrew.org and headcoach@tartancrew.org