While you might have seen rowing machines at the gym, not everyone gets to go out on the water. The Kansas State rowing crew is here to change that.
“Anyone who’s interested in crew, anyone who’s interested in rowing, has the chance to come down and learn the basics and get in the water,” Sofie Erickson, women’s team captain said.
Crew at K-State is hosting “Learn to Row” events every Monday throughout April, designed to get people of all rowing experiences out on the water.
“Today’s just kind of a day to get people exposed,” Henry Castro-Miller, men’s team captain, said. “I always say that we want people to choose not to row than to never have any idea it exists.”
After a quick discussion, attendees help get the boat down on the water, go through training exercises with help from team members and are pushed out on Tuttle Creek Lake.
“When you get a group of people who can all move well together,” Wesley Good, Crew coach, said, “and move in time, and are practicing towards and training towards a specific competition, it creates a really strong connection between everyone in the boat.”
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Part of the purpose of the free event is member recruitment for the crew team, which competes against other colleges throughout the year.
“We try to do these periodically … to introduce more people and make our team more known on campus,” Good said.
For team president Mason Phillips, rowing helps him knock two things off his to-do list at one time.
“I needed a group of friends, and I needed a group to workout with, and rowing is a sport where you get a workout and meet people because it’s a team,” Phillips said. “So it was [like], ‘Why not?'”
Attendee Tanner Koch went out on the water for the first time at the first event of the year on March 28, 2022.
“Yeah, it was a good time,” Koch said. “Everyone was really friendly. I learned something. I never had the opportunity to do this before, so it’s cool I was actually able to, and for free.”
More information about Crew at K-State is available through the team’s Instagram, @kansasstatecrew.
