Rowing is a grueling sport, taxing nearly every muscle in the body and depleting all one's cardiovascular energy. Like a football game, each rowing regatta is so physically demanding that meets are scheduled only once per week.
Even more exhausting is spending one's free weekends doing manual labor just to raise enough money to support the team and continue racing. The men's crew team holds occasional "Rent-a-Rower" events -- days where the athletes are rented by community members looking for some extra help with household chores. Because of the team's non-varsity status in the athletic department, this is the life of a male Virginia rower.
"Having to raise our own money distracts the coaching staff and the rowers," coach Tony Kilbridge said. "There's no doubt that it drains energy."
With the cost of eight-man boats, or "shells," running as high as $25,000 and with the team's annual budget ranging as high as $150,000, supporting a rowing team is no small matter.
But despite the strain of Rent-a-Rower days, raffle ticket sales, Scott Stadium clean-up and other fundraising activities, the men's crew team is able to field a squad that remains highly competitive against even the best varsity schools in the country.
In the past season, Virginia has done exceptionally well, beating traditional powerhouse Michigan in an early season home race, qualifying for the International Racing Association national title race and participating in the internationally-renowned Henley Regatta in Oxford, England.
"The team made the statement that although we are not an official varsity program, we compete like one," junior co-captain Dave Gardner said. "It is not very often that club teams get to race in the IRA Regatta."
With its selection for the 24-school draw at the IRA Regatta, Virginia proved its worthiness against the schools that perennially challenge for the national title. Earlier this fall, Virginia's top boat rowed in the world famous Head of the Charles Regatta and, despite a small crash with a boat from Columbia, finished 11 spots better than the previous year.
It is not just the wide-ranging exposure and opportunity of these bigger regattas that help the team. It's also a matter of confidence and of the increased incentive to train harder, knowing the program is on the rise.
"Not only was [Henley] an amazing experience from a cultural standpoint, but the team had an extra month to practice, which allowed the team to make dramatic gains in fitness and techniques both of which are paying off this year," senior co-captain Jon Friar said.
Just this past weekend, Virginia swept all of its races from North Carolina at the Rivanna Romp, and the men's crew team continues to train six days per week in the mornings and an additonal two-to-five days per week in the afternoons.
What is further remarkable about Virginia's success is in the composition of its team. The program has no scholarships to offer top high school rowers, forcing the team to resort largely to athletes with no rowing experience prior to walking onto the Virginia team.
"You can have a special program with walk-ons, but obviously it's a lot harder," Kilbridge said. "The majority of our guys have never rowed before."
A special program is exactly what Virginia is developing. With Title IX restrictions not likely to change, men's crew will continue as a club sport and will be able to use its recent success to attract better athletes for the future.
"It's reenforcing," Kilbridge said. "The better you do, the more people want to row for you."
It is also important to note that the athletes themselves take their extra obstacles in stride, knowing they can succeed in spite of them.
"We don't feel that we are at a competitive disadvantage," Gardner said. "Instead, we feel that because we are not varsity status, we just have to work that much harder to be able to race with the teams that are."
With a positive attitude and a winning record, the Virginia men's club crew will be ready to continue asserting itself in the national rowing world.
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