While many Upper School (US) varsity teams traveled across the country during spring break, Boys’ Varsity Crew (BVC) and Girls’ Varsity Crew (GVC) gathered on the Charles River for training.
From March 23-27, rowers spent four hours a day in boats or on ergs. BVC Coxswain Will Sammons ’27 said preseason is an opportunity to learn new faces.
“A big part of being a cox is knowing your rowers,” Will said. “When you have four different guys in your boat every other day at the start of the season, it is hard, but being able to bond over the preseason helps a lot with everyone coming together regardless of the boat assignments.”
Although preseason can be inconvenient at times, it is essential, Will said.
“My coach always tells us one week of spring break practice is like three weeks of the regular season because we’re able to get so much work in,” he said. “I think the coaches expect that everybody goes. Crew is one of the only sports where if you don’t have everybody there, you can’t really function.”
The policy toward preseason attendance is more lenient for the GVC team.
“The girls’ preseason is totally optional, but it’s brownie points with the coaches if you show up,” GVC rower Myriam Lai ’27 said. “How you do during preseason doesn’t affect how you are going to be perceived during the season skill-wise.”
Preseason practices create a more relaxed team environment.
“Coaches are so focused on making lineups for the race that week, and rowers are trying to get on the fastest boat, whereas preseason is where you get to be in boats with your friends or people you wouldn’t row with during the season,” Myriam said.
GVC rower Verity Guo ’28 said student-athletes learn the most during preseason.
“Preseason allows us to focus on things that we don’t have time to do in the regular season,” Verity said. “We usually have a very tight schedule, so the break time lets us work on specific skills.”
Even without group travel, crew members have found meaningful ways to stay connected.
“Crew does a good job of doing team dinners every Friday before our Saturday races,” Verity said. “It adds a lot of team building that we would have gotten on a trip. We are there for a solid three hours, watching a movie, eating and hanging out together, and it helps with our chemistry.”
Some athletes choose not to attend preseason. Junior Varsity rower Charlotte Rubins ’26 did not go this year or her sophomore year, and noticed some differences in the start of the season.
“Sometimes the team would talk about stuff they did over preseason. There isn’t a direct punishment, but the people who went to preseason had more experience.”
For athletes who skip preseason, the start of the season can feel more abrupt.
“Not attending preseason makes the transition into the actual rowing aspect a little harder because you’re just thrown into it instead of working up to it during the break,” Charlotte said.
