Crew team strives to compete in national regattas

By Dan Elledge     11/5/13 6:00pm

While most students are familiar with the football, basketball, volleyball and soccer teams, there is another little-known sports team trying to make a name for itself at Rice. The crew club team meets every morning, either in Clear Lake to practice in the water or in the back of Tudor Fieldhouse to practice on land. This small but dedicated team is making an effort to announce its presence not only to other universities, but also to its own student population.

The team recently participated in the PumpkinHead Regatta Oct. 26 in Austin, where it faced crew teams from prestigious athletic programs such as Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas, Austin. The best result came from the mixed open four team of Duncan College freshman Sam Shadwell, Duncan College seniors John Draper and Becca Hamm Conard, and Wiess College senior Shannon Cheng. The team finished fourth out of nine boats with a time of 22 minutes and 9.9 seconds.

Rice Crew President Alex Reis said he is trying to revamp the program to recruit more rowers so that the team can compete in more national regattas. Currently, the team has 25 members, but Reis, a Duncan senior, said 40 members would make Rice more competitive with other schools. Reis said the team reached its peak in the '90s before its recent decline, but he said he is now determined to bring the team back with the addition of two new coaches.

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 "For the last decade, it's been kind of OK, and the leadership has not been that committed to the club, so we started this year kicking it back into gear," Reis said. "We brought on two coaches, [Michael Matson] and [David Alviar] and it's been fun."

 Duncan sophomore Michael Williams-Hart said that since the team rows off campus, it has thought of fun ways to make its presence known on campus, including having fun competitions for students outside of the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center. He said these events need to continue in the future to get more rowers.

 "This year, we have been starting to do sessions outside the Rec called 'Learn to Row,' where we bring our erg machines from Tudor to outside the Rec, and we kind of present a challenge to people where we ... teach them the stroke," Reis said. "We give them a T-shirt for the best 500-meter time. We've also been planning to have more recruiting in the future."

Conard said buying crew gear to wear around campus helps with recognition. She said people were unaware of Rice's crew team until they saw her various shirts and jackets.

"Having the apparel helps a lot, especially wearing the jackets," Conard said. "A lot of people don't realize we have a crew team until they see the shirts."

Reis said having a crew team is expensive. He said bringing in money is important so the team can afford to buy boats to practice and race with, among other important items.

"There are other factors, too, financial stuff," Reis said. "Currently, we have [only] so many boats that we own. We would like to expand, but a [boat] costs $50,000. That is a lot [of money], so we [only] have a couple of those."

Conard said that even though more steps need to be taken, the transition in the past couple of years has been incredible. She said she is proud of the progress and hopes it can continue after she graduates.

"Going into the last year, we want to rebuild the team so [we can] see the transition from last year to this year continue," Conard said.  "[Reis has] put a ton of work in, and it's incredible, and we have so many people committed now that we did not last year."

Shadwell said he hopes to see the team compete in major regattas in the future. He said he wants to go to events that many major schools compete in, which he said would provide experience for the team.

 "I'd really just like to get a sizable team so that we could go out of state for regattas," Shadwell said. "If not the Head of the Charles, which is significantly more difficult, then [we could go to] the Head of the Hooch, the second-largest regatta in the country."

Reis said he is making such an effort so that the team can be better down the line. He said he wants to raise money from alumni to fund the club's development in the years to come.

"I'd love to come back to Rice [in 10 years] and see the change and see the development," Reis said. "One of the things I am working on right now is alumni networking and getting alumni coordinated so that they are giving back donations. I'd love to be able to come back to the team and see them be successful and donate back."    

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