In crew, everyone has to give 100 percent, from the coach to the coxswain to every oarsman. In order to win, everyone has to keep the intensity, and everyone has to mesh. David Hirsch '97, seven-seat of HVL, agrees. You can't say, 'I don't want to concentrate today,' or 'I don't want to practice hard,' or else the whole boat suffers. Yet despite the work to create a strong, fast, and focused unit, rowing in its own way remains very much a solo endeavor.
Guys come down here mornings and evenings all year to improve their individual ergs.
The team dimension of the sport doesn't manifest itself until very late in the game. We gather into boats for only two months out of the year, and for the rest of the time it's all about individual striving. Oddly enough, there's no opportunity to express this striving unless there are eight other people around. Another intriguing nuance of the sport is the ratio of practice to race time. You really can't afford to screw up.