Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 1/21/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Ian Kuchman The Clarkson Crew team is seen working out above on the rowing machines in the IRC. The crew team is preparing for their five upcoming regattas.

What is Crew? Crew is considered to be the ultimate team sport by some. Every member of a crew has to be absolutely committed to his or her boat, in order to achieve success. No superstars emerge from a crew, as may be seen in several other sports. No lone person can singlehandedly propel a boat to victory.

Crew is a year-round sport that requires complete dedication and discipline, to maintain a certain degree of competitiveness. Clarkson's Crew practices on Norwood Pond, located in a town just outside of Potsdam. The Crew team shares a facility, next to the pond, with the biology department. It is commonly refered to as the "boathouse." This is where the team stores all of its boats, and the majority of their equipment and accessories. The team competes against many college Crew teams in the Northeast. The season culminates at the New York States Collegiate championship. Colgate, Marist, Army, Rochester, St. Lawrence, Union, RPI, SUNY Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, and many other colleges have crew teams. Interestingly, most regattas do not make any distinction between the club teams and Division I, II and III varsity crew teams. All teams compete against each other, head to head.

You might wonder what the crew team does in the winter. In addition to weight room and conditioning training, most of the time is spent rowing inside on an indoor rowing machine, rowers like to call an "erg." Erg is just short for ergometer, which has a monitoring device attached to the rowing machine that spits numbers out at you as to how "fast" you're rowing. While providing a really good full body cardio workout, the rowing machines, like treadmills, can get tedious, so the Clarkson Crew loves to cross train. As such, other clubs and teams are encouraged to help out in this area.

Just a few years ago, Clarkson Crew could have been considered "a pleasure boating society," when compared to the other crew teams in the area. This was not because of the lack of athleticism or work ethic; it was due to a lack of organization, motivation, and leadership, as the coaching position had been left vacant for a period of time. For the last two years, the position of Clarkson Crew coach has been held by Boris Jukic, a professor at the School of Business. Although, Coach Jukic has helped the club make tremendous strides, he is only one man. Therefore, additional coaching help is

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