A Short History of Alabama's Youngest Sport
A Short History of Alabama’s Youngest Sport Athletics Director Mal Moore stood on the bank of the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa, announcing the addition of the University of Alabama’s 21st varsity sport. It was October, 2005, and after almost two decades of growth in the Tuscaloosa area as a sport, rowing was being added to the register of varsity sports at the university. As Moore and University President Robert E. Witt stood that day behind the podium with the river behind them,
announcing their commitment to the university’s newest sport, it became official - rowing in Alabama was going to the next level. The Start One of the reasons that rowing was chosen as Alabama’s next varsity program had much to do with the fact that in addition to it being an upcoming sport on the national scene, it had been growing steadily in the Tuscaloosa community for 20-plus years.
At the University of Alabama, the club rowing program began in 1987, mainly as a social club. There was little in the way of competition with crews from other schools and, if there was any, Davis said, it was just to go out and have fun on the river. At the University of Alabama, women’s rowing was no different than racquetball or rugby — among the team members there was no rowing experience or real desire for success on the water. Things began to change around 1997, when a few athletes with rowing experience started to join the club squad, bringing with them a desire to see things change. The team adopted a more competitive attitude. They were fund-raising and practicing more. In 1998, Larry Davis and his wife Vicki moved to Tuscaloosa so she could take a new job, leaving the former rowing coach looking for work around
the area. That’s when he heard about the university’s co-ed club rowing program, and how there might have been a chance they were looking for a coach. It seemed like a comfortable fit for the former University of Virginia rower. In January, 1998, he was introduced to the team as their volunteer coach. “Like any club that has never been organized or supervised, there was a learning curve,” Davis said. “Many of them had never been in a competitive sport before.” Meanwhile, back on campus, Marie Robbins and others in the Alabama athletic department were in discussions about adding a 21st varsity sport to the school’s list. There were a number of candidates for the spot, though Robbins, the senior women’s administrator, couldn’t get past the rumblings she was hearing about a certain successful club program that was making the best of its resources a little way up the Black Warrior River. “We started to delve into the issue about 2003,” Robbins said. “We began to talk about the opportunity to add an additional sport for women and provide additional participants the opportunity to compete.”
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, UA Athletics Director Mal Moore, UA President Robert E. Witt and UA Associate AD/Senior Woman Administrator Marie Robbins at the announcement of rowing as a varsity sport.
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The Coach At the time of the team’s promotion to varsity level, Davis was working as director of Wellness and Aquatics at the Tuscaloosa YMCA in addition to his duties as club rowing coach. He was turning rowing into a grassroots success on campus and had already brought home numerous medals for the team, as well as backto-back points trophies at the Augusta Invitational in Augusta, Georgia with nothing more than a group of college students who had only recently become interested in the sport at all. If it seemed to Robbins a natural fit to promote the rowing program to varsity level, it seemed just as natural to promote the man who had gotten them there. “We looked at a lot of coaches internally and externally and ultimately at the end of the day we decided that coach Davis, in terms of local knowledge and familiarity of the club program and local operation of the river also had a wealth of collegiate experience under his belt,” Robbins said. “For coach [Mal] Moore, Larry’s loyalty to the university
was helpful in that for 10 years he worked in addition to his paid job to volunteer and coach these young ladies who had come out for the club team.” Davis’s coaching experience included head coaching jobs at Marist University and the University of Alabama-Huntsville as well as an assistant coaching spot on the 1983 US Men’s National Rowing Team. In February 2006, he found out he would be able to add one more school to the list. For a school with little experience in rowing, Robbins said, Davis was the obvious choice. “I think with coach Davis it’s local knowledge,” she said. “Having been here for 10 years helps those of us with less knowledge about the sport.” Year One The transition to varsity level quickly proved challenging for the new coach—he spent the first semester battling a “club-level mentality”. The team moved on without athletes from the club team that couldn’t adjust to the commitment necessary for a varsity sport. To help with the transition, Davis set up a chal-
lenging first-year schedule that included competitions against Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and two schools that had beaten Alabama before in Murray State and Creighton. “There was no fluff in the schedule,” Davis said, “but there were some teams I thought we could beat.” And, to the surprise of many in collegiate rowing, they did. The Tide defeated both Murray State and Creighton, in addition to coming from behind to beat Cincinnati. They medaled in all four events at the Head of the South Regatta, winning two. They beat schools like North Carolina and Duke and gave Notre Dame a close race in a couple of events. The success of the first year of the rowing program came despite the challenge of having a new sport not only to the athletes, but also to the athletic department’s support staff, which Robbins said had to learn the nuances of the sport just to keep it going, such as the equipment and facilities necessary and how many staff members to hire. There were other challenges as well.
“The biggest challenge is attitude,” he said. “When you’re dealing with walk-ons, I think a lot of people don’t understand the sport and how much hard work is involved. When you take somebody who’s used to a club mentality, the varsity level is much higher. It takes high level athletes who are highly committed. It takes a lot of hard work, focus, discipline and sacrifice. “What I’m asking the students to do is move a boat over a mile and a quarter distance as fast as they can, which means they’re running flat out for somewhere near eight minutes. It’s enjoyable in one way, but it’s very painful. It’s not something your average person is going to want to do.” Year Two After a successful first spring season, the team followed up with a fall season that saw the group open with a pair of top three finishes, then a silver finish at the Head of the Charles Regatta and a gold medal at the Hobb’s Island Regatta. More importantly, Davis said, he started to see a shift among the members of the team, who were becoming more comfortable
35
with the sport and the commitment necessary to compete at a high level within it. “We’re making progress,” he said. “We’ll have some blips along the way and are rowing tougher programs this year, like Michigan and Ohio State, so that’s going to be tough. The idea is to see how close we can be to these people and see how hard they’re working to get there.” To continue the program’s steady rise in collegiate rowing, Davis knows it will take a large commitment from all involved to keep the program on par with other rowing programs across the country. The short-range plans of the athletic department, Robbins said, are tailored to meet those needs, including the construction of a new boat house. “That is in our short range plans, to build a facility because we’re operating out of a temporary but functional facility on the north side of the river,” Robbins said. “Their locker room is at Coleman Coliseum and their workout area off-water is also in the coliseum, so our immediate goal is to get them a facility down on the river that they can operate out of and do all those things with their locker room and workout facilities.” The team took another big step forward in the fall when it
36
signed five scholarship athletes to the program. Instead of promoting them to the bigger boats simply based on experience, Davis will place them with the other freshmen on the team, helping them build depth and experience on their way to growing into a more successful program. It is important, he said, in the same way a new boat house or new docks are important. It shows a commitment not to a quick fix or instant success, but to a process—a process that has taken root in the early stages of a varsity program and is quickly building into a success. “What we tell new recruits is the truth, that they can have a bigger impact here,” Davis said. “But they have to have the patience and insight to make things happen, and they have to want to be a leader. They’re not just going to fit into a group, they will help make that group and build the tradition.”
Walk Ons Vital to Crimson Tide Success Katherine Spohr ambled down the sidewalks of the University of Alabama’s main artery, browsing the various booths that had set up along the walkways of the campus’ Quad for its annual “Get on Board Day.” Brushing shoulders with hundreds of fellow students, Spohr passed by dozens of booths recruiting new members – karate, College Republicans, yearbook – but didn’t give many a second look until she saw a stack of fliers on a table for the University’s rowing team. Spohr, who had no experience with rowing, casually took the top flier and kept walking. Its message was simple, yet clear: “Be a varsity athlete.” Soon, she would attend an informational meeting for the team with a friend. Before long, the Edwardsville, Ill. native, who had never rowed in her life, would be competing in NCAA Division I athletics as
a member of the University of Alabama’s newest varsity sport. The opportunity presented to Spohr is a unique one in the world of college athletics. It is the opportunity to not only take up a sport while in college, but compete in that sport at the NCAA Division I level. “In general, every collegiate rowing team in the United States relies on walk-ons more so than any other sport because most collegiate rowers didn’t know about the sport when they were in high school,” Alabama head coach Larry Davis said. Assistant coach Marina Traub, who tutors Alabama’s first year rowers, known in the sport as novices, conveys the concept on a broader scope. “The novice year provides true walk-ons the opportunity to not only learn the sport, but excel at the collegiate level with no prior experience,” she said.
Rowing Terminology Blade: The end of the oar which pulls the boat through the water. Bow: The forward end of the boat which crosses the finish line first; the rower in the seat nearest the forward end of a shell, who typically has a quick catch, stable technique and a shorter arc. Bucket Rigging: Two riggers on the same side next to each other instead of alternated. Coxswain (cox): Person who steers the shell from a seat located in the stern or a lying position in the bow. Ergs: Short for ergometer; individualized rowing simulators that help strength and conditioning. Lightweight: A crew on which each athlete weighs under a specific amount (130 pounds for women). Novice: A rower in the first year of collegiate competition. Regatta: The name of rowing events in which several crews compete. Repechage: A second chance race for those crews which did not automatically advance to the finals of an event. Rigger: The part which attaches an oar to the shell.
“I’d say about half the rowers representing the United States at the Olympic level were true novices in college.” In its first season of varsity competition, the team raced out to a number of highly successful events, earning victories over crews from schools such as Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Murray State with a group of girls whose interest in the sport the year before had been no more than participation on the club team or a brisk walk across the Quad. “The number of walk-on student-athletes in our program is going to change as our team develops. Each year we may rely a little less on walk-ons and it may become a little tougher for someone who’s never rowed before college to get a shot somewhere in their four years to be at the first boat level.” “The goal is to increase the quality level of our walk-ons,”
Run: The distance the shell moves during one stroke. Sculling: Type of rowing where each rower uses two oars. Shell: Boat used in the rowing races. It seats nine people for an Eight and five people for a Four, and ranges in length from 45 feet for a Four to 58 feet for an Eight. Sprints: Used in collegiate competition, this type of race features a course which is 2000 meters long, usually with four to six unmarked or buoyed lanes and a floating or staked start. Stern: The back of the boat; the end the rowers face during competitions.
Davis said. “The idea is to convince non-rowing former high school athletes to take a chance on the sport and, because they have a good background as an athlete they can make it as a rower.” After the informational meeting, Spohr began racing for the University of Alabama on the novice team. This season she moved up to the varsity. She loves showcasing the team’s progress at races, but it’s in practice, she says, where she sees her teammates struggle and fail, that she finds the real value of competition. “It’s kind of a ‘how did I get here’ thing,” she said. “They didn’t really find us; it was that moment that kind of happened that you can’t even think about how it happened.” “And I know it sounds cheesy,” she says, “but each day is a highlight.”
Stroke: A complete cycle of moving the shell through the water; the rower who sits closest to the stern, looks directly at the coxswain in a stern-coxed boat and sets the rhythm for the shell. Sweeping: Type of rowing where each rower uses one oar. Varsity: The collegiate rower who competes beyond the novice level. 8+ and 4+: Eights (8+) and fours (4+) are the most common collegiate competitions and the two events held at the NCAA Championships. The plus indicates a coxswain on board.
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2006-07 Season Chattanooga Head Race Sat., Oct. 14, 2006 Chattanooga, Tenn. Collegiate 8+ 3rd 5th
A B
Collegiate 4+ 3rd
17:57.2 18:58.1
A
19:49.1
Head of the Charles Oct. 21-22, 2006 Cambridge, Mass. A
18:17.40
Club 8+ 39th
B
21:20.10
Head of the Hooch Sat., Nov. 4, 2006 Chattanooga, Tenn. Lightweight 8+ 4th Novice 8+ 11th 13th 14th
A A
19:05.9 17:42.6
B A C
18:40.1 19:03.5 19:14.1
Championship 8+ 18th A
16:37.9
Championships 4+ 26th A
19:23.9
Head of the South Sat., Nov. 11, 2006 Augusta, Ga. Championship 8+ 1st A
20:47.7
Championship 4+ 1st A
22:31.7
Lightweight 4+ 2nd
A
24:34.9
Novice 8+ 3rd 4th
A B
22:50.0 22:50.2
Bucknell Dual Meet Sat., March 10, 2007 Elberton, Ga. Varsity 8+ 2
Alabama
7:03.01
Second Varsity 8+ 2 Alabama
7:30.01
Novice 8+ (first race) 1 2
Alabama Alabama
(second race) 1 Alabama 2 Alabama
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Sun., March 18, 2007 Oak Ridge, Tenn. Varsity 8+ 2
7:36 7:54 7:43 8:00
Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships April 21 -22, 2007 Oak Ridge, Tenn.
6:56.5
Second Varsity 8+ 3 Alabama
7:20.9
First Varsity 8+ 2nd A
7:03.9
Novice 8+ 2
Alabama
7:15.5
Second Varsity 8+ 7th A
7:20.2
Second Novice 8+ 1 Alabama
7:03.4
First Novice 8 + 6th A
7:21.3
Miami Dual Meet
Sat., March 31 Dallas, Texas
Sat., April 28, 2007 Tuscaloosa, Ala.
First Novice 8+ 1st A 2nd B
7:21.31 7:38.40
Varsity 4+ 1st
A
8:05.04
Varsity 8+ 2nd
A
7:08.02
Second Varsity 8+ 2nd A
7:19.42
Murray State Dual Meet First Varsity 8+ 1st A
7:28.5
First Novice 8+ 1st A 2nd B
7:45.4 7:57.1
Varsity 4+ 1st
A
8:24.5
Novice 4+ 1st
A
9:13.1
Second Varsity 8+ 1st A
7:51.0
Creighton Dual Meet Sat., April, 14, 2007 Omaha, Neb. A
Second Varsity 8+ 1st A Novice 8+ 1st 3rd
A B
6:20.5 6:45.23 6:43.28 6:45.55
6:56.10
Second Varsity/Novice 8+ 2nd Second Varsity A 3rd Novice A 4th Novice B
7:01.5 7:03.9 7:16.4
Varsity 4+ 1st 2nd
7:16.9 7:22.5
A B
May 11-12, 2007 Philadelphia, Penn. Varsity 8+ Prelims -Heats 2nd A Semi-Finals-Heats 5th A
7:01.98
Junior Varsity 8+ Prelims-Heats 2nd A Semi-Finals-Heats 4th A
7:11.58
Novice 8+ Prelims-Heats 1st A Semi-Finals-Heats 3rd A Novice 4+ Prelims -Heats 2nd A Semi-Finals -Heats 4th A
6:47.01
6:56.76
7:11.85 7:00.50
8:16.20 7:56.55
2007 Fall Season
First Varsity 4+ 1st A 7:14.0 Second Varsity 4+ 2nd A
A
Dad Vail College Championships
Sat., April 7, 2007 Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Varsity 8+ 1st
Varsity 8+ 2nd
Chattanooga Head Race 7:43.21
First Novice 4+ 1st A
7:31.80
Second Novice 4+ 1st A
7:49.40
Sat., Oct. 13, 2007 Chattanooga, Tenn. Collegiate 8+ 2nd 5th 6th
A B C
Collegiate 4+ 3rd 4th 7th
A B C
19:25.9 19:35.3 20:01.6
Head of the Charles Regatta
Alabama
SMU Dual Meet
Collegiate 8+ 27th
Lightweight 4+ 4th
Notre Dame Dual Meet
17:15.5 18:15.8 18:30.0
Oct. 20-21, 2007 Cambridge, Mass. Women’s 8+ 2nd
A
17:20.52
Hobbs Island Regatta Sat., Oct. 27, 2007 Huntsville, Ala. Championship 4+ 1st A
22:01
Varsity 8+ 2nd
B
19:17
Novice 8+ 1st 3rd
A B
22:21 22:52
Head of the Hooch Sat., Nov. 3, 2007 Chattanooga, Tenn. Championship 8+ 8th A 25th B 26th C
18:17.2 19:19.1 19:22.3
Championship 4+ 10th A 13th B 18th C
20:35.9 20:57.7 21:35.7
Novice 8+ 6th 8th
20:46.0 21:02.3
A B
Head of the South Regatta Sat., Nov. 10, 2007 Augusta, Ga. Championship 8+ 1st A 3rd C 4th B
16:37.4 17:31.5 17:42.2
Championship 4+ 1st A 2nd B 4th C
18:00.0 18:42.0 18:53.0
Novice 8+ 1st 2nd
B C
18:56.5 19:06.4
Novice 4+ 2nd 3rd
A C
20:10.6 20:16.0
Lightweight 4+ 1st
A
18:43.2
All-Time Roster A Katie Allaway Cara Allison Jessica Autrey
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Wellington, Fla. Columbus, Miss.
J 2007 V * 2007 V 2007 N
B Sarah Beaver
Spanish Fort, Ala.
Auburn, Ala. Huntsville, Ala. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Melissa Danaceau
Atlanta, Ga.
McKenna Frease
Cordova, Tenn.
Shannon Gilligan Christine Gossman
Flower Mound, Texas Birmingham, Ala.
Karen Ishmael
Daphne, Ala.
Fairhope, Ala.
Rachel Kimbrough
Huntsville, Ala.
* 2007 V * 2007 V 2007 N
P 2007 V
Leigh Ann Lazarus Courtney Lewallen Erin Linsin Cristin Liveoak Nikki Lopez
Hoover, Ala. Birmingham, Ala. Alpharetta, Ga. Madison, Ala. Katy, Texas
* 2007 V 2007 N 2007 V * 2007 V 2007 N
Allie Manning Jaquelyn Marcinak Christina McClellan Genna McIlwaine Marley McKenzie Tacoma Morrisey
Mobile, Ala. 2007 N Clinton Township, Mich. 2007 N Daphne, Ala. 2007 V Adamsville, Ala. * 2007 V Coral Springs, Fla. 2007 V Cincinnati, Ohio 2007 N
M
F * 2007 V
G 2007 N 2007 N
I 2007 N
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Ozark, Ala.
Jennifer Rankin Jamie Ravenna
Hoover, Ala. Rutland, Vt.
Bailey Sanders Jessica Scivley Mary Elizabeth Sims Sarah Smith Katherine Spohr Margaret Strojny
Madison, Miss. Hoover, Ala. Birmingham, Ala. New Hope, Ala. Edwardsville, Ill. Riverside, Ill.
Kathryn Tippey Catherine Tucker
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Cathryn Whitlock Sarita Williams Sarah Witt
Lake Ridge, Va. Katy, Texas Lexington, Ky.
Albertville, Ala.
2007 V 2007 N
S 2007 N 2007 N 2007 N 2007 N 2007 N * 2007 V
T 2007 V 2007 N
W
O Stacey Ogle
2007 N 2007 V
R
2007 V
L
D 2007 N
Veronica Parsons Katie Pouncey
K
2007 V
C Bryn Crawford Victoria Croy Courtney Crumby
Rachel Justiss
2007 N
2007 V 2007 N 2007 N
* denotes varsity letter for the season
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It is one of the best practice and competitive courses in the nation, giving the University of Alabama’s young rowing team an immediate boost. The Black Warrior River, where the Crimson Tide practices and competes, is blessed with protected banks, long straightaways, and minimal current which make it a rower’s dream. The Tide also has the good fortune of having the river largely to itself. The Tide is also fortunate that the river is dotted with prime viewing areas for dual meets and regattas, including River Road Park East, which sits near the finish line of most of the Tide’s home events. With its multi-tiered slope down to the edge of the river, the park is a natural ‘stadium’ for cheering on the Crimson Tide. Already endowed with one of the nation’s top competition and practice venues in the Black Warrior River, plans are underway to build a state-of-the-art boathouse for the University of Alabama Rowing program that will encompass everything the Crimson Tide needs to continue to move up through the ranks of collegiate rowing. When completed, the planned boat house is projected to include a walking bridge that will connect the facility to campus, as well as space for a restaurant, multiple bays for the Tide’s shells, as well as locker room and meetings spaces and coaches’ offices. The new boathouse will combine with the Tide’s already stellar athletic training, strength and conditioning and academic facilities in providing Alabama rowers with the best of all things.
40
announcing their commitment to the university’s newest sport, it became official - rowing in Alabama was going to the next level. The Start One of the reasons that rowing was chosen as Alabama’s next varsity program had much to do with the fact that in addition to it being an upcoming sport on the national scene, it had been growing steadily in the Tuscaloosa community for 20-plus years.
At the University of Alabama, the club rowing program began in 1987, mainly as a social club. There was little in the way of competition with crews from other schools and, if there was any, Davis said, it was just to go out and have fun on the river. At the University of Alabama, women’s rowing was no different than racquetball or rugby — among the team members there was no rowing experience or real desire for success on the water. Things began to change around 1997, when a few athletes with rowing experience started to join the club squad, bringing with them a desire to see things change. The team adopted a more competitive attitude. They were fund-raising and practicing more. In 1998, Larry Davis and his wife Vicki moved to Tuscaloosa so she could take a new job, leaving the former rowing coach looking for work around
the area. That’s when he heard about the university’s co-ed club rowing program, and how there might have been a chance they were looking for a coach. It seemed like a comfortable fit for the former University of Virginia rower. In January, 1998, he was introduced to the team as their volunteer coach. “Like any club that has never been organized or supervised, there was a learning curve,” Davis said. “Many of them had never been in a competitive sport before.” Meanwhile, back on campus, Marie Robbins and others in the Alabama athletic department were in discussions about adding a 21st varsity sport to the school’s list. There were a number of candidates for the spot, though Robbins, the senior women’s administrator, couldn’t get past the rumblings she was hearing about a certain successful club program that was making the best of its resources a little way up the Black Warrior River. “We started to delve into the issue about 2003,” Robbins said. “We began to talk about the opportunity to add an additional sport for women and provide additional participants the opportunity to compete.”
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, UA Athletics Director Mal Moore, UA President Robert E. Witt and UA Associate AD/Senior Woman Administrator Marie Robbins at the announcement of rowing as a varsity sport.
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The Coach At the time of the team’s promotion to varsity level, Davis was working as director of Wellness and Aquatics at the Tuscaloosa YMCA in addition to his duties as club rowing coach. He was turning rowing into a grassroots success on campus and had already brought home numerous medals for the team, as well as backto-back points trophies at the Augusta Invitational in Augusta, Georgia with nothing more than a group of college students who had only recently become interested in the sport at all. If it seemed to Robbins a natural fit to promote the rowing program to varsity level, it seemed just as natural to promote the man who had gotten them there. “We looked at a lot of coaches internally and externally and ultimately at the end of the day we decided that coach Davis, in terms of local knowledge and familiarity of the club program and local operation of the river also had a wealth of collegiate experience under his belt,” Robbins said. “For coach [Mal] Moore, Larry’s loyalty to the university
was helpful in that for 10 years he worked in addition to his paid job to volunteer and coach these young ladies who had come out for the club team.” Davis’s coaching experience included head coaching jobs at Marist University and the University of Alabama-Huntsville as well as an assistant coaching spot on the 1983 US Men’s National Rowing Team. In February 2006, he found out he would be able to add one more school to the list. For a school with little experience in rowing, Robbins said, Davis was the obvious choice. “I think with coach Davis it’s local knowledge,” she said. “Having been here for 10 years helps those of us with less knowledge about the sport.” Year One The transition to varsity level quickly proved challenging for the new coach—he spent the first semester battling a “club-level mentality”. The team moved on without athletes from the club team that couldn’t adjust to the commitment necessary for a varsity sport. To help with the transition, Davis set up a chal-
lenging first-year schedule that included competitions against Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and two schools that had beaten Alabama before in Murray State and Creighton. “There was no fluff in the schedule,” Davis said, “but there were some teams I thought we could beat.” And, to the surprise of many in collegiate rowing, they did. The Tide defeated both Murray State and Creighton, in addition to coming from behind to beat Cincinnati. They medaled in all four events at the Head of the South Regatta, winning two. They beat schools like North Carolina and Duke and gave Notre Dame a close race in a couple of events. The success of the first year of the rowing program came despite the challenge of having a new sport not only to the athletes, but also to the athletic department’s support staff, which Robbins said had to learn the nuances of the sport just to keep it going, such as the equipment and facilities necessary and how many staff members to hire. There were other challenges as well.
“The biggest challenge is attitude,” he said. “When you’re dealing with walk-ons, I think a lot of people don’t understand the sport and how much hard work is involved. When you take somebody who’s used to a club mentality, the varsity level is much higher. It takes high level athletes who are highly committed. It takes a lot of hard work, focus, discipline and sacrifice. “What I’m asking the students to do is move a boat over a mile and a quarter distance as fast as they can, which means they’re running flat out for somewhere near eight minutes. It’s enjoyable in one way, but it’s very painful. It’s not something your average person is going to want to do.” Year Two After a successful first spring season, the team followed up with a fall season that saw the group open with a pair of top three finishes, then a silver finish at the Head of the Charles Regatta and a gold medal at the Hobb’s Island Regatta. More importantly, Davis said, he started to see a shift among the members of the team, who were becoming more comfortable
35
with the sport and the commitment necessary to compete at a high level within it. “We’re making progress,” he said. “We’ll have some blips along the way and are rowing tougher programs this year, like Michigan and Ohio State, so that’s going to be tough. The idea is to see how close we can be to these people and see how hard they’re working to get there.” To continue the program’s steady rise in collegiate rowing, Davis knows it will take a large commitment from all involved to keep the program on par with other rowing programs across the country. The short-range plans of the athletic department, Robbins said, are tailored to meet those needs, including the construction of a new boat house. “That is in our short range plans, to build a facility because we’re operating out of a temporary but functional facility on the north side of the river,” Robbins said. “Their locker room is at Coleman Coliseum and their workout area off-water is also in the coliseum, so our immediate goal is to get them a facility down on the river that they can operate out of and do all those things with their locker room and workout facilities.” The team took another big step forward in the fall when it
36
signed five scholarship athletes to the program. Instead of promoting them to the bigger boats simply based on experience, Davis will place them with the other freshmen on the team, helping them build depth and experience on their way to growing into a more successful program. It is important, he said, in the same way a new boat house or new docks are important. It shows a commitment not to a quick fix or instant success, but to a process—a process that has taken root in the early stages of a varsity program and is quickly building into a success. “What we tell new recruits is the truth, that they can have a bigger impact here,” Davis said. “But they have to have the patience and insight to make things happen, and they have to want to be a leader. They’re not just going to fit into a group, they will help make that group and build the tradition.”
Walk Ons Vital to Crimson Tide Success Katherine Spohr ambled down the sidewalks of the University of Alabama’s main artery, browsing the various booths that had set up along the walkways of the campus’ Quad for its annual “Get on Board Day.” Brushing shoulders with hundreds of fellow students, Spohr passed by dozens of booths recruiting new members – karate, College Republicans, yearbook – but didn’t give many a second look until she saw a stack of fliers on a table for the University’s rowing team. Spohr, who had no experience with rowing, casually took the top flier and kept walking. Its message was simple, yet clear: “Be a varsity athlete.” Soon, she would attend an informational meeting for the team with a friend. Before long, the Edwardsville, Ill. native, who had never rowed in her life, would be competing in NCAA Division I athletics as
a member of the University of Alabama’s newest varsity sport. The opportunity presented to Spohr is a unique one in the world of college athletics. It is the opportunity to not only take up a sport while in college, but compete in that sport at the NCAA Division I level. “In general, every collegiate rowing team in the United States relies on walk-ons more so than any other sport because most collegiate rowers didn’t know about the sport when they were in high school,” Alabama head coach Larry Davis said. Assistant coach Marina Traub, who tutors Alabama’s first year rowers, known in the sport as novices, conveys the concept on a broader scope. “The novice year provides true walk-ons the opportunity to not only learn the sport, but excel at the collegiate level with no prior experience,” she said.
Rowing Terminology Blade: The end of the oar which pulls the boat through the water. Bow: The forward end of the boat which crosses the finish line first; the rower in the seat nearest the forward end of a shell, who typically has a quick catch, stable technique and a shorter arc. Bucket Rigging: Two riggers on the same side next to each other instead of alternated. Coxswain (cox): Person who steers the shell from a seat located in the stern or a lying position in the bow. Ergs: Short for ergometer; individualized rowing simulators that help strength and conditioning. Lightweight: A crew on which each athlete weighs under a specific amount (130 pounds for women). Novice: A rower in the first year of collegiate competition. Regatta: The name of rowing events in which several crews compete. Repechage: A second chance race for those crews which did not automatically advance to the finals of an event. Rigger: The part which attaches an oar to the shell.
“I’d say about half the rowers representing the United States at the Olympic level were true novices in college.” In its first season of varsity competition, the team raced out to a number of highly successful events, earning victories over crews from schools such as Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Murray State with a group of girls whose interest in the sport the year before had been no more than participation on the club team or a brisk walk across the Quad. “The number of walk-on student-athletes in our program is going to change as our team develops. Each year we may rely a little less on walk-ons and it may become a little tougher for someone who’s never rowed before college to get a shot somewhere in their four years to be at the first boat level.” “The goal is to increase the quality level of our walk-ons,”
Run: The distance the shell moves during one stroke. Sculling: Type of rowing where each rower uses two oars. Shell: Boat used in the rowing races. It seats nine people for an Eight and five people for a Four, and ranges in length from 45 feet for a Four to 58 feet for an Eight. Sprints: Used in collegiate competition, this type of race features a course which is 2000 meters long, usually with four to six unmarked or buoyed lanes and a floating or staked start. Stern: The back of the boat; the end the rowers face during competitions.
Davis said. “The idea is to convince non-rowing former high school athletes to take a chance on the sport and, because they have a good background as an athlete they can make it as a rower.” After the informational meeting, Spohr began racing for the University of Alabama on the novice team. This season she moved up to the varsity. She loves showcasing the team’s progress at races, but it’s in practice, she says, where she sees her teammates struggle and fail, that she finds the real value of competition. “It’s kind of a ‘how did I get here’ thing,” she said. “They didn’t really find us; it was that moment that kind of happened that you can’t even think about how it happened.” “And I know it sounds cheesy,” she says, “but each day is a highlight.”
Stroke: A complete cycle of moving the shell through the water; the rower who sits closest to the stern, looks directly at the coxswain in a stern-coxed boat and sets the rhythm for the shell. Sweeping: Type of rowing where each rower uses one oar. Varsity: The collegiate rower who competes beyond the novice level. 8+ and 4+: Eights (8+) and fours (4+) are the most common collegiate competitions and the two events held at the NCAA Championships. The plus indicates a coxswain on board.
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2006-07 Season Chattanooga Head Race Sat., Oct. 14, 2006 Chattanooga, Tenn. Collegiate 8+ 3rd 5th
A B
Collegiate 4+ 3rd
17:57.2 18:58.1
A
19:49.1
Head of the Charles Oct. 21-22, 2006 Cambridge, Mass. A
18:17.40
Club 8+ 39th
B
21:20.10
Head of the Hooch Sat., Nov. 4, 2006 Chattanooga, Tenn. Lightweight 8+ 4th Novice 8+ 11th 13th 14th
A A
19:05.9 17:42.6
B A C
18:40.1 19:03.5 19:14.1
Championship 8+ 18th A
16:37.9
Championships 4+ 26th A
19:23.9
Head of the South Sat., Nov. 11, 2006 Augusta, Ga. Championship 8+ 1st A
20:47.7
Championship 4+ 1st A
22:31.7
Lightweight 4+ 2nd
A
24:34.9
Novice 8+ 3rd 4th
A B
22:50.0 22:50.2
Bucknell Dual Meet Sat., March 10, 2007 Elberton, Ga. Varsity 8+ 2
Alabama
7:03.01
Second Varsity 8+ 2 Alabama
7:30.01
Novice 8+ (first race) 1 2
Alabama Alabama
(second race) 1 Alabama 2 Alabama
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Sun., March 18, 2007 Oak Ridge, Tenn. Varsity 8+ 2
7:36 7:54 7:43 8:00
Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships April 21 -22, 2007 Oak Ridge, Tenn.
6:56.5
Second Varsity 8+ 3 Alabama
7:20.9
First Varsity 8+ 2nd A
7:03.9
Novice 8+ 2
Alabama
7:15.5
Second Varsity 8+ 7th A
7:20.2
Second Novice 8+ 1 Alabama
7:03.4
First Novice 8 + 6th A
7:21.3
Miami Dual Meet
Sat., March 31 Dallas, Texas
Sat., April 28, 2007 Tuscaloosa, Ala.
First Novice 8+ 1st A 2nd B
7:21.31 7:38.40
Varsity 4+ 1st
A
8:05.04
Varsity 8+ 2nd
A
7:08.02
Second Varsity 8+ 2nd A
7:19.42
Murray State Dual Meet First Varsity 8+ 1st A
7:28.5
First Novice 8+ 1st A 2nd B
7:45.4 7:57.1
Varsity 4+ 1st
A
8:24.5
Novice 4+ 1st
A
9:13.1
Second Varsity 8+ 1st A
7:51.0
Creighton Dual Meet Sat., April, 14, 2007 Omaha, Neb. A
Second Varsity 8+ 1st A Novice 8+ 1st 3rd
A B
6:20.5 6:45.23 6:43.28 6:45.55
6:56.10
Second Varsity/Novice 8+ 2nd Second Varsity A 3rd Novice A 4th Novice B
7:01.5 7:03.9 7:16.4
Varsity 4+ 1st 2nd
7:16.9 7:22.5
A B
May 11-12, 2007 Philadelphia, Penn. Varsity 8+ Prelims -Heats 2nd A Semi-Finals-Heats 5th A
7:01.98
Junior Varsity 8+ Prelims-Heats 2nd A Semi-Finals-Heats 4th A
7:11.58
Novice 8+ Prelims-Heats 1st A Semi-Finals-Heats 3rd A Novice 4+ Prelims -Heats 2nd A Semi-Finals -Heats 4th A
6:47.01
6:56.76
7:11.85 7:00.50
8:16.20 7:56.55
2007 Fall Season
First Varsity 4+ 1st A 7:14.0 Second Varsity 4+ 2nd A
A
Dad Vail College Championships
Sat., April 7, 2007 Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Varsity 8+ 1st
Varsity 8+ 2nd
Chattanooga Head Race 7:43.21
First Novice 4+ 1st A
7:31.80
Second Novice 4+ 1st A
7:49.40
Sat., Oct. 13, 2007 Chattanooga, Tenn. Collegiate 8+ 2nd 5th 6th
A B C
Collegiate 4+ 3rd 4th 7th
A B C
19:25.9 19:35.3 20:01.6
Head of the Charles Regatta
Alabama
SMU Dual Meet
Collegiate 8+ 27th
Lightweight 4+ 4th
Notre Dame Dual Meet
17:15.5 18:15.8 18:30.0
Oct. 20-21, 2007 Cambridge, Mass. Women’s 8+ 2nd
A
17:20.52
Hobbs Island Regatta Sat., Oct. 27, 2007 Huntsville, Ala. Championship 4+ 1st A
22:01
Varsity 8+ 2nd
B
19:17
Novice 8+ 1st 3rd
A B
22:21 22:52
Head of the Hooch Sat., Nov. 3, 2007 Chattanooga, Tenn. Championship 8+ 8th A 25th B 26th C
18:17.2 19:19.1 19:22.3
Championship 4+ 10th A 13th B 18th C
20:35.9 20:57.7 21:35.7
Novice 8+ 6th 8th
20:46.0 21:02.3
A B
Head of the South Regatta Sat., Nov. 10, 2007 Augusta, Ga. Championship 8+ 1st A 3rd C 4th B
16:37.4 17:31.5 17:42.2
Championship 4+ 1st A 2nd B 4th C
18:00.0 18:42.0 18:53.0
Novice 8+ 1st 2nd
B C
18:56.5 19:06.4
Novice 4+ 2nd 3rd
A C
20:10.6 20:16.0
Lightweight 4+ 1st
A
18:43.2
All-Time Roster A Katie Allaway Cara Allison Jessica Autrey
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Wellington, Fla. Columbus, Miss.
J 2007 V * 2007 V 2007 N
B Sarah Beaver
Spanish Fort, Ala.
Auburn, Ala. Huntsville, Ala. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Melissa Danaceau
Atlanta, Ga.
McKenna Frease
Cordova, Tenn.
Shannon Gilligan Christine Gossman
Flower Mound, Texas Birmingham, Ala.
Karen Ishmael
Daphne, Ala.
Fairhope, Ala.
Rachel Kimbrough
Huntsville, Ala.
* 2007 V * 2007 V 2007 N
P 2007 V
Leigh Ann Lazarus Courtney Lewallen Erin Linsin Cristin Liveoak Nikki Lopez
Hoover, Ala. Birmingham, Ala. Alpharetta, Ga. Madison, Ala. Katy, Texas
* 2007 V 2007 N 2007 V * 2007 V 2007 N
Allie Manning Jaquelyn Marcinak Christina McClellan Genna McIlwaine Marley McKenzie Tacoma Morrisey
Mobile, Ala. 2007 N Clinton Township, Mich. 2007 N Daphne, Ala. 2007 V Adamsville, Ala. * 2007 V Coral Springs, Fla. 2007 V Cincinnati, Ohio 2007 N
M
F * 2007 V
G 2007 N 2007 N
I 2007 N
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Ozark, Ala.
Jennifer Rankin Jamie Ravenna
Hoover, Ala. Rutland, Vt.
Bailey Sanders Jessica Scivley Mary Elizabeth Sims Sarah Smith Katherine Spohr Margaret Strojny
Madison, Miss. Hoover, Ala. Birmingham, Ala. New Hope, Ala. Edwardsville, Ill. Riverside, Ill.
Kathryn Tippey Catherine Tucker
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Cathryn Whitlock Sarita Williams Sarah Witt
Lake Ridge, Va. Katy, Texas Lexington, Ky.
Albertville, Ala.
2007 V 2007 N
S 2007 N 2007 N 2007 N 2007 N 2007 N * 2007 V
T 2007 V 2007 N
W
O Stacey Ogle
2007 N 2007 V
R
2007 V
L
D 2007 N
Veronica Parsons Katie Pouncey
K
2007 V
C Bryn Crawford Victoria Croy Courtney Crumby
Rachel Justiss
2007 N
2007 V 2007 N 2007 N
* denotes varsity letter for the season
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It is one of the best practice and competitive courses in the nation, giving the University of Alabama’s young rowing team an immediate boost. The Black Warrior River, where the Crimson Tide practices and competes, is blessed with protected banks, long straightaways, and minimal current which make it a rower’s dream. The Tide also has the good fortune of having the river largely to itself. The Tide is also fortunate that the river is dotted with prime viewing areas for dual meets and regattas, including River Road Park East, which sits near the finish line of most of the Tide’s home events. With its multi-tiered slope down to the edge of the river, the park is a natural ‘stadium’ for cheering on the Crimson Tide. Already endowed with one of the nation’s top competition and practice venues in the Black Warrior River, plans are underway to build a state-of-the-art boathouse for the University of Alabama Rowing program that will encompass everything the Crimson Tide needs to continue to move up through the ranks of collegiate rowing. When completed, the planned boat house is projected to include a walking bridge that will connect the facility to campus, as well as space for a restaurant, multiple bays for the Tide’s shells, as well as locker room and meetings spaces and coaches’ offices. The new boathouse will combine with the Tide’s already stellar athletic training, strength and conditioning and academic facilities in providing Alabama rowers with the best of all things.
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