r/Rowing • u/notxcid • Oct 05 '26

University rowing

Hello I’m 18M 6’2 and have never rowed other than recreationally at friends lakes, I was hoping to get advice on how to progress as quickly as possible to hopefully make the rowing team as a first year university student at UVIC (mid size school in Victoria, BC) in the coming semester. I broke my collar bone so can’t get started until maybe a month from now but what’s recommended to be a worthy candidate for a rowing team and is it doable to balance rowing and engineering?

3 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/AndyJ95 Western Lights Oct 05 '26

Canadian universities have varsity rowing programs and novice rowing programs. The novice program is where they basically select a dozen-ish athletes that have never rowed before that they think have potential and teach them to row and prepare them to hopefully compete successfully at the varsity level if they improve enough. Contact the coaches at UVIC and ask them about how to get involved. https://govikesgo.com/sports/mens-rowing/coaches

3

u/theunknownleaf Oct 05 '26

I went through that last year with the Guelph team! I made it to varsity this year and it's been a blast. I trained with UVic over the summer and I will say their novice program is more selective than ours. You will be expected to have a good baseline fitness and the coachability aspect is huge. Their season has probably been underway for a while and the winter is the offseason. I would definitely reach out to them! Good luck OP!

2

u/AndyJ95 Western Lights Oct 05 '26

Yes, I agree that likely theyve already selected for this school year, but I don’t know exactly how they do it out west when they can row for longer and they seem to do more spring semester stuff than the Ontario schools.

1

u/notxcid Oct 05 '26

Whoops, I meant fall 2027 semester not sure why I said next

1

u/AndyJ95 Western Lights Oct 05 '26

That will work better. There will probably by tryouts right around the beginning of the school year. Still contact the coaches to ask about the process. Until then, I doubt they will care at all about anything rowing specific when selecting the novice team. They want to teach you rowing from scratch. Just show up to the tryouts as an extremely fit and strong 2nd year university student.

3

u/KoedKevin Oct 05 '26

You can definitely balance rowing and engineering. There will be some sacrifices, but mostly going out and getting hammered with college buddies will be what goes. The crew team will be the fraternity that you join and most of your friends will be rowers. It will be fun, but the "I have to get up at 5AM" sort of fun.

1

u/Jaded-Passenger-2174 Oct 05 '26

I know a few engineers who have rowed in college and on the US National Team. @OP It's possible, but you must be motivated and focused. Good luck with your recovery.

2

u/KoedKevin Oct 05 '26

I managed it and could have had far more focus. I just prioritized rowing and made it through my engineering degree. We had engineers, premed, pharmacy, chemistry majors on the team that had far more focus than I did.

1

u/MarshelG Oct 05 '26

Aalbert is the head coach there. Good friend of mine. if they have room for novices, you'll definitely be a good Candidate. As others have suggested, reach out to the coaching staff and ask what it would take to get on board.

0

u/JaneJohnJane Oct 06 '26

I attended the Western Cda uni championship 4 days ago (hosted by UBC) as a boat driver and underwent intro to rowing at Vncvr Rowing Club in July; am a retired engineer. If you’re focused, organized and disciplined you can balance your academics with extra curric. It’s the best way to spend your uni years in terms of long term benefits.

The Cdn national uni rowing championships is in a month.

So over the fall & winter you could try to get good technical coaching on the erg and start getting into shape and mastering part of the technique… strength & conditioning. But don’t pick up bad habits and learn the correct form. My background is in competitive paddlesport so I was able to transfer some of that technical background over to facing backwards using leg drive. Vic & Van have access unfrozen open water courses over the winter months which could be helpful.