With pressure mounting on varsity rowing programs across the country to compete against the highest possible competition, club rowing teams have been forced to organize their own tournaments. Key to the change is Northwestern, whose club team is a founding member of the newly formed American Collegiate Rowing Association.
“A.C.R.A. was formed in reaction to the I.R.A. (Intercollegiate Rowing Association) excluding club teams,” said Aaron Zdawczyk, the fifth-year coach of the men’s club rowing team. “The varsity programs were under pressure from their Athletic Departments, because they were competing with club teams … and sometimes losing to them.”
A.C.R.A. will hold its inaugural postseason tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla., in late May. Senior and team president Colin Rolfs is confident that NU’s rowing team will have a strong showing at the tournament.
“I think the spring is the time when we can really shine because we have a lot of seniors who have been rowing for a long time and bring experience to the races,” Rolfs said.
This experience exists at the highest level of the club team, known as the varsity level. The team’s younger rowers gain experience at the novice level. While most of the team does compete at the varsity level, the novices are first-time rowers who compete against novices from other schools.
Almost all of the rowers on the team started out as novices and progressed to the varsity level after their first year on the team. The varsity level is coached by Aaron Zdawczyk, who doubles as the assistant director of admissions for the university.
“We’re treated like a varsity sport, so I coach them like a varsity sport,” Zdawczyk said. “We practice six days a week, two to three hours a day, throughout the academic calendar.”
The grueling practice schedule is not even the hardest commitment rowers have to make. While the rest of the campus is still asleep, the team trains at 6:30 in the morning on most days.
“It’s just work and it’s really hard and it’s tiring and it doesn’t have the same kind of pleasure associated with getting out on the water,” Rolfs said. “The feeling you get on the water is what keeps me on the team and what keeps me here at 6:30 a.m.”
Senior rower Dimitri Papagiannopoulos appreciates the hard work and the daily grind because it allows him to exceed his physical and mental limits and prepares him for races.
“Having those moments in the water where you’re not thinking at all, you’re feeling, and it’s almost as if you’re connected to your teammates comes from (practice),” Papagiannopoulos said. “All you have to focus on is taking down the boat opposite you. It’s just the most relaxing, liberating feeling I’ve ever had.”
The team is looking forward to the spring, when it can get out on the water and compete for a club championship. Zdawczyk believes the A.C.R.A. will only grow in the future and help lift the profile of club rowing teams.
“This will be the first year that the tournament happens, so the potential for growth is astronomical,” he said. “It’s a very exciting time, and we’ll be there to experience it.”
