Rowing in the United States

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Rowing in the United States
CountryUnited States
Governing body USRowing
National team(s) United States Olympics team
International competitions

In the United States, Crew or Rowing is a popular sport in secondary and tertiary education. USRowing is the sport's national governing body. [1] The Harvard-Yale Regatta is the oldest college sporting event in the United States. [2]

Contents

History

The American Henley Regatta was the first national championships for the sport of rowing in the United States. The first regatta was held in 1903 in Philadelphia, and was meant to be equivalent to the Henley Royal Regatta in the United Kingdom. [3] The regatta was alternately held in Philadelphia and Boston. It was run by the American Rowing Association. [4]

High school

High schools compete in rowing at the national level in the Stotesbury Cup and Scholastic Rowing Association of America regattas.

College

Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. Men's rowing has organized collegiate championships in various forms since 1871. The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) has been the de facto national championship for men since 1895. Women's rowing initially competed in its intercollegiate championships as part of the National Women's Rowing Association Championship in 1967. In the 1996–97 season, most women's intercollegiate rowing programs elected to join the NCAA as a "Championship" sport. Men's rowing declined to join the NCAA, but virtually all colleges abide by NCAA regulations. Other governing bodies of college rowing in the United States include the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA).

Olympics

The women's eight has won the gold medal at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

Rowing (sport) Sport where individuals or teams row boats by oar

Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars—one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.

Harvard Crimson Intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College

The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country. Like the other Ivy League colleges, Harvard does not offer athletic scholarships.

Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.

The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women’s athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS), recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.

College rowing in the United States

Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.

Harry Parker was the head coach of the Harvard varsity rowing program (1963–2013). He also represented the United States in the single scull at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Lightweight rowing is a category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (FISA), this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people".

The Poughkeepsie Regatta was the annual championship regatta of the U.S. Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) when it was held in Poughkeepsie, New York from 1895 to 1949.

Columbia Lions Athletic teams of Columbia University

The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling.

Drexel Dragons Intercollegiate sports teams of Drexel University

The Drexel Dragons are the athletic teams of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

History of rowing sports

The history of rowing as a sport has prevailed it as one of the oldest traditions in the world. What began as a method of transport and warfare eventually became a sport with a wide following, and a part of the cultural identity of the English speaking world. Rowing in its modern form developed in England in the 1700s.

The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's open weight rowing. It is the direct successor to the Rowing Association of American Colleges, the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, which operated from 1870–1894.

Navy Midshipmen Sports teams of the United States Naval Academy

The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 33 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams. Both men's and women's teams are called Navy Midshipmen or "Mids". They participate in the NCAA's Division I, as a non-football member of the Patriot League, a football-only member of the American Athletic Conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and a member of the Collegiate Sprint Football League (men), Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (men), Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges, Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League (men), Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference (men) and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. Navy is also one of approximately 300 members of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).

Penn Quakers Intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Pennsylvania

The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing.

The first tier of intercollegiate sports in the United States includes sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies. The major sanctioning organization is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Before mid-1981, women's top-tier intercollegiate sports were solely governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Smaller colleges are governed by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Two-year colleges are governed by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in most of the country, except for the unaffiliated California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) and Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC).

College Boat Club

College Boat Club of the University of Pennsylvania is the rowing program for University of Pennsylvania Rowing, located at #11 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its membership consists entirely of past and present rowers of the University of Pennsylvania. It hosts both heavyweight and lightweight varsity men's teams and an openweight varsity women's team. The Wharton Crew Team, however, rows out of Bachelors Barge Club at #6 Boathouse Row. College Boat Club was founded in 1872 by the school's students, shortly after the school's campus was relocated from Center City to West Philadelphia. College Boat Club was admitted to the Schuylkill Navy in 1875.

Gillin Boat Club is the rowing program for St. Joseph's University Rowing and St. Joseph's Prep Rowing. It is situated at the 1,000-meter mark of the Schuylkill River race course in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gillin Boat Club was admitted to the Schuylkill Navy in 2004, by a unanimous vote of the Navy's members.

Hobart Statesmen Athletic teams representing Hobart and William Smith Colleges

The Hobart Statesmen are composed of 11 teams representing Hobart and William Smith Colleges in intercollegiate athletics, including men's basketball, cross country, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, sailing, soccer, squash, and tennis. The Statesmen compete in the NCAA Division III and are members of the Liberty League for all sports except men's volleyball that they will join the United Volleyball Conference in 2023–24, in the inaugural season of the team and men's lacrosse, which competes in NCAA Division I, as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

History of womens rowing

Women's rowing is the participation of women in the sport of rowing. Women row in all boat classes, from single scull to coxed eights, across the same age ranges and standards as men, from junior amateur through university-level to elite athlete. Typically men and women compete in separate crews although mixed crews and mixed team events also take place. Coaching for women is similar to that for men.

American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) is one of the governing bodies of college rowing in the United States, together with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA).

References

  1. Glennon, Patrick. "Philly played a critical role in making rowing popular in America - Philly History". www.philly.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  2. "The history behind America's oldest active collegiate sporting event". ABC News. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  3. Pruter, Robert (2013). The Rise of American High School Sports and the Search for Control : 1880-1930. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 139.
  4. "Henley Royal Regatta | History & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  5. "Rowing: United States extend unbeaten run with gold in women's eight". 13 August 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2019 via www.reuters.com.
  6. Macur, Juliet (13 August 2016). "A Simple Yell Helps a Dynasty Pull Together" . Retrieved 12 March 2019 via NYTimes.com.