Rowing teams can be found on college campuses, at private clubs and even in the Olympics. Nearly as long as people have taken to the water, rowing has been a competitive sport.
The first reference to rowing as a sport can be found on a 15th century BC Egyptian funerary carving. Athnet, a sports recruiting service, says Italian Carnevale often featured regatta races that pitted rowers against one another. It is believed that the first modern rowing competitions can be traced to Renaissance England. Guilds sponsored boats to compete in the “Lord Mayor’s Water Procession” beginning in 1454.
Like swimming, rowing requires participants to use every major muscle group in their bodies. Rowing promotes endurance and can lead participants to feel a sense of accomplishment every time they hit the water.
Eight-oared “shells,” also known as “an eight,” are around 60 feet long and can weigh around 200 pounds. They can carry up to 1,750 pounds, and maneuvering these vessels requires being in excellent physical condition, according to United States Rowing. In fact, physiologists have claimed that rowing a 2,000-meter race is the equivalent to playing back-to-back basketball games.
As a sport, rowing is well known among college students. In fact, rowing was the first intercollegiate sport contested in the United States. Spectators witnessed the first rowing race between Harvard and Yale Universities in 1852.
Rockford Rowing says that rowing is divided into two distinct disciplines. Sculling is when an oarsman uses two smaller oars, while sweep rowing has each oarsman handling only one oar. Sweep boats may or may not carry a coxswain, who serves as the on-the-water coach and steers.
Rowing competitions have various weight classes, so athletes typically can find a class that fits them. However, tall rowers may have an easier time on the water.
Even though rowing looks like it is entirely an upperbody sport, it involves much more. US Rowing states that the stroke is made up of four parts: catch, drive, finish, and recovery. These parts each involve different body parts, including the legs and abdominal muscles.
Even though a race can be very physically taxing, a shell will stay on the water for a few minutes longer with oarsmen rowing to cool down.
An ancient sport, rowing continues to go strong in clubs all across the world.