IU rowing develops strong bond

Waves crash and break against the shore of Lake Lemon on a peaceful, sunny afternoon. Three wakeboarders zip up and down, back and forth, a wake trailing behind them wherever they go.

“We don’t like waves and wake here,” IU women’s rowing coach Steve Peterson said. “We’re a smooth water sport.”

Yet the women paddle through, stroke by stroke, pushing through every tiny ripple in their path.

“We really need to buckle down this year and focus more on the mental factor,” junior Alex Burkle said. “We’ve really stressed this year just to have a ‘no crap’ attitude and to get things done, and it’s nice to see for a change.”

The women began their season strong in The Lemonhead Regatta on Lake Lemon in Bloomington on Sept. 25 against Louisville, a team that ended last spring ranked No. 24 in the nation.

IU’s Varsity 8 tied Louisville’s Varsity 8 crew — a crew that individually ranks among the top 20 in the nation every season — with a time of 17:04 at the end of the three-mile style trial race across the lake.

“We’ve really been working on confidence more than anything,” Peterson said. “And success, like our tie against Louisville, really opens people’s eyes. We’ve been a good program for the past few years, but now it’s time for us to take a big step forward.”

Peterson, in his eighth year at IU and a former rowing coach at George Washington University, Rutgers and the University of Rhode Island, said he has been trying to build up the program for the past few years. He not only contacts coaches and follows high school race results, but also continues to search for his squad even after they get to IU.

“Every year we send out mailings to all incoming freshman girls letting them know about our team and that we still have spots available for our novice team," Peterson said. "And even after that, the girls already on the team look out during the first week of school for anyone walking around who might look like they could help us."

But in the end, Peterson and the rest of the women on the team aren’t looking for individuals; they’re looking for teams, crews of five and nine girls who can work together as one crew.

“This sport is not about individuals," Peterson said. "We do lots of work to get every girl to be a leader. The captains are obvious leaders. The coxswains are the quarterbacks of the crew. The seniors are the oldest and most experienced. To single out any girl as an individual would go against the nature of the sport."

Peterson and the team do work and meet together, almost year-round, to get stronger, build friendships and even help within the community.

The women in have participated in activities such as the Buddy Walk, the Hoosier Hills canned food drive and the CHAMPS life skills program in years past. They also do community service together once a month.

“With almost 50 girls, this is such a team sport, and we have to be able to rely on each other,” Burkle said. “Being together at practice and then at football games and for meals, it just helps you get to know your teammates and how they move.”

Not to say that these women don’t spend enough time together at practice. During the season they practice twice a day — except for Wednesdays and Sundays — once at 5:45 in the morning for weight lifting or running and again at 3:45 p.m. for rowing.

“It’s a training sport,” junior captain Cara Donley said. “In the offseason all we do is row and try to get in as many strokes as possible. We have a hard-working group and are doing all the work we need to be, we just need to do it the right way.”

Even though it’s early in the season, the team still has their sights on championships as the end result.

“Everything we do is to prepare to do well at the Big Ten  and to qualify for the NCAA  at the end of the season,” Peterson said.

But, Peterson added, the team must build more than just strength if they want to win championships.

“We’re building confidence,” sophomore captain Kathryn Laine said. “We haven’t been the most successful program in the past, but once we get our confidence and swagger, we’ll be flying.”