After concluding one of the most successful fall seasons in college history, which included victories in both the Frostbite and the Head of the Charles regattas, the crew team traveled to DeLand, Florida for the second straight year to prepare for its upcoming spring season.
The crew team has spent the last 35 years traveling south together during spring break. Traditionally, the team would go down to Tennessee, but since the pandemic crew has headed to DeLand, Florida.
“Our coach realized that we should try a different location, especially because there were complications with the last locations due to weather and the water being rough,” senior Meghan Roberts said. “Spring break, however, has always been a part of our training, especially even before my freshman year.”
All of the members of the team travel down in groups of four, making the 15-hour drive over two days. Groups are shuffled between upper and underclassmen.
“I think it is a great way to bond with members that you haven’t talked to recently or ever. I had four freshmen in my car and you start bonding with each other spending five or six hours straight in the car,” Roberts said. “I think it is definitely a highlight because even with the competitive side of crew and not focusing on anything other than crew while we’re down there, that bonding time is really nice.”
The team spends much of its time in Florida practicing for hours at a time, but there are break times structured so that teammates can hang out with each other, something key for building team chemistry.
“I think if anything, the trip helps us prepare even better than what we have for training at school because we are really just focusing on crew. There aren’t any other distractions in our way,” Roberts said. “It also helps finalize some boatings that could have been changed during winter trainings. It makes us be more competitive with other crew teams, especially the division one teams that all have spring trips.”
The team will begin its spring season in just two weeks, with hopes to replicate the success it had in the fall.
“Seeing that we won Head of the Charles with our varsity women’s four, we are going to be very competitive in our spring regattas. We are often the top competitors in most of our spring regattas because we are much more of a sprint team than a distance team,” Roberts said. “With the external pressure from our coach, I think hopefully we will do well, especially because this has been our primary focus.”
