Sweep Rowing
Sweep rowing is the perfect opportunity to incorporate more fitness into your life. It is also a great way to meet new people, make connections, and experience Boston from the river as you row alongside elite teams.
Completing Intro to Rowing is required to move on to our other recreational sweeps classes—Novice Sweeps or General Sweeps. Rowers in recreational sweeps are required to take turns learning to cox their own boats.
Coaches will let individual rowers know when they are ready to advance from Novice to General Sweeps. Rowers can participate in General Sweeps for as long as they like, it is a great way to get a good workout and continue honing skills. Rowers with solid skills and a desire for a greater challenge, are encouraged to try out for our Men’s and Women’s Competitive teams.
Novice Sweeps
Upon successful completion of Intro to Rowing, rowers progress to Novice Sweeps. It is recommended that participants row in Novice Sweeps for several terms. Depending on skill and comfort level coaches will let rowers know when they are ready to progress to General Sweeps.
Summary:
Novice Sweeps is the intermediate step between Intro to Rowing and General Sweeps. Time is spent practicing the skills needed to transition from rowing in the barge to rowing in an 8+. There will be a wide range of progress during the term as everyone works together to build on their skills. Rowers should expect to learn coxing skills, which involves directing the boat from the boathouse to the water and steering the boat during practice.
Who is this program appropriate for:
Any adult rower who has completed the Intro to Row program. Novice Sweeps is not for those who are completely new to rowing, but it does include a review of the basics to reinforce skills and knowledge from Intro to Row and may begin with rowing in the barge to assess skills.
What’s Next:
Rowers typically spend several terms in Novice Sweeps. Coaches will let individual rowers know when they are ready to advance from Novice to General Sweeps based on skill and comfort level demonstrated by rowers when rowing in Novice Sweeps.
General Sweeps
Participation in Novice Sweeps is required before moving up to General Sweeps. Rowers continue in Novice Sweeps for varying amounts of time, until the Novice coaches recommend that they are ready for General Sweeps. Rowers can continue rowing in General Sweeps for as long as they like—it’s a great way to get a good workout and continue honing skills.
Summary:
General Sweeps is a fun, recreational rowing environment where participants continue to improve their rowing skills and get a good workout in with continuous rowing during each practice. General Sweeps will have rowers with a range of skill levels depending on their ability as well as how many years they have rowed in the program. Coaches will assess rowers’ technique and skill level to balance and support the needs of all athletes in the program. General Sweeps rowers will continue to take turns coxing their boats. The focus of the program is the application of skills during continuous rowing. While practice plans will vary from coach to coach, approximately 25% of each practice is spent on skill development and 75% on continuous rowing.
Who is this program appropriate for:
Any adult rower who completes Intro to Row and several terms of Novice Sweeps. Rowers in Novice sweeps can generally expect to participate in Novice Sweeps for a full on-water season. Coaches in Novice Sweeps will approve moving into General Sweeps when a rower has attained the necessary skills to successfully participate in General Sweeps. Participation in General Sweeps is at the discretion of the coaches.
What’s Next:
Many rowers continue in General Sweeps indefinitely, we have recreational rowers who have been with us for many years, happy to be out on the water getting a good workout. Other rowers decide they want more of a challenge or perhaps some competitive experience and have gone on to row with CRI’s Competitive Men’s and Women’s teams. Others take advantage of CRI’s Small Class Program option and design a program that suits their needs. Sculling is another great choice. Sculling is offered either through private lessons or regular classes.
Questions? Please email info@communityrowing.org.
All rowers must have a swim test on file at CRI.