Before hitting water in the spring, Scarsdale rowers have been training hard to keep in shape. We interviewed members of the team to hear more about the intense preparation going into the spring season.
“[Training] is really physically intensive because it is both aerobic and anaerobic. It’s also really time-consuming because of long practices and daily commutes to the studio or the boathouse,” Abdukodir Abdurashidov ’26, a junior on the novice team, commented. Rowers adhere to an intensive training schedule of two hours each day from Monday to Friday every week, which consists of practicing technique and stamina on rowing machines.
“Over Thanksgiving break, we were given a training schedule and everyone would have to do a 6k row on the machine, if one person didn’t hit the goal, everyone had to face punishment,” Alex Sharp ’26, a member of the varsity team, stated.
The physically demanding sport, coupled with long training sessions, can make it hard for student-athletes to balance rowing and academics. “It is really challenging because you need to go to practice after school and come back home tired with little time left for all the schoolwork but later you get used to it,” Abdurashidov ’26 noted. Through the sport, many rowers had to improve their time management skills to keep up with their school work.
Most competitions take place during the spring season. The high school rowing team competes with other schools through the Pelham Community Rowing Association, a school-affiliated team. The school pays club fees to have access to the sport’s wide range of required infrastructure, such as boats and lakes to practice on.
“The main goal is to make it to youth nationals in Florida,” Abdurashidov added. With rigorous training in the winter, both the varsity and novice teams have ambitious aims to make the top three in New York State’s High School Championships, which would allow both teams to be automatically placed in the A finals of the National Championships in Florida.
After the varsity team made the B finals in Florida last year, many are confident in having a strong season. “Thinking optimistically, I think we can make it to the A final. Winning nationals would mean that hard work meant something,” Kabir Bhalja ’27, a member of the varsity team, said.
With big aspirations, the high school team has also experienced a recent upsurge of newcomers which has boosted the popularity of the sport and strengthened the headcount of the Scarsdale team. “The team has grown so much that we now fill both sides. Scarsdale has the most representation on the team and the amount of Scarsdale kids are only growing,” Sharp described.
However, the sport’s sudden increase in student popularity has been the result of increasing demand for college rowers from prestigious colleges. “I’ve noticed that for a lot of new people who joined recently, getting recruited is the main goal,” Abdurashidov noted.
Despite an increase of new rowers aiming solely for college recruitment, passion for the sport remains in the team. “I think people come to rowing because of college but stay because of genuine enjoyment,” Bhalja explained.
Nonetheless, many members of the high school crew are passionately looking forward to a great spring season. “I love any excuse to talk about rowing. I’m so happy I found this sport and this team,” Sharp added, expressing his shared passion for the sport. Boy’s crew tryouts in the spring begin in early March.
