When I transferred to Georgetown this year on a U.S. Army scholarship, I was determined to remain a varsity athlete, but to participate in a sport that would be flexible enough to work with my busy ROTC training schedule. I met with novice heavyweight crew coach Mark Mandel when I first came here, and found him to be as welcoming and professional as anyone I have met on the Hilltop thus far.
Having thoroughly read your article “Motley Crew: Inside Georgetown Rowing”(Cover 10/12/06 issue), I feel that your publication has offered a skewed perspective of one of the last pure amateur sports that exists, and one that has a long and rich history at Georgetown. The very Blue and Grey that represents this school trace their origins to the founding of the University’s Boat Club in 1876, which deemed Blue and Gray “appropriate colors for the [Boat] Club and expressive of the feeling of unity between the Northern and Southern boys of the College.” Crew itself is the oldest competitive collegiate sport in the nation, which has stood the test of time and endured as the last bastion of gentlemanly sportsmanship and honor in a time of high-profile sports scandals and dubious high-stakes collegiate athletic recruitment.
So why do we row crew, a sport which, according to one obviously disgruntled former coach you quoted in your article, is “a big joke”? Simply put, because it is the antithesis of what some collegiate sports are slowly becoming, a business operation with a “me first” entitlement attitude that puts a premium on individual accomplishment to sell seats and market the school, even if it is ultimately at the expense of the team.
Despite the fact that some of today’s most gifted and hardest working athletes are rowers, there are no prima donnas on the Georgetown crew team, primarily because of the basic nature of the sport. Crew is first and foremost a unique team sport that involves nine people working in unison throughout the course of an entire race with one goal in mind, victory. Having played team sports including varsity soccer at a senior military college called Norwich University, I can honestly say that I have never experienced any sport as team-oriented or challenging as crew at Georgetown.
As far as the Darwinian rate of attrition that leads to retention problems which crew teams face every year, I believe your article points the blame in all the wrong directions. The Georgetown crew coaches are as professional and dedicated as any collegiate coaching staff I’ve ever worked with. Our current boathouse may be a no-frills operation that can be crowded at times, but a true oarsman only cares about the quality of the boat in which he rows and of his or her teammates, both of which are top notch here. Yes, Georgetown is a demanding school. Yes, rowing is a hard sport that requires long hours of time, hard work, and dedication, but so does leading a successful life. The time management skills that are regarded so highly in the military and corporate world are learned here on the Hilltop, where we must strive to test our limits, not be held back by them.
We happy few who sweat and sacrifice everyday do so knowing that it is our own satisfaction in a job well done and the pride in representing Georgetown that will be our reward, and those who quit have only themselves to blame for their loss in experiencing that close-knit community. Attrition is not a failure of the program, but rather it is a testament to the strenuous nature of the sport, and I would not have it any other way. As Henry V in Shakespeare’s play says before going into battle against overwhelming odds, “The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost … I would not lose so great an honour, as one man more methinks would share from me.” Bill Shakespeare would have made a great Georgetown coxswain.
Austin Roberts is a junior in the College.
