Row, row, row your way to a scholarship ... is a catchy tune and one high school (and even middle school) athletes might want to consider learning if they dream of one day securing finical aid for college. In addition to gaining outstanding physical conditioning and self-confidence while learning teamwork and perseverance, rowing generates the highest percentage of college scholarships compared to any other high school sport.
A total of 55.5% of high school female rowers (yes, just over one out of every 2 females) attend college on an athletic scholarship and 17.9% of high school male rowers (one out of six males) received financial aid. (Source: 2011 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report; 2010-2011 National Federation of State High School Participation)
147 colleges sponsored varsity level rowing teams in 2013, however, many other colleges have school clubs or intramural teams. Interestingly, rowing is an official NCAA sport for women but not for men, although many schools sponsor men’s teams and offer scholarships. Women’s rowing is considered an equivalency sport with a 20 scholarship limit per team. Partial scholarships, however, are often awarded in various proportions to meet the limit per school and can result in more than 20 athletes per team receiving financial aid to row.
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Such encouraging percentages should serve as significant motivation to high school and middle school athletes to pick up an oar and give rowing a try. Luckily, those of us living in Fairfield County CT have access to water and quality rowing clubs.
Norwalk River Rowing is one of the premier rowing clubs in our area, attracting athletes from all over Fairfield County, CT as well as Westchester, NY. Last year, Norwalk River Rowing qualified more boats for the prestigious National Rowing Championships than any other rowing club in the Northeast.
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Norwalk River Rowing, Fairfield County’s oldest rowing organization, has exceptionally skilled coaches for its Development Team, Youth Novice Racing, and Varsity Racing Teams. High School and Middle School students can quickly learn the skills necessary to row on the Development team and then advance on to the racing teams to compete in the spring, summer, and fall season regattas.
Program registration for NRR’s Youth Spring Rowing Programs and additional information are available now online at www.NorwalkRiverRowing.org. So register today and you could one day join one of Norwalk River Rowing’s youth athletes who are or will be rowing next fall at Harvard, Boston College, Northeastern, Fordham, Lehigh, and George Washington University, to name a few.
