Most of us, when asked to name a popular sport, the likely would respond with soccer, baseball, basketball or football. The sport of rowing probably wouldn’t make the list, but with a recent rise in interest and participation of crew — specifically the Space Coast Crew team — which counts  several West Shore-ians among it’s members, the student body’s curiosity in the sport has increased as well.

“It’s kind of like the hidden sport,” sophomore Abby Kawa said. “Nobody exactly knows what they do. People just assume the general aspect is rowing boats.”

Many make their own assumptions about the sport. Some say that there is not much skill involved while others say crew produces one of the hardest workouts of any sport.

“I know that there is a lot of effort and time involved,” sophomore Taylor Morgan said. “Everyone seems to be interested in it this year, but I feel like people think it’s easier than it actually is.”

Lack of understanding of the sport may be the cause for many assumptions about it. The general consensus of those who know nothing about crew is that all it involves is rowing in a row boat with hardly any movement at all and certainly no competitive nature. Those who row know very well that this is not the case.

“I came into the sport knowing it would be hard,” sophomore Jacob Eberwein said. “ A friend told me about crew and told me all about what they do without sparing any details about how painful it gets, and I joined anyway.”

Despite the growing interest in crew, the team is still in need of rowers, particularly women, to come out and row for them with the upcoming sprint season beginning just next month.

By Loryn Schopke