Last week, for Easter Break, I went to Arizona, where my uncle and cousins live, to visit them for the holiday. During that time, my cousin invited me to an event she and her friends were hosting as a fundraiser.
She was on her university’s rowing team, and her team taught anybody interested in learning how to row. Rowing is both a competitive sport and a recreational activity that involves propelling a boat through water using oars.
There are two primary forms of rowing, sweep rowing, where each rower has one oar, held with both hands, and it’s typically done in pairs, fours, or eights.
And sculling, where each rower has two oars, one in each hand, which can be done solo (single cull), in pairs (double scull), or fours (quad scull).
We learned and practiced the sweep rowing technique through the various steps they taught us.
First, we started rowing on a rowing machine, also called an erg, on land. This machine simulates the actual rowing movement without the use of oars.
Understanding the pattern your body had to follow was essential for making your rowing movement as effective as possible.
Rowing is a major Olympic sport with races ranging from 500-meter sprints to 2,000-meter Olympic distances.
It’s known for its intense physical demands and synchronized teamwork.
Their events are categorized by boat type, the number of rowers, and whether a coxswain (the person who steers and directs) is present.
Imagine a boat with eight people rowing on one side, and the same number of people rowing on the other side.
We had to make the movement as efficient as possible to ensure the boat moved smoothly and quickly.
Some key skills that were reflected in us were endurance, technique, power, rhythm, and mental toughness.
Rowing is a full-body workout.
It engages the legs, back, arms, and core and offers cardiovascular and strength training benefits. Indoor rowing machines (ergs) mimic water rowing and are popular in gyms, where we first learned how to row properly.
After all our lessons and expertise on land, they transferred us to a large boat and rowed us into the water.
It was my first hands-on experience with rowing in my life, and it was a lot of fun.
I’ve seen these competitions before, since in Panama, rowers practice with a unique set of boats that differ from the Olympic-style boats.
They’re called dragon boats, consisting of a long, narrow canoe-like boat traditionally decorated with a dragon’s head and tail.
Dragon boat racing dates back more than 2,000 years in southern China, but it is now a major public holiday in China and other East Asian countries.
The Dragon Boat Festival symbolizes teamwork, bravery, and community strength. It is also a way to ward off disease and evil spirits.
A dragon boat race involves a drummer who beats a rhythmical drumbeat to synchronize the paddlers’ strokes. Since timing is more important than brute strength, the paddlers must work in perfect harmony. The steerer, or sweep, stands at the back and uses a long oar to steer the boat.
Most races are 200 meters to 500 meters sprints, but some festivals feature longer distances.
