When did you start doing crew and how were you introduced to the sport?
Eliza Scheer ’20: I started in eighth grade at a rowing club when I lived in San Francisco. A lot of people start rowing on the latter end of middle school. So, I didn’t really find a sport that I wanted to keep doing in high school so I figured it was worth trying a new one. So, I started in eighth grade at a club and then I came to Andover [my Junior] year and I have been on the team ever since.
Has being on the team for multiple years helped you become a leader and a captain?
Claire Brady ’20: I think I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable with the sport and with the team environment. That has enabled me to step up in ways that I maybe might not have in my first year. I think a big part of that is really just the people who are on the team, and that is really what makes the program what it is… So I think that has inspired me to step up in different ways.
Scheer: Definitely, yes. I think that every year, all the seniors, not only the captains but everyone else too, have shown really awesome leadership. I think that has been really helpful in helping me learn and figure out what kind of team I want to be on. So I think that being able to look up to the seniors every year has taught me a lot.
Are there any qualities, in particular, that you try to encourage your teammates to show while being a part of the team?
Brady: We haven’t had a racing season so it feels kind of weird. But I feel like I got a sense of it in the fall, helping run the instructional program. I would say that encouragement and positivity are such big pillars of our team and that really shows in every single practice how we conduct ourselves. So, we have warm-up lines at the beginning of practice where everyone is high-fiving each other and cheering each other on and there’s music normally playing. So that creates a really positive environment. On the water, we try to be really constructive in what we’re doing, but also super encouraging because everyone in this sport knows that you have to work together and be on the same page in order to be successful.
Scheer: I definitely think supporting each other no matter what [is one crucial quality] because I think a lot of times, people will have off-days and on-days and I think that being able to work as a team no matter what is really important. So I think that being there for one another and being able to have fun together at practice while working really really hard is super important. I think something that is really special about our team is that people look for challenges and look for hard work so I think that’s really valuable.
Were there any personal or team moments that stood out this past fall crew season?
Brady: Every Friday in the fall, we did mini-competitions. They weren’t full races, but we would have some kind of workout or fun activity as a competition that we would do. And that was just a really nice way to bring all the rowers together that you might not have interacted with every day at practice.
