Boys Crew Co-Captain Nate Bechard ’24 first started rowing during his Junior year at Andover, following in the footsteps of his father. Bechard places an importance on effort, commitment, and work ethic. He not only motivates his teammates by his own impressive performance but by sharing strategies and creating a strong team bond off the water.
Bechard shared his love for the mental strength that Crew requires. He noted the beauty of a sport where you get out what you put in.
“I first fell in love with the sport because of how mentally tough it was and also the fact that rowing is a sport that has pretty much a one-to-one ratio between what you put in and what you get out. You don’t really have to have any super special talents or anything. The people who work the hardest generally succeed and I like that a lot about rowing,” said Bechard.
One aspect of the team that Bechard and Co-Captain George Stoody ’24 have been working on is implementing large-scale off-season training. Bechard hopes to elevate all of the rowers around him to a higher level through inclusive team workouts.
Bechard said, “This year, we’re building something really important that’s going to last for a lot longer. We grew as a program this year in terms of the off-season training, and the big role of leadership for me has been trying to get a bunch of people to work out more in the off-season because, like I said, the more work you put in, the better the team is as a whole. So as a leader, trying to raise everyone up around me to make sure all of us are putting in the work to achieve the goal that we have in our minds.”
Andrew Massicotte ’25 describes Bechard as an accomplished rower who leads by example, while also sending out tips to better his teammates. Massicote shared his admiration for Bechard’s grit, determination, and integrity.
Massicotte said, “He has been able to perform, and he still does perform at a very high level, and he has experience and expertise and training, and he really brings that to the team. For example, if we are doing an erg race, he will send out plans of how you should approach it, pointers on your mindset, and things like that, where he’s drawing from his experiences and sharing them with the team, and people really benefit from that… I found that he directs his energy towards improvement, and really leads by example, and people see that, and I follow in his footsteps. He’s honest about how things went, what can be improved, and what we did well.”
Bechard shared his and Stoody’s goals to continue outside of practice team bonding. Despite Crew being one of the largest teams on campus, Bechard noted the camaraderie present in the way that outside of practice, members of the team choose to spend their time together.
“[Out] of 100 people, I feel like [crew] is one of the closest teams on campus in terms of we go into the dining hall together, we finish practice together, we always do a massive core routine after practice that’s totally optional, but everyone goes anyway, just because the crew team is so close. And preserving that as a leader is also something that me and George are trying to do this year,” said Bechard.
Spencer Salhanick ’24 also noted the commitment he has for the sport and the high standards that Bechard holds for his improvement.
“As a person, Nate is one of if not the most passionate people that I know. By passionate I mean it is really hard for him to quit or give up on his morals. He is very stubborn in a good way, he will never change his mind because someone said something… He will get things done no matter how hard it is [or] how long it takes… He is a grinder. He holds what he wants very close to him,” said Salhanick.
Bechard shared his hopes that the team can win the overall title at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) regatta, showing the strength of the program as a whole.
“We have a lot of goals. We are going to win NEIRAs, that’s our goal. We’re going to have a strong program, top to bottom. We’re going to bring home the team trophy, which is the big thing because in the NEIRA league, there’s the 1v trophy, the 2v, and 3v, they can all win medals, but the big ticket for us would be the team trophy where the entire program is dominant… so that’s our goal. And then, who knows, we may go to nationals as well,” said Bechard.
Bechard is committed to row for the lightweight team at Cornell University.
