Crew, a sport often chronicled as an East coast exclusive, may debut in Columbia. Junior Quinn Tyler and senior Leela Cullity plan to start RBHS’s first rowing team. Cullity said she initiated the idea after college visits during the summer.

The team had its first meeting Sept. 8 and will have practices before school Tuesdays and Thursdays on the track field.

“Me and Leela just had the idea; she had been visiting a bunch of East Coast schools and watching rowing teams do their thing,” Tyler said. “We also go to the gym together a lot, and when we don’t feel like running we do the rowing machine for cardio, and one day we were doing the rowing machine and just decided that doing this as a type of club thing would be really cool.”

Sponsor Matt Johnson believes starting a rowing team is a healthy way to further bonding and is a great addition to athletics.

“Why not?” Johnson thought when asked to sponsor the club by Tyler and Cullity. Johnson said he agreed because he thought it would be funny, even though he was reluctant at first.

To begin rowing, the club will need to raise enough money for a boat. Cullity and Tyler originally planned to order a boat from Massachusetts; however, after several different complications, the team postponed ordering the boat for the coming months.

“If we eventually get on the water, we would need to fundraise $2,000 for a boat, but we [can’t] fundraise [for outdoor activities] through Rock Bridge,” Tyler said. “Getting out on the water cannot be associated with the school until we get through the Missouri State High School [Activities] Association [MSHSAA].”

The team intended to fundraise at the first home football game Aug. 30; however, because of MSHSAA rules, the team is unable to receive any funding from school-related activities for outdoor rowing events.
Cullity went into further detail about why the club can’t row on water. In order to be associated with RBHS and row outside, the team would need to purchase liability insurance, something that the RBHS boys’ lacrosse does to continue being a club sport.

“For indoor rowing purposes, we can fundraise with Rock Bridge. We hope to collect money at the upcoming football games and events,” Cullity said. “We also plan to do Chipotle fundraising, and we hope to collect donations from family and friends. The rowing team is strictly indoors and plans to attend rowing classes at Rho studio.”

MSHSAA has various rules and regulations that a potential sport must follow and complete before it can be officially approved. In the case of the rowing, it would have to be a club sport during its first year, and all of its members could not be affiliated with the school.

Since equity is an issue, Tyler said rowing could not be a school regulated sport unless every school in the district has a team. The likelihood of all three high schools coordinating their own rowing team is slim; however, there are crew competitions around Missouri. These Bruins hope to compete in matches in Kansas City and St. Louis.

“If we become a club sport,” Tyler said, “the most likely scenario would be competing against other rowing clubs in the state of Missouri.”

What are your thoughts on the newest club sport at RBHS? Let us know in the comments below.