As the WA Boys’ Crew Team wraps up their fall season, winter training begins in order to keep the team’s momentum going in hopes of competing in nationals in the spring.

Crew captains, seniors Nick and Alex Ormsby and Dan Measer, have been on the team since their freshman year of high school.  According to the captains, the crew team has grown in strength, strategy, and teamwork. Their fall season was one of their most exciting seasons because of the effort and time that was put into each race and practice.

Winter training is broken down into a pyramid that helps to improve many aspects of their strength and endurance. The base of the pyramid is longer in time and less work but as you work your way up the pyramid, there is less time to complete a difficult task given to them by their coach.

The crew team is going through a coaching change at the moment, but the captains say that the new coach is doing a great job and the members of the team have enjoyed working with him. The team’s previous assistant coach, Dave Cormier, is stepping in after the old coach left after the previous season. Despite the changes, the captains believe that this year will be one of the team’s best seasons so far.

“The thing I’m looking forward to a lot is seeing […] all of our [underclassmen] teammates step it up and see how they change as we move out of the picture next year and they get to step into the spotlight,” said senior captain Nick Ormsby.

Their main goal for the spring season is to make it to nationals. Nationals will be held in Princeton, New Jersey this year and they hope to send one or more boats to compete for the title. To get to the top of this competition, they intend on getting faster times, perfect techniques and staying as fit as possible. There are a lot of opportunities to get to nationals because in each race, they have five regattas to row, so they have a good chance of winning most of their competitions this season.  

The team also works to help each other out during the school year, as spending a good amount of time training can sometimes make school work difficult. The crew team opens up a new social life and allows members of the team to meet new friends.

“The crew team…has a wide variety of people, so if someone is having trouble with school work there’s always someone who is also taking the class and can help you out or willing to help you out even if they haven’t taken the class. That’s just the kind of team that we have,” said senior captian Alex Ormsby.

Every day the captains and coaches expect 100 percent effort as the team strives for improvement. The captains agree that this is a great way to get into a cross training sport and is a decision that the captains will never regret. The team is looking forward to the upcoming season and is excited to improve each week in hopes of getting to nationals.

“Every week is a new opportunity for us to succeed,” said Alex Ormsby.

Gallery • 4 Photos

The Crew Team getting on the water.