On September 4, the crew team, led by Coach Fife, tested its athletes with a twenty-minute ergometer standard piece , or exercise, set at “easy” splits . A split is the level of push that each stroke gets, as set by Coach Fife.
The ergometer, or indoor-rowing machine, is an important part of the crew team’s training. This “torture device,” as Sam Todora ’15 puts it, never fails to supply a whole new set of challenges to the already strenuous sport.
However, Coach Fife emphasizes the benefits that come from performing well in this exercise, and believes that such commitment will ensure the athletes start the season off at the fitness-level they had at the end of last season.
“I think [doing the standard piece] is a good thing because it’s a challenge,” explains Alejandro Joglar ’15. “It’s a good requirement because it forces people to work for a position on a boat.”
The crew athletes have been preparing themselves extensively for competition since July. The training begins when rowers come to the “erg” room (the old weight room) and compete for a standard piece. They are judged by two of the team’s captains, Jesus Mathus ’13 and Luke Uetrecht ’13.
The new standard they are working toward differs from what the crew team uses at competitions like the SWEAT (Southwest Ergometer Amateur Tournament ), which has a 2-kilometer ergometer piece, described by Connor Kerl ’15 as “seven minutes of pure pain.” The new 20-minute “erg” piece will be completed at slightly less pressure, but at the same, if not greater, intensity for nearly three times as long as a 2k.
A nearly 6 kilometers piece can intimidate any rower, so that means the rowers have to work hard to prepare for such a rigorous test of skill and willpower. “We will [basically] have to kill ourselves,” Stetson McGahey ’15 said.
Passing the ergometer test will mean that rowers will be allowed to leave the erg room and journey to White Rock Lake, where they can get out on the water. Failing, however, will mean another weekly cycle of standards leading up to a test.
The first regatta is four weeks away in Oklahoma City, and Coach Fife is eager to get his rowers out on the water.
In addition, the next four weeks will find Jesuit competing against Oklahoma City’s Rowing Club, the Texas Rowing Club, and White Rock Rowing Club.
