Lisgar rowing team at practice on the Ottawa River.
Lisgar Collegiate Institute is rowing in a new direction. The school’s rowing team has started a three–year plan towards becoming more competitive, running early–morning and after–school practices and training year–round.
Only a handful of schools in Ottawa run competitive rowing programs, and Lisgar coaches say they hope the idea catches on.
“For high schools to think about [competitive] rowing is a bit of a stretch,” says head coach Robert Tang. “But we’re making some impact, slowly but surely.”
Tang says the team used to train for only three weeks at the start of every season, beginning in April.
Now, athletes will be encouraged to dedicate themselves solely to rowing, turning the team into more of a serious engagement.
Tang says there are good reasons to push athletes for more of a commitment.
“One, it’s no fun to be last,” he says. “Secondly, it doesn’t attract students if you’re known as just there to row with no goals being set. Students don’t look at that as something you want to join.”
Tang says team members should take part in winter sports, like skiing, to help stay fit in the off-season. Athletes should show a commitment to rowing once the season begins, though, he says.
That doesn’t seem to bother Kostya Forlov, a 16–year–old grade 11 student at Lisgar who started rowing this September.
Forlov says that, despite the busier training schedule this year, he has still had fun practicing.
“It’s not really competitive yet,” he says. “This is all the easy part.”
Ten Lisgar team members are also involved in the Ottawa Rowing Club, Tang says – eight more than participated last year.
The club runs several competitions for high school rowing students and allows the Lisgar rowing team to practice at their establishment, according to Tang.
Craig Law, a club member and former coach of the Lisgar team, says students who row for the school are known for their hard work.
“They’re a bunch of nerds and over–achievers,” he jokes. “I mean that in a positive way. A large number of these kids are gifted.”
Elena Pagliarello, another of the team’s coaches, used to row for Lisgar five years ago. She says the program has made major progress.
“When we were first starting out, the objective was to get people in the boat and get them back in one piece,” she says from the riverbank at the rowing club. “I was the only person who had ever actually rowed before.”
According to coaches, Lisgar’s first rowing team was formed in 2000, and between 20 and 40 athletes take part each year.
The team won’t compete officially in any particular league this year, but Tang says he hopes to register his rowers in more competitions.
He says it should take about three years for the team to adapt.
“When you transition from a recreational team to a more competitive team, the dynamics change,” he says. “You need to find people who are more dedicated, rather than those who just want to try the sport. This is harder to find.”
Last year, the Lisgar team got its first taste of competition, at the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Championships in St. Catharines.
In the finals, one Lisgar boat came in sixth out of 30 teams from across North America. Tang says he hopes to send boats again this year, and is confident the rowing team will achieve success.
The rowing team recruits as easily as Lisgar’s soccer and basketball teams, according to Tang. Still, the coach says he finds it difficult to keep team numbers high, since rowers start training at a later age.
“Last year, we lost half the team because they graduated,” he says. “It’s basically a rebuilding, a transition.”