Spending four years training for a space walk that lasted a few hours was not unusual for NASA astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (S.B. ’84, M.S. ’85) — she experienced that kind of preparation when she rowed on an MIT crew.

Crews spend hours each week on the river, using the power of their legs, backs, and arms to move the shells through the water, pushing themselves to their physical limits, and practicing in the dark, cold, and rain — all for a race that will last just minutes. Crew instills discipline and an ability to work as part of a finely-tuned team that sticks with rowers long after they walk out of the MIT boathouse.

Crew prepares MIT students for the opportunities they will someday face — becoming astronauts, for example, like Stefanyshyn-Piper. Or like former rower Catherine Coleman (S.B. ’83), who helped deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory from the Columbia in July 1999. And like Dominic Antonelli (S.B. ’89), who is awaiting assignment to a shuttle flight.

Of course, not everyone from MIT crew goes on to explore space. Some start companies, or become CEOs or luminaries in other fields. But participating in crew gave each of them a foundation from which they can achieve great things.

Competing at the highest level

MIT crew is the Institute’s only declared Division I sport, and MIT rowers compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges against the best collegiate rowers in the country — teams like Harvard and Princeton. Those other schools heavily recruit students who have rowed in high school, while MIT teams are a combination of walk-ons and experienced rowers — the son of a Kansas wheat farmer who had never been in a shell before and the high school rower from Virginia. But excellence is expected everywhere at MIT, including on the Charles River.

Building winning crews requires good athletes, and “walk-on” development will remain the core of the MIT program. But MIT’s preeminent position as the leading scientific and engineering university makes it an attractive destination for academically talented rowers now graduating from the proliferating number of secondary schools with crew programs nationwide. Getting the word out to them that MIT is the school for them requires that the coaches have the time to identify highly qualified candidates wherever they may be, and to deliver and follow up on that message.

Crew attracts more students than any other sport at MIT, with about 100 first-year students joining annually. They practice together every weekday afternoon and on weekends, even as the weather turns colder and the sky grows darker. They push each other to do their best and form lasting friendships as they make their shells glide across the river.

“Most of them will say their teammates are their best friends. It’s that kind of bonding — intense, a lot of time spent together, a lot of highs and lows together,” says Tony Kilbridge, director of crew. The discipline that comes from rowing also improves students’ classwork, forcing them to stay focused and be efficient with their use of time.

Building competitive and winning crews requires strong coaching as well.

“Good coaching helps bring out the best in athletes. They see improvement, taste success, have fun, and are more likely to stick with the sport after freshman year,” says Jack Frailey ’44, former MIT crew coach and two-time U.S. Olympic Rowing team coach and manager.

The role of good coaching

Freshman/novice coaches train and mentor these students, encouraging them to exceed what they once believed were their physical limits — rowing through exhaustion and with blisters on their hands. The coaches who work with these new team members have been part-time. Thus, retaining good coaches has been difficult. That, in turn, has made retaining strong rowers for four years a challenge.

The Institute recently made freshman/novice coach positions full-time, with benefits, although funding to make that change permanent must now be raised. MIT intends to add another full-time freshman/novice coach position as it rebuilds and reinvigorates its crew program. Hiring Tony Kilbridge as the new director and principal coach is part of this initiative. Coach Kilbridge was previously head coach of the University of Virginia’s men’s crew and the Virginia Rowing Association’s director of rowing.

MIT rowers practice every day on one of the greatest rowing rivers anywhere. The fall’s Head of the Charles is the largest regatta in the world, and the 500 meters between the Pierce Boathouse and the Harvard Bridge are known as the hardest part of the 2000-meter race in spring competition. The Institute’s rowers enthusiastically work to compete at a level befitting such a location.

Your gift will support full-time freshman/novice coaches who will focus on attracting and training current student athletes and recruiting their next class of freshman/novice rowers. Working with varsity coaches, this more strongly supported boathouse team will be able to build the talent level in future MIT crews — leading to more competitive success at the highest intercollegiate level.

Likewise, MIT rowers will continue to excel, in shells racing along the Charles River and in their professional fields. And Stefanyshyn-Piper, no doubt, won’t be the last MIT rower to take a walk in space.

Supporting the MIT Freshman/Novice Crew Coach Endowment will help hire quality full-time coaches, giving them time to recruit, mentor, and provide continuity to rowers. In turn, rowers will be challenged by the coaches to be stronger leaders and achieve greater success in and out of the sport.