So we recently got a new coach and she said that she is not going to group us based on experience anymore and that we pretty much have to try out for varsity again. As a two season varsity rower I think it’s unfair that I have to prove myself to this coach and that she’s bulldozed over all of my hard work and making me start from scratch. Would you ever do that? Also, is there any way to not get huge thighs from rowing?
Personally no, I wouldn’t do that. I would reserve the right to maybe reevaluate seats (over a lengthy period of time) in the varsity boats if I felt someone wasn’t deserving of their spot in the first eight or if someone in the third eight deserved to be in the second, but I wouldn’t make someone try out again. I think there has to be respect from the rower’s end that she’s the coach and is going to do things how she wants to do them (regardless of whether or not people agree) but there also has to be respect on the coach’s end for the work that everyone has put into getting where they are now. To disregard all of that seems selfish.
Rowers are blessed/cursed with the gift of thunder thighs. The quads and hamstrings are THE main muscles that we employ while rowing (I say “we” like I actually row or something), so naturally the more they get used, the stronger they become, and the larger the muscles get. Just like there’s no way to prevent people from saying “your arms must be so strong!”, there’s no way to prevent getting huge thighs. Embrace it!
