Hi!! I’m 5′ 2” and I’ve been rowing all throughout middle school. I don’t think I’m going to grow anymore. Can I still be a successful rower in high school?
Some of it depends on the competitiveness of your team. I had several friends in our LW8+ and V8+ that were 5’1″ – 5’3″ and that worked perfectly fine for us as a pretty competitive SRAA school. If we were part of a more competitive club program like the top end crews at Youth Nats then they’d probably all be coxswains or bow seats in the 2V or 3V. Different programs want different things in their athletes so it’s important to keep that in mind.
Even though your height can limit which boats you’re in as you get more competitive, at the junior level it’s not really as big of a deal. Being successful or not being successful isn’t going to be because of your height though. I know it sounds cliche but the time and effort you’re willing to put in will be a much bigger deciding factor. So yes, to answer your question, you can be 5’2″ and be a successful high school rower but if you want to stay with crew beyond that then switching to lightweight full-time (if you aren’t already naturally there) or becoming a coxswain will probably be where you’ll find most of your opportunities.