Women’s rowing team seeks potential members
By Daily Bruin Staff
Sept. 26, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff A second-year rower
talks to a potential recruit in Westwood Plaza for the rowing
team.
By Jackie Abellada
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s rowing team has already begun their usual
recruiting process. From Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, the coaching staff and
several players will be on hand at Westwood Plaza to introduce the
sport to the UCLA student body and, hopefully, spark some
interest.
“Men and women, come out and learn the sport of rowing and
then we can go from there and find out who’s found their
niche,” said Amy Fuller, the women’s head coach.
“I think people are going to be surprised at not only how
many great people they’ll meet doing this sport, but what a
fun experience this is.”
In a sport where most of the professionals start at a later age,
rowing finds its best prospects among college communities
worldwide. In fact, Fuller, a three-time Olympian, did not begin
her rowing career until she was a sophomore in UC Santa
Barbara.
“We are going to have people out there to just answer
questions, to recruit,” Fuller said. “We want to be out
there to be informative and be able to show them what it’s
about.”
The team will bring a boat, a rowing shell and several rowing
odometers to get people more acquainted with the sport and the
equipment.
The squad’s male counterparts will also be present. Aaron
McMahan, entering his sixth season as men’s rowing head
coach, will lead his team in recruiting some able male student
bodies into the current club sport.
“I feel that things like this, where you can actually meet
students and talk to them, is the most effective way of
recruiting,” McMahan said. “We’ve tried other
efforts like flyers and mailings, and I think this is the best way
to meet students and actually talk to them.”
Both teams welcome people with or without any athletic
background to just see what the sport is like before deciding to
completely turn the other way.
“Some of the rowers came by and recruited me off Bruin
Walk. I showed up and found my niche because I’d never done
this until I got here, and I’ve been doing it ever
since,” said Mike Robrock, a third-year rower.
In the past, men and women’s rowing teams had difficulties
recruiting potential crew members because they had to pay dues to
provide their own equipment. But since the women’s squad was
officially sanctioned as a varsity sport this spring, the team
hopes to raise enthusiasm and interest in the sport.
The team will receive new gear and, starting in 2002, two full
scholarships.
The basic foundation for the team is almost complete. On Sept.
20, the team announced that Jaime Goodrich and Guillermo Lemus,
last year’s head coach, will join the staff as assistant
coaches. Now, the coaching staff and the 25 women returning from
last year’s squad anxiously await for the new recruits.
“Anybody who is interested in sports should come
out,” fifth-year rower Delia Lucas said. “There really
isn’t any particular body type or type of person the crew
team is looking for, because, literally you can be from 3 feet tall
to 7 feet tall and they will find you a place.”
