M.rowing: Men’s crew rowing strong through budget cuts with the help of Title IX

Word on the street is that Title IX, since its inception, has
helped only women’s sports. As the UCLA men’s crew team
has shown, this is not always the case.

“The decision by UCLA Athletics to add women’s
rowing as a varsity sport was the best thing that could have
happened to the men’s rowing team,” coach Erinn McMahan
said. “Not only has it brought some of the best coaches in
the country to UCLA, but it has also increased the sport’s
prominence on campus.”

Men’s crew was a top varsity sport at UCLA before it lost
funding at the end of the 1990-1991 season due to budget cuts.
Before the cuts, the success of the team produced five Pac-10
championships and nine Olympic and National team members.

The team re-emerged as a club sport seven years ago. For the
next four years, it struggled to compete with better funded, better
equipped teams that still had school backing.

The tide began to change two years ago with the introduction of
the women’s varsity rowing team in the 2001-2002 season.
Title IX requires spending on athletics to be equal to the
percentage of each gender at the school. With the introduction of
the women’s team also came top coaches and equipment. These
resources were then shared with the men’s team.

With these additions, the team is now truly competitive,
finishing ninth in its first race against 21 other varsity teams.
Even more impressive, the novice team finished fifth in a group of
20.

“We’re the fastest we’ve been since I’ve
been here,” team captain Brian Kitch said. “If we keep
working like we’re working now, we could break the 10-year
drought.”

The drought Kitch refers to is based on the fact that since the
team lost varsity status in 1991, it has not made the Pac-10 Grand
Finals, the final heat of the Pac-10 invitational that includes
Pac-10 teams as well as some of the best non-conference men’s
crews teams around the nation.

The crew is full of young and excited freshmen, such as walk-on
Ryan Frontiera.

The team experience and the refreshing atmosphere of being over
the waters of Marina del Rey with seven other guys working
together, “almost makes waking up at 5 a.m. worth it,”
Frontiera said.

Yes, it’s true. The men’s crew team does not
practice at 4 a.m.

“The 4 a.m. practice is a vicious rumor,” McMahan
said.

The actual practice time is 6 to 8 a.m.

The next competition for UCLA is against USC. The Bruins face
the Trojans at Marina del Rey on Nov. 22 at 7 a.m.

For info on joining the men’s crew team, contact Coach
Erinn McMahan at [email protected] or by phone at (310)
305-1637.