RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.29 (Rowing)
A post shared by Kansas Rowing (@kansasrowing) on Apr 3, 2018 at 8:28am PDT
Enjoying the ?? during Spring (Break) Training!#KUrowing pic.twitter.com/iUEVd2lSbT
— Kansas Rowing (@KU_Rowing) March 21, 2018
In any sport, student-athletes are always competing for more playing time or a starting position and rowing is no different.
Leading up to the 2018 season, Kansas rowing has participated in a fair amount of seat racing to determine its own standard of playing time or starting positions. Seat racing entails racing timed pieces along side each other on the water and once times have been recorded, the coaching staff will instruct what switches will be made between the two boats racing.
At that point, the boats will pull up alongside each other on the water and the student-athletes will switch spots with their counterpart of the other boat. The boats will then race again and times will show whether the new student-athlete in the boat resulted in faster or slower racing times.
“It can be an exciting and a tense time because student-athletes are working on securing the highest seat they can, but they are also always having to work together,” said interim head coach Carrie Cook-Callen.
Seat racing can be a tricky task to accomplish with trying to provide a stable environment out on the water, but is crucial in order to establish the seat hierarchy on each side of the boat between the starboards and the ports of the team.
As the Jayhawks move throughout the spring season, seat racing will continue to take place every so often to ensure that the fastest student-athletes continue to be a part of the fastest boats on race days.
Catch the Jayhawks in action this Saturday for the Big 12 Double Dual against Alabama and Tennessee at Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kansas. KU’s races begin at 9 a.m.
