Spring training season is winding down for Camp Bob Cooper’s sought after rowing retreat.
Rowers pack up and return home this weekend until the fall, when high school and college teams will return for a longer rowing instructional season.
The camp hosts teams frequently from the northeast during Spring Break. Mid-February through mid-April brings row teams from Massachusetts and New York to compete in regattas and train at the camp, as their lakes and waterways are still frozen during Easter Break.
Weekends are transition periods in which teams arrive for the program and leave to return to their home states. Last week CBC welcomed six teams, including one college and five high school teams totaling about 350 people.
Camp Bob Cooper Program Director Britney Helm has overseen the rowing program there for the past three years, among other programs the camp offers.
“Each season, high school and college teams pack into their busses and head our way with their coaches in tow, driving in trailers behind their teams,” said Helm. “Once they reach Camp Bob Cooper, they immediately set up around the camp. We have several floating docks for the crew teams to go out and practice regatta races. (The docks) are set up for a 2,000 meter course.”
Drills consist of demanding water practices with eight rowers to a boat with each boat hosting a coxswain.
The coxswain is the boat guide who directs the rowers and tells them how fast to go and where to go. The daily drills are designed to give the students increased rowing proficiency.
Meals are provided throughout the day for each student, and drills on land such as sprinting and strength training are optional. There are 16 in-door rowing machines called ogometers set up in the gym for the rowers to practice drills.
The slogan for this season is called “eat, sleep, row” and they do it well when they attend the CBC rowing program.
During this final week of the program, Fordham Prep from the Bronx, one of the oldest teams to frequent Bob Cooper for rowing is attending.
To add to the winding-down fun, teams compete in land activities such as dodge ball tournaments against their rival school teams.
They take it seriously, according to Helm, going to Walmart to buy matching shirts. Teams who attend the program love the competitive spirit of the evening activities.
“Rowing is one of the oldest sports and not a very common athletic sport choice among today’s young people,” said Helm.
“Schools from places like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin drive all day from their frozen homes to attend the camp,” she added.
