recruitment for rowing

Recruiting is heavily done in the sport of rowing. And with the passage of Title IX eight years ago, women's rowing has blown up. In 1997, there were only 55 schools registered for Women's rowing and by 2005, the sport grew to 86 registered schools. Highschool clubs all over the nation have not only seen an increase in recruitment intrests from colleges, but an increase in rowers for their team. Many have different reasons for joining, but the most promising perspective would be the chance to row with colleges like Yale, Stanford, Cal, and UCLA, on a full ride scholarship.

Traditionally, the sport is more cherised as a sport reserved for the elite, like Polo players and Ivy leaguers, and has been celebrated since the very begining of the Olympics. But more recently, colleges spanning the U.S. have picked up on the sport, in particular the West Coast.The Bay Area recently has become a hot-spot for college recruiting. "Last year, between September and October, I'd say 30 to 40 coaches came through here looking at our kids," said the head coach from Oakland Strokes, David Brynes.

But rowers from clubs aren't the only ones being recruited. There are several categories of girls whom, although being athletes their whole lifes, have never picked up an oar that are also being recruited. Rowing teams are getting creative and starting to recruit from more popular sports that, although may not resemble anything close to rowing, produce the same muscle strength and endurance as rowing. Swimmers and dancers in particular are perfect for the job. Swimmers have very strong leg and shoulder muscles, which are needed, as well as dancers. But dancers also have good rhythm, which is needed, and extremely good flexibility, which is also very key in the sport.




POSSIBLE LEAD: What do dancers, swimmers and cross country runners have in common? They are, suprisingly being recruited for a very unlikely sport - rowing. Who would have thought that these athletes would get full-blown scholarship offers to elite, Pac-10 schools for doing a sport most have never heard of?

I might use a quote too, but I'm still juggling with this.

Also, maybe soemthing along the lines of these ideas:
-gaining popularity among kids, new cure for ADD? "who needs ridilin when you've got rowing?
-a parent's dream - their kids off the couch, getting good grades, and going to bed early. All the while being hawked down by the nations top schools. What parent wouldn't want this for their kids?

So far so good?