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OVRC
Ohio Valley Rowing Club
OVRC crew looks to future
Posted on Jun 03, 2010
by: news and sentinel
Photo courtesy of Les Pritchard
Members of the Ohio Valley Rowing Club’s initial team are, front row, from left, boys lightweight double Alex Collins and Ryan Pritchard. Middle row, varsity 8 coxswain Jenna Whitlock, girls novice 4 stroke Alexis Eddy, 3 McKenzie Steed, 2 Adrianna Grady and bow Jade Arthurholtz. Back row, assistant coach Barrie Thornton, and boys varsity 8 members, bow, Pat Hammond, 2 Nathan Pritchard, 3 Ben Wells, 4 James Rexroad, 5 James Stevenson, 6 Josh Goodwin, 7 Chris Howard, stroke Levi Holbert and head coach Alfonso Morales.
The veteran rowing coach accepted a new assignment when he agreed to become the head coach for the first-year crew of the Ohio Valley Rowing Club.
Morales found himself coaching a mixture of experienced, talented rowers and inexperienced, but promising newcomers.
Competing against the top rowing clubs in America, the first-year crew managed to hold its own. It nearly qualified its boys varsity 8 for the national championship event, but came up just four seconds short in the repechage at the Mid-West Youth Championships in Cincinnati. The local crew finished third in its qualifying heat, but only the top two advanced. That put in the repechage, where it waged a race-long battle with two other boats, coming up just short in the final 10 meters.
The OVRC's other entrants, the boys double and the girls novice 4, were unable to advance to the second round.
Still, it was a good start for a new team trying to take on the giants of the crew world.
Plus, Morales believes the sky is the limit for the future of the OVRC team.
"Our next goal is to recruit athletes from all the surrounding schools,'' he said. "The OVRC is again sponsoring learn-to-row programs in June and July. These are open to all students ages 13 through 19. This is the best time to try rowing before deciding whether to row for the OVRC."
Morales is hoping to develop a boys heavyweight program featuring 16 athletes ranging in height from 6-foot to 6-8 and weighing from 160 to 230 pounds. His other goals are a light heavyweight program for athletes 155 pounds and less, a girls heavyweight program for athletes over 130 pounds and a girls lightweight program for those 130 or less.
Morales would love to have 16 athletes in each of those programs. That will take some recruiting. Yes, a club-sponsored team such as the OVRC can indeed recruit, and the success of its efforts to increase both the quantity and quality of its athletes will go a long way toward determining the competitiveness of the program.
Morales is excited about the equipment the OVRC has supplied for the team, which he describes as the best available. But equipment is only part of the game. It takes athletes to make those boats go.
