Crew is VHSL spring season sport, but there are crew activities during the other seasons to help prepare for the spring.
MCC’s Learn to Row program starts in late-September and runs through October and is designed to introduce freshmen and novices to rowing on the water. We hold optional sessions to instruct participants in learning how to rig a shell, carry a shell, boar a shell and rowing technique – or to become a coxswain. Our coaches motivate and inspire our novices to accomplish great things.
Some experienced rowers compete in club racing through local boat clubs during the fall.
Winter conditioning begins in November and goes through February. Work-out sessions are usually helded every day, except Sundays, at McLean High School, predominately on ergometers (rowing machines, often call “ergs”), as well as weight-lifting and yoga. It enables rowers to intensify their training and conditioning, and to compete both regionally and nationally in ergometer competitions.
The spring competitive season, or Regatta Season, runs from early March through May and is what every rower has been working towards. During this season, the rowers are transported from MHS to Thompson’s Boat Center (TBC) in Georgetown for on-the-water practices on the Potomac River six days a wekk. MCC competes on Saturdays in five or six local and regional regattas on the Potomac and Occoquan rivers. Selected/qualifying boats will travel to the largest regatta on the east coast, Stotesbury, in Philadephia, PA in May and qualifying boats will continue to Nationals at an out-of-town regatta.