Brennan Ford, Asst. Sports Editor–

For Sophia Weber ‘28, competitive sports have always played an integral role in her life.

She participated in volleyball and softball throughout her youth but stopped during her early high school years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, the summer before her sophomore year, she stumbled upon a learn-to-row event run by the nearby rowing team.

“Freshman year, I didn’t participate in any sports, but I missed competing. So I was just looking around and found out rowing offered great women’s scholarships,” Weber said. “I have always loved being out on the water, so being able to do that through a sport was great.”

Throughout her high school rowing career, Weber participated in the two major rowing disciplines.

“I row sweep and sculling. Sweep is traditionally eight people in a boat, with one oar per person on each side. I row starboard, so I row on the left side of the boat,” Weber said. 

Sculling is in smaller boats, typically quads, doubles, and singles, and that’s with one oar in each hand.

Weber was on a club crew team for three years, and her love for the sport encouraged her to seek opportunities at the collegiate level.

“I love being outdoors, and that’s something I wanted to keep doing in college. Being able to have something that could compete in and also get outside and be active was appealing,” Weber said. “I honestly just loved the sport and didn’t want to stop it just because I was going to college.”

At Denison, Weber is one of the few rowers on the crew team with prior experience.

 “It was a shock at first. I remember when we first went out on the boat and had the coach reteach the basic motion of rowing.” 

As one of the more knowledgeable rowers, Weber felt herself in a predicament.

“It’s been strange not knowing when to help. I don’t want to act like one of the coaches because I have experience. But at the same time, I don’t want to keep information to myself and not help people.”

However, Weber has found relearning the basics valuable in making her a better rower.

“It’s been fun going over fundamentals and getting a different coach’s perspective of the sport,” Weber said. “Some things you kind of forget as you keep going. So hearing another coach explain the movements has been helpful.”

Although both are at the club level, Weber notes the difference in intensity between rowing at Denison and rowing in high school.

“It’s a lot more relaxed and enjoyable at the college level. In high school, rowing was year round – including the summer months, six days a week, with 11 practices a week,” Weber said. “It’s a lot less draining now.”

Weber appreciates the lower commitment of rowing at Denison.

“Now we just have our fall and spring season. We have the opportunity to compete but with fewer races and against less teams.” Weber said. “We still do winter training, but it’s only four days a week.”

As a politics, philosophy, and economics major, Weber finds balancing rowing and academics relatively manageable. 

“The commitment level is not as intense as it was in high school. The coaches want people to show up to as many practices as possible and be involved with the team. But at the same time, they’re flexible for the most part with school work and other commitments,” Weber said.

Her biggest struggle with rowing has been the time commitment of traveling for practices and competitions.

“With transportation, especially here [at Denison], it takes a while to get to the site and back – it’s a big chunk of time,” Weber said. “But knowing that there are things you can work on during those commutes, and just taking advantage of every second that you have to do work.” 

With the spring season wrapping up, Weber hopes to expand her range of rowing capabilities.

“We haven’t done much sculling here, so a goal I have would be to scull more in the 2,000-meter races. They’re a lot shorter and a lot more fun,” Weber said.

Denison’s rowing team will have its final regatta of the spring season on April 26.