Small Club Saturday: JMU Rowing Club

General Club Information:

When was your collegiate club founded?

2004

What is the general background of the club?

We began as an erging club in 2004 and were able to start rowing on the water after purchasing our first boat in 2007.

What are your club's mission/goals?

Foster a community that values each other, has fun, and shares the love of rowing.

Any motto or quotes your boathouse lives by?

An everyday one would be: Here for the vibes. However, knowing our team, it's more like "the dock is frozen" or "will duct tape fix it?"

Program Structure:

What initiatives has your club implemented to bring in students and athletes?

We participate in our university's student org night, and during a normal year, we will hold interest meetings. We also try to maintain a social media presence that shares these events.

How is your program structured? Do you compete at a higher level or against other clubs, etc.?

We are a completely student-run club team, so all of our leadership positions are held by students. This means the positions of head coach, vice president, secretary, and others are held by current JMU students. We get some funding and advice from our University's Recreation Center, but all decision-making is done by students!

When it comes to regattas, we compete in a range of competitions and categories. We have rowed against both high-level rowing programs, as well as other club rowing programs. We compete in both head races and sprints in the fall and spring, respectively. The regattas we attend will fluctuate from year to year depending on everyone's class schedules, funding, and the university's calendar.

Small Club Tips:

Can you talk about your fundraising efforts and how you do outreach throughout your campus?

This is something we have had to restructure recently due to the lack of ability to fundraise during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Normally, we do fundraising events at local businesses, donation letter campaigns, posting on social media, reaching out to alumni, and working with our University Recreation Center.

What are some recommendations or strategies that have allowed your club to be successful in growing and maintaining members over the year?

We try to focus on creating friendships between everyone on the team through bonding events like pasta parties, movie nights, and more. This has helped grow and maintain members by having a community where we all have fun together. Because we are college students, we also do our best to prioritize school, health, and mental well-being. Everyone has complex, unique lives and experiences things differently, so it's really important to listen to the concerns of students on the team. As mentioned, we are a student-run team, so everyone in leadership positions understands what it's like to be a college student today. We recognize that not every club is founded this way, so we wanted to highlight how important it is to listen to the students on your team and include them in the decision-making for your team. Doing these things has helped make the morale better as well as make our club a space where we don't feel like we have to prioritize it over our well-being.

Any tips to share that might help other small clubs do the same in their communities?

Unexpected change and situations are inevitable, so always adapt where you can and have fun doing it! It can get tough when the team numbers/funding are low, but if you are able to push through, you can feel the joy of being a part of something that you love.

Have you run into challenges with getting members? Any advice on how other collegiate clubs can combat?

During Covid times, especially, we have dealt with difficulty in growing our team due to restrictions; however, we've found by having a social presence on Instagram (@jmurowing) and other platforms that we were able to give new members a peek at what we love to do! We've also found that having the team's environment be one that is fun and welcoming helps in growing our team.

Anything else you would like to share about your club that would be beneficial to other clubs and our members!

We love Krispy Kreme fundraisers :)