At Sonoma State, club sports are the saving grace for students looking to stay active, but not looking to commit to a jam-packed schedule. The SSU rowing club is no exception, as it provides a space for students to represent their school as athletes while maintaining a social life at the same time.

When returning to campus after a year of remote learning, third year sociology major Madison Hernandez never knew she would be a part of, “…one of the friendliest groups on campus,” until deciding to join the rowing club.

The rowing club functions like any other traditional sports teams by participating in things like tournaments, travelling and hosting team workouts. However, they are structured to have more schedule flexibility and are able to hold fun and inviting events that consist of more than just rowing. 

Many current rowing club members had little to no prior rowing experience before they joined the team, and there is never any sort of skill requirement imposed on new members. For example, sophomore Erin Whang was invited to attend a practice at the beginning of the semester by her roommate without having ever been rowing before. At first, she was discouraged by the early morning start, but by the end of her workout felt very accomplished and happy to still have the whole day ahead of her after her practices. 

For anybody interested or new to the program, it is very important to understand how difficult, yet rewarding it is to perform. “The greatest piece of advice nobody ever gave to me was to not be discouraged after the first couple days. Be patient, it’s pretty hard,” said Whang.

For most of the 22 person squad, the club is a great way to jump start their return to campus. The team holds bonding events where everybody gets together on top of their training and travelling, and in recent years the club has held the highest GPA standing of all the clubs on campus.

While 5 a.m. practices may not sound like the most appealing thing, members of the club enjoy how free their schedules become after a given session. “Being done with an intense full body workout before most of my friends even wake up is very fulfilling,” Hernandez said.

 Hernandez went on to say that the time that would be lost at night where people would normally spend hanging with their friends is, “…made up with just a quick mid-day nap that keeps me functional throughout the day.”

The team’s lack of official SSU sport status has not stopped them from participating in high end competition. They held a scrimmage against UC Berkely’s rowing team in October, and participated in a tournament on Nov. 13 with teams like Humbolt, Chico, UC Berkeley, and Stanford, where the men’s team took home a silver medal.

The club will be holding an information night at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2 on the second floor of the Student Center. With dead week, finals, and the end to a busy semester on the way, the meeting should be relatively short and intends on focusing and answering questions about the Spring season.  For anybody interested or looking to find more information follow @ssu_rowing on Instagram.