2024 South Eugene Rowing Club welcomes new coach from out of state.

The Eugene Rowing Club (ERC) is excited for the 2023-2024 year and is looking forward to growing and competing with its new coach. ERC recently hired Josh Baker as their new head coach. Baker, an experienced coach and rower, is expected to be a great fit for the team. He is from Oakridge, Tennessee, and is the team’s first out-of-state hire. He rowed at the collegiate level, rowing at Florida State University, a division one level school, and has also been rowing for the past 15 years.

“He’s great,” said Kai Page, a junior at South and a 4th year member of the team. “He really knows what’s best about the program, and really cares about the athletes and cares about everyone involved with the program.” 

Jamie Phelps, the coach last year, was also well liked. Although both coaches have different aspects that they brought to the table, both focus heavily on pushing high performance athletes to the next level. While some athletes liked this, the casual rowers weren’t too fond of this mindset, leading a lot of members to leave. The decline in members in the club is drastic: in the 4 years that Kai Page has been on the team, the team size has declined by 50 percent. Page says that this decline was sparked by Phelps’ fast pace mentality. Lots of members that originally joined because they enjoy kayaking or canoeing were being overshadowed by members who were aiming to continue rowing at the collegiate level.

“[Phelps] was very apt to keeping athletes who weren’t high performance dedicated,” added Page. He also stated that the old environment wasn’t toxic, but it was definitely a lot of work.

In addition to their new coach, ERC has also gained a lot of new members, the majority being freshmen. While the team is open for 8th-12th graders, there’s now more new freshmen than juniors and seniors combined. As the team is looking to grow and make it to nationals for many years to come, young talent to build on their current strength is exactly what they’re looking for. Last year, the team ended up making it to nationals, and got to compete in Florida. 

“Going to nationals was a really cool experience for me,” Page said. “We were able to get our team name out there in the national stage. It helps with recruiting athletes. It helps grow the team.”

And growth is exactly what they got; the proof is in the incoming recruits. But even with those incoming recruits, the team still isn’t where they want to be.

“We need more growth for the rowing program,” said Page. Their ultimate goal is to be at the top for years to come, and young players are the best way to guarantee that. That being said, the Eugene Rowing Club is open to anyone, 8th grade to 12th, no experience required.

“You can get a really hard workout and it’s low impact on your joints,” said Page when asked about the benefits of the club. “You can get a physical, full body workout.” 

Make sure to visit their website for sign up information, practice times, and other important information.

Article by Alex Doig