Females a key part of men’s crew

Every sport has a unique sound that defines the experience of viewing it.

It could be the thud of a kicker’s boot against the football as he makes an extra point or the ping of a hockey puck bouncing off the iron goalpost.

In rowing, that sound is the coxswain bellowing instructions at the crew so it gets the maximum speed out of the boat.

But it might come as a surprise to many as they watch the Penn men’s rowing teams do battle on the Schuylkill that most of those strained voices come from females.

“People don’t really think of that possibility of being on the team of the opposite gender,” said men’s lightweight coxswain Laura Johnson. “Usually when I tell people who don’t really know the sport, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re on the men’s team? That’s weird.’”

Indeed, it’s hard to think of any other example of such a degree of coed involvement in sports — apart from those token few guys on a typical cheerleading squad.

So what’s the deal with rowing?

According to men’s heavyweight coach Greg Myhr, the answer lies in the strict weight regulations of the sport.

“It’s a little bit easier to find females closer to coxswain weight,” he said.

Unlike the rest of the crew of a male boat, the minimum weight for a coxswain is 125 pounds. If an individual is underweight, sandbags are placed on the boat to compensate.

“Ideally, you’d want a coxswain that’s right at 125,” Myhr continued. “It’s better to have the weight on your body so you have control over it.”

The first-year Quaker coach stated that many male coxswains who were successful in high school ­­­simply cannot maintain the regulation weight and become oarsmen instead.

Johnson, a sophomore who joined the program as a walk-on, is sure her coxing has done wonders for her multi-tasking skills.

“You have to tell [the crew] what rate they’re rowing at, where they are in relation to the other boats, what you want other people to do if they’re doing something wrong,” she said.

Not to mention the importance of keeping everybody in the boat motivated — and steering.

While several male rowers had never been coxed by women before due to attending all-male high schools, the Penn coxswains seem to have made a positive impression.

“Some of the most competent coxswains that I know of are females,” said men’s lightweight rower Samuel Franklin. “Women are ordinarily pretty good at telling guys what to do.”

One might expect that having men and women working so closely together on the same team could lead to some awkward interpersonal issues, but the team was quick to emphasize that this rarely happens.

“Something like that would definitely ostracize team members,” said men’s heavyweight coxswain Halley Sloane. “I think the girls are on the team to be competitive and to kind of be accepted.”

That’s not to say that there’s no love to be found on Boathouse Row — Johnson has been dating teammate Jamie Napoli for a year and a half.

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