Michigan State University’s newest coach, rowing’s Kim Chavers, joins Spartans athletic director Bill Beekman and MSU’s associate athletic director for communications Matt Larson for a conversation on her growing sport. And one of Coach Chavers’ rowers, Cameron Daniels, joins the discussion.
”This isn't the sport I thought I would be playing in college,’ Daniels says. “I played basketball and soccer all through high school. I had mild plans of trying to play basketball somewhere, but I'm 5'6" and to play anywhere I wanted to play you had to be a little bit taller. I kind of resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be a college athlete.
“But when I came to my orientation at Michigan state, I saw the rowing table and I was like, ‘What is this?’ I ended up running into a girl I had played soccer with who was on the team at the time. And we got talking, and she's like, ‘You know, this is a good opportunity if you don't think you're done.’ I certainly didn’t think I was done.
“I talked to my parents about it and then went through the tryout process, and I made the team. I'm learning a whole new sport every day.”
“The sport of rowing has really taken off at the high school level only in the last handful of years,” says Chavers. “We have a pretty dynamic recruiting class every year. We have athletes who rowed in high school at all different levels and in all different states. Some are from the Midwest, but most of them are not.”
Chavers talks about the skills and abilities that make for a good rower. And she describes how she got involved in coaching. She shares strategies on how the rowers must work together for the team to be successful.
MSU Today airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 on 105.1 FM and AM 870.