It’s just an average day of crew training for Michigan State’s club team. The regimen leaves their arms burning, sweat dripping down their faces, and fatigue dropping their heads in exhaustion.
The sound of oars slicing through the water, and the coach yelling out instructions, are the predominant sounds.
This life isn’t for everybody, but the students who choose to be part of the MSU crew club dedicate themselves to working hard for themselves and the team.
“We have a training plan with six rows a week and then everyone has to do four workouts on their own a week, so we’re doing about 10 workouts a week just to get our bodies ready,” said Head Coach Peter Rosberg.
Crew members pull off the task of balancing weekly workouts with classes, homework, other extracurriculars, and a social life.
The MSU Crew Club has roughly 80 active members spread out across the men’s and women’s squads. This number has been growing throughout the years, with new members joining every single year.
The growth has fueled their results. In 2024, the club finished 13th overall in the American Collegiate Rowing Association. This finish jumped up to sixth place in 2025, highlighted by a second-place finish in Novice 8+.
The club is year-round, going through multiple seasons and is nearly as long as some professional schedules.
“In the fall, we build towards distance races to build a cardio base…Going into the spring, that’s the championship season…we do a lot of prep work to do as good as we can in those six to eight-minute races in the spring,” said Rosberg.
The long distance regattas help build the needed endurance for the sprints in the spring. The spring championship can’t come without the hard work in the fall.
It’s easy to think that this grueling schedule would be unsustainable, but not for crew members. The key for them is consistency.
“That’s the thing of just being consistent. Showing up every day and then just being fully attentive,” said Andres Vazquez, the men’s team captain. “Listening to the coaches, giving me technical advice, being ready to make any changes they give me, and on top of that, doing additional workouts.”
He added, “A big part of our sport is technique, so it’s not just being able to ram your oar through the water. Like you know how to get it there well. So, I have to be attentive consistently.”
Crew is also mentally draining. Technique is imperative to be successful in rowing, but so is staying sticking to a routine.
“There is a big mental side of it, staying consistent, going to every practice, going to supplementals, just trying to be as consistent as possible will help you mentally get into a routine,” said crew member Paige Ebeling. “Also, getting a lot of sleep will help you be ready and not feel tired and be ready for anything.”
What keeps rowers from coming back isn’t just physical and mental discipline, it lies with the culture that’s been built.
Something that is important to establishing a new culture is making sure that everyone feels like they belong with the team.
“It’s very inclusive. Like, I don’t ever feel like I don’t fit in with this team,” said Vazquez.
“For me, my brother joined because of his friends, and he kind of dragged me out to practice in high school, and the pandemic started, but I’d fallen in love with the sport, so I wanted to continue,” said Vazquez.
Rosburg came to MSU because he felt at home. He was with the University of Cincinnati during COVID-19 when the world shut down. This left him without a job.
That’s when Rosberg thought he was going to leave coaching. MSU had a head coaching opening, so Rosberg took that chance.
“I heard that MSU had a club, and it was perfect because MSU was my top pick of schools…I fell in love with it immediately,” said Rosburg, who is in his fifth year of coaching MSU. “I fell in love with the culture and everything.”
Rosberg stresses a supportive environment that enables growth. The best crew teams are like a family, with all members connected and driven.
“We’re not hard on them. We don’t yell and scream. It’s not like the old football coach type of coaching,” Rosberg said. “We try to be very encouraging and try to help everybody along to achieve the goals.”
The club truly embodies the ‘strength in numbers’ mantra. Everyone needs to buy in for the team to be successful. It’s a challenge that needs to be embraced everyday, hopefully together.
“Showing up every day, even when you’re tired, even when it’s 6 a.m., that’s what keeps the boat moving,” said Vazquez.