Walk-On Tradition Helps Keep Rowing Teams Afloat

Outside the gates of the castle-esque Shea Rowing Center on the grassy Lake Carnegie shoreline, two dozen unfamiliar faces gather. They watch semitruck-length boats armed with massive oars glide past as butterflies fill their stomachs. Most have never touched an oar in their lives; soon their hands will be rubbed raw from handling them so much. Straightening their posture, the walk-ons prepare for the work ahead of them.

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James Swinehart ’27

Angel Kuo ’24

Unlike most varsity teams at Princeton, where nearly all athletes are recruited, rowing has long welcomed walk-ons, a tradition dating back to the team’s founding in 1870. Given the sport’s limited accessibility in the United States, novices make up a significant portion of rosters nationwide, with each Ivy League school maintaining its own walk-on program. It’s one of the few sports where driven newcomers, often with no prior experience, share a locker room with top athletes competing on the world stage.

Having walked on to the team as a coxswain last fall, my memories of this experience remain vivid. Now, I spend two hours every afternoon steering boats, shouting technique adjustments, and handling logistics for the team. It’s my favorite part of the day. Having loved it so much, I decided to follow three of this fall’s novices to capture their walk-on experiences.

The unexpected passion that many find for the sport often starts as a spark. Walk-on Margo Mattes ’27 remembers scrolling to an Instagram photo of the women’s openweight team winning the Ivy League championship last May. “Something about seeing the sport, seeing the girls win — I was like, ‘I have to do that,’” she said.

Rowers with some experience, like Mattes, who learned to row last summer, may be taken into a varsity crew immediately. For others, the walk-on process is more structured. On the men’s side, novice athletes spend three weeks learning technique in indoor rowing tanks, building endurance on the ergometer rowing machines (affectionately called “ergs”), and grinding through workouts on the boathouse lawn. Every hopeful member of the program — rower or coxswain — must participate.

Walk-on coxswain Bea Schlein ’29 appreciated being included. “By learning how to row and doing the workouts, I’m so much more prepared to give reasonable advice to the guys,” she said. “I know the work that goes into the sport.”

The crowd naturally begins to thin as the physical demands of the sport take their toll. By the fourth week, rowers undergo a 5-minute erg test and coaches make cuts to reduce the walk-on group to one eight-person crew.

Zach Wagner ’29 remembers the moment he made the cut this September. A few hours after finishing his erg test, he received a congratulatory email and an invitation to the boathouse for the next day’s practice. “I got a text from one of my friends: ‘Are we gonna be rowing tomorrow, Wagner?’” he said. “I replied, ‘Yes we are!’”

After the cut, it’s finally time to get on the water. An entire day is spent just learning how to walk a boat to the dock, and when it’s time to take the first strokes on the water, things are shaky as the crew learns to move as one. At the time of writing, Schlein and Wagner were both in this uneasy first week. By the second week, the boat will cease to crash from side to side. By late October, the crew will start to move at a decent speed.

In early November, the novices will compete in the Princeton Chase, the symbolic finale of the walk-on program. If successful, they will be sorted into the heavyweight and lightweight teams to continue their paths as varsity athletes.

It’s a crash course that has produced generations of Princeton rowers. To reach the finish line, it helps to follow the advice Wagner received from Johnny Inman, an assistant coach for the men’s heavyweight team who directs the novice crew: “Coach Johnny always says, ‘It’s just the next stroke. The most important thing is the next stroke.’”