Avon CSD

Avon junior making waves as rower with Pittsford Crew
Matt Leader

October 17, 2024

You may know him best from his sprinting success in the pool as a member of Avon’s varsity swim team but even in the off-season, Jax R. doesn’t stray far from the water. 

A junior at Avon High School, Jax started rowing for Pittsford Crew his sophomore year of high school and has been competing during the fall and spring rowing seasons for the past two years. He decided to give the sport a try after watching his cousins compete for the past several years.

“One is a former member of the men’s team and now is the head coach of the women’s team and the other is a former member of the women’s team,” said Jax. “I always loved going and watching their regattas and when they told me how fun rowing is and how good of an exercise it is for you, I really wanted to give it a shot.” 

Each season runs about 10 weeks and features four or five races, or regattas, said Jax. Practices are 2-½ hours per day, five days per week on the Erie Canal. 

“Practice is physically challenging,” said Jax, “but our coaches have a practice plan so what we do during practice varies throughout the week.”

Rowers tend to stick to one side - port, left, or starboard, right. And while Jax is usually a port rower, he’s been learning how to row starboard over the past few weeks. 

While the central goal of rowing is for all members of a boat to pull together in unison, there are subtle differences among rowers depending on their position within a boat, said Jax. 

“The two rowers closest to stern, for instance, are called the ‘stern pair’ and the rower closest to stern is called ‘stroke seat’ and it’s their responsibility to keep the pace and speed of the stroke and all of the other rowers in the boat follow him,” Jax explained. “The middle four rowers in the boat are the ‘powerhouse’ and are usually the stronger ones in the boat. Lastly, the two rowers closest to the bow are called the ‘bow pair’ and they balance the boat.”

All these rowers are subject to the coxswain, the only person in the boat to face forward who’s responsible for steering, maneuvering, strategy and motivating their team.

This past weekend, Jax competed in two events at the 35th annual Head of the Genesee Regatta in Rochester.

The first was a 3,000-meter race in an 8, a boat with eight rowers and one coxswain. The second was also 3,000 meters, but in a 4, a boat with four rowers and one coxswain. 

Both races took place on the Genesee River, beginning near its intersection with Black Creek, just northwest of the RIT campus, and finishing in Genesee Valley Park, just north of the river’s intersection with the Erie Canal. 

Competing in the high school novice division, Jax and his teammates took third place in the 4 race with a time of 10:21.251 and second in the 8 race with a time of 9:04.348.

“We did very well,” said Jax. “Racing twice in one day is a lot of work and very tiring but we did our best and it went well for us.”

Ann Tiede, a high school math teacher who had Jax for geometry last year, attended Jax’s races in Rochester this past weekend and said she was “totally impressed.” 

“To be good at rowing, I think you have to be a little bit crazy,” said Tiede, a four-year rower for her alma mater, SUNY Geneseo. “Rowing feels like it uses every muscle in your body. A single stroke requires the use of legs, back, arms, and everything in between. Everything hurts in a crew race and it’s a pain that can only be truly understood by those who have done it.”

If the physical pain isn’t enough, the task of fighting through that pain to pull together as one with your teammates can be even more of a mental challenge, said TIede. 

“One wrong move and you affect the set (balance), rhythm, and speed of the entire boat and no matter how awful you feel physically, you can’t stop and you can’t slow down,” she said. “Every rower questions their life choices in the middle of a race, but you have to trust that your teammates will row their hearts out with you and for you and be crazy enough to continue through the finish line - your boat depends on your mental strength as much as it does your physical strength.”

Jax and his fellow Pittsford Crew teammates are next in action Sunday, Oct. 27 at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia. After that, he’s got the Pull the Plug Regatta on the Erie Canal in Pittsford on Saturday, Nov. 2.

And while Jax said he doesn’t have any concrete goals in the sport apart from working hard and making friends, he’s not opposed to seeing where it takes him in the future. 

“I don’t necessarily have plans to row in college but I don’t know what will happen in my future seasons,” he said. “Recruiters are always at regattas looking for future college rowers so who knows!”

 

 

Photos courtesy of Jax R.
Avon junior Jax R. is pictured above wearing white sunglasses during recent races for Pittsford Crew.

 

Photo courtesy of Jax R.
Avon junior Jax R. is pictured fourth from left above with his Pittsford Crew teammates following a recent race.