Insider Rowing

I heard about this online video last year but never really had a chance to check it out. It’s excellent. Row Like Pigs details the season of Dartmouth’s varsity heavyweight men in 2002-2003. You follow them from the beginning of winter training through Eastern Sprints. In particular, you hear the voice and style of two great coaches, Scott Armstrong and Will Scoggins (Scoggins has some LOL moments), and you get a sense of what it’s really like to train and row for an Eastern Sprints program. This is REQUIRED viewing for any high school rower who is considering rowing at that level. Punches don’t get pulled. The video is almost exactly an hour long, and fully half of the time is spent indoors, on the erg, in the weight room, suffering with the guys. Much of the material is gritty and not for the faint of heart. Sweating your ass off in a dungeon? Yup. Puking after an erg piece? Check. Guys passing out on the floor? Hell yes. There’s some harsh language also, but don’t let that scare you away. The last time I checked swearing and training were not mutually exclusive.

There’s some awesome vintage footage of Dartmouth during the 1992 season, where Armstrong’s crew went undefeated and won Sprints. He describes that crew as “breaking the mold.” Not to be missed.

The video is well edited and slickly put together, but what I like most about it is that it retains a student’s sensibility. Directed by one of the rowers, Dave Shamszad, he finds all of the moments of challenge and discovery that occurs to the college-age athlete. You see the guys enjoying simple pleasures like a McDonald’s cheeseburger or just horsing around at practice. The music is perfect also, with tracks from Outkast, AC/DC, Coldplay, and others. This video is a classic, right up there with Brad Lewis’s A Fine Balance. Find an hour and enjoy, or better yet, sit your whole team down, order a pizza, and experience it together.

Link to Row Like Pigs on Google videos.