SU Travels to Florida For Winter Training

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After spending the last few months training indoors, the Syracuse men’s rowing team travels to Lake Beresford in DeLand, Fla., for outdoor winter training from January 7-15.

This will be the first of two trips to Florida for the team. The team will travel back to DeLand during spring break (March 11-19) for a spring training trip.

Head coach Dave Reischman hopes to use the winter trip to focus on pair’s matrix and developing an order for the rowers so that they know where they stand heading into the spring. The team will bring eights, fours and pairs to Florida, and will switch between the boats as they need to accomplish their goals.

“Generally, during the winter trip, the focus is something called a pair’s matrix,” Reischman said. “That is basically where we race in pairs and switch rowers after every piece, and by the end of camp, we hope to come up with a ranking of the squad through being clever about how we switch, comparing people and seeing who is being the most effective boat movers. This lets the guys know exactly where they stand heading into the final six to eight weeks of winter training. It also sets up what we call a seat-racing ladder for our March trip. Putting somewhat of an order to the team through the pairs makes the March selection easier.”

The indoor training that the Orange has been doing for the last few months has primarily consisted of working on the erg machines. Although this has been beneficial to the team, it is necessary to get on the water to regain the feel of the water.

“Going to Florida and getting water time, particularly twice, is absolutely essential to our program,” Reischman said. “You can stay in shape by using mechanical devices that stimulate the rowing stroke, but there is the whole feel of the water component that is missing from not being in the water everyday. It is a different set of skills to learn how to move effective through the water.”

Lake Beresford compared to most of the Florida sites is unique because it is fresh water, not salt water, which is much better for the equipment.

Penn and Massachusetts will also be training during the week and Reischman believes that getting the opportunity to scrimmage and work out with another program will keep things interesting. The team will train twice a day so that by the end of the week it will get two weeks of normal in-school practice time.

Syracuse University Athletics

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