Southern Carolina Currents: Ridley's March Break Rowing Training Camp

March Break is a very exciting and rejuvenating time for Ridley students to look forward to. Ridley students could be found relaxing at places they call home or traveling all over the world, whether it is for a charitable service trip hosted by the school or through fun vacations with family and friends.

Yet for many of our student-athletes, breaks from school tend to be filled with large amounts of athletic training in preparation for their sport of choice. It is a very common practice to help maintain success when these athletes return to their regular sporting schedules. Luckily for our rowers, they received an incredible opportunity during March Break to help encourage them to continue their training while still gaining access to fun activities and a bright change of scenery. Ridley Rowing’s annual training camp occurred during the first week of March Break at Camp Bob Cooper in South Carolina. 

The rowers spent time in a peaceful environment while enjoying some nice and sunny weather during their daily rows on Camp Bob Cooper’s Lake. The rowers spent a typical day going on two athletic and technical rows out on the water, usually having one row in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Apart from daily rows, rowers also had the opportunity to engage in fun evening activities after dinner, which included a campfire, movie night, and basketball games involving both the boys and girls teams. 

Being only an hour away from the historic city of Charleston, the rowers were able to go there for two-day trips throughout their time at camp. The first-day trip was spent visiting the U.S.S. Yorktown Museum, which was formerly an aircraft carrier during World War II. An exciting trip to downtown Charleston followed the museum visit. 

 Later, Ridley’s rowing team took another quick break from their productive training schedules to visit a shopping square outside of Charleston. There, the rowers enjoyed themselves by watching a movie in theaters or by shopping in uniquely American stores, such as Target. 

Spending time at Camp Bob Cooper allowed so many of Ridley’s rowers to train on the water after a very long winter season spent indoors. Their additional training out on the water gave the rowers a chance to prepare for rowing’s highly competitive spring season, as well as allowing newer rowers to learn more about the many new and technical factors of pursuing rowing as a sport. 

With many enjoyable activities, along with exceptional hospitality and accommodations kindly given from Camp Bob Cooper, this year’s March Break training was seen as a memorable and rewarding experience for so many members of the rowing team, and so many fun memories and newly developed skills have been taken from this fulfilling trip.