Sarasota Crew’s approach creates a national power

Just as Casey Galvanek is discussing why his men’s youth eight team is so special this season, six of the members who make the boat walk by and it’s suddenly easy to tell why Sarasota Crew is so excited about this group. Sarasota hasn’t had much trouble developing rowers into national contenders in the past few seasons, even when they’ve been at a physical disadvantage. The head coach was just saying this season is a little bit different.

Two of the rowers who walk by are Andrew LeRoux and Zach Skypeck, and they tower over their teammates. LeRoux is listed at 6-foot-6 on his USRowing profile, and Skypeck is only about an inch shorter. They possess the stereotypical rower physique Sarasota Crew has sometimes lacked. Get athletes like those in the program, mixed in with Sarasota’s usual undersized overachievers, and a national title challenger emerges.

“We have more wattage this year than we’ve ever had,” Galvanek said. “It’s a group we won’t have again, but it’s whoever walks in the door.”

Sarasota Crew will send about 45 more rowers to the USRowing Youth National Championships next month in West Windsor, N.J., including Sarasota’s title-contending men’s youth eight team. Sarasota Crew has built itself into a national power with a different approach than most of its counterparts on the West Coast or in the Northeast, and it’s allowed Sarasota to create a foundation for its eight team, which won a national championship back in 2013.

Sarasota Crew’s final tune-up for National, which will be held June 10-12, came Saturday at Nathan Benderson Park with the third and final leg of the American Youth Cup Series. The small, second-year event — only three other teams from Miami, Orlando and Tampa competed — takes place two weeks after the Southeast Regional Championships, so two weeks after most racers’ seasons have ended. The nonprofit series raises money for winners to travel for the National Championships, but it also provides the rare opportunity for Florida teams to compete in a 2,000-meter race.

When Galvanek took over as the head coach in Sarasota in 2009, he tried to pull the elements he’d seen be successful out west while also adapting to the demographics of Sarasota and Bradenton. Sarasota only had about 65 rowers at the time, so Galvanek wasn’t going to cut anyone like the powerhouses on the West Coast did. The plan was to develop depth and build from the ground up. He wanted to use some of the same training habits, like racing competitively in a 2K before Regional, and keep a basic philosophy that would grow the sport in a city with less than 55,000 people and a county with less than 400,000. Even with Manatee County included, the region’s population is less than 750,000 and dwarfed by the cities where most traditional powers are.

“We’re a community program, we’re a community recreational program and anybody that wants to hold onto an oar is welcome,” Galvanek said. “There is no limit to the numbers we want. Any time we get more kids, we hire more coaches.”

Sarasota Crew’s willingness to take anyone who will come has fostered a different sort of competitiveness than a cutthroat environment, with only a select few roster spots. The initial edge may not be as fierce because it’s replaced by sustained pressure.

The men’s youth eight group, for example, has 16 rowers to fill out two full boats. The eight who will go to New Jersey in June haven’t necessarily been teammates all season long, but Sarasota has been able to mix and match to find an ideal eight which competed together at the American Youth Cup Series III at Benderson Park. The second eight provides a support system and a bit of extra competition, even with two weeks separating Sarasota Crew from National — the No. 9 rower is always pushing No. 8.

“Every athlete on the team has the respect from the coach to give them a change,” said Aidan Norder, one of six senior rowers on the men’s youth eight. “I saw kids move up and I saw that everybody got a chance, and that if you take the opportunity to actually put in the work you’re going to end up on top, so I think the culture is that if you work hard you will be recognized and you will be put in the proper boat.”

Norder isn’t one of Sarasota’s overwhelming, burly rowers. He’s wiry and maybe scratches 6 feet — sort of the typical Sarasota Crew veteran — and he’s also part of Sarasota’s foundation. The senior at Osprey Pine View has been rowing with Sarsaota Crew since he was in eighth grade and is a veteran of the National Championships. Last year, he was part of the mens youth eight team which finished seventh in the country.

Norder is the captain of this year’s team, which brings back half of the boat from a year ago. With rowers like him and influx of rare talent, Sarasota has a chance to add another trophy.

“We didn’t have a lot of strong guys last year, but we rowed well,” Norder said. “We knew we were in a position to do really good this year.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Sarasota Crew’s approach creates a national power."