Although rowing is not a sport at McCallum, for these Knights, rowing can be their most important commitment, with many practicing up to six times a week and racing all across the country. Through the two major rowing clubs in Austin, TRC (Texas Rowing Center) and ARC (Austin Rowing Club) on Town Lake, many students were introduced to the sport through summer programs and quickly fell in love. Pulling in teens from all across the Austin area, rowing has given these students a vibrant and diverse community, connecting them with different grades and students from different schools. Whether a sophomore or a senior, these students say rowing has been a critical part of their growth in high school as they have worked up the ranks from novice teams to varsity and prepare for recruitment to elite colleges. 

ELLA BROTMAN

Like many of her teammates, senior Ella Brotman was initially introduced to Texas Rowing Center through its two-week summer camp before her freshman year. 

“I did the summer camp and decided I wanted to try it out in the fall, and I was going to do soccer in the spring, but I ended up loving [rowing] so much that I just stuck in it, and ended up continuing into the spring and all through high school,” Brotman said. 

For all four years of high school, Brotman worked her way up the ranks from the novice  team to the varsity team and is now a team captain, Brotman says rowing has been the most formative experience of high school. 

“I would say it’s been the most defining factor of my high school experience just because of the profound impact it’s had on me as a person,” Brotman said. “Rowing has led me to grow probably the most out of anything because of what you have to do in your mind to succeed in the sport: you have to push yourself beyond what you’re capable of doing.”

Brotman explained that she’s grateful for the growth rowing has brought even outside of the sport. 

“Over COVID, I really didn’t do very much, but rowing drove me to pursue more things and push myself to do better in everything,” Brotman said. “I’m not only pushing myself in my sport, but I’m pushing myself at school, in orchestra and just in everything that I do.”

Out of everything, however, Brotman said the thing that she has treasured the most throughout her years of rowing has been the bonds she’s been able to build with her fellow teammates. 

“My favorite part about rowing is that I really love the community,” Brotman said. “I struggled a bit with finding friends freshman year at school, but rowing really helped me find a sense of community, and so that’s something that I’m really grateful for.” 

Now fully committed to the University of Texas at Austin, Brotman said she’s hoping to continue her rowing career as a walk-on to the Longhorns team. 

“I intend to walk on to the rowing team at UT,” Brotman said. “They are three-time national champions in the past four years, so it’s going to be quite a challenge, but that’s hopefully my next step.”

ORLANDO AMES-CORRAL

Sophomore Orlando Ames-Corral has been rowing since seventh grade at Austin Rowing Club (ARC) after initially being introduced to it through the two-week summer camp program and falling in love with the sport. 

Now racing in the highest-level eight boat and a leader on the varsity men’s team, Corral explains that the sport has taught him a lot about the role and importance of good leadership.

“Because we have new guys come in every year, there has to be someone to teach them what to do,” Corral said. “It’s also definitely taught me how to manage my work because I have 13 hours of practice, so I have to find time to do homework and all that.” 

Although Corral says that being committed to a sport outside of McCallum can be a weird experience, it’s also allowed him to meet a lot of new people from different schools and even different countries. 

“It’s interesting because I have a lot of friends from different schools,” Corral said. “When we travel to regattas, I get to meet a lot of new people. We went to the Head of the Charles [race] this year, and I met some people from Buffalo and some people from DC. I have some friends from Florida, Indiana, I get to meet tons of people from all over, even some people from outside the U.S., which is really interesting and cool.” 

As a sophomore, Corral said he’s starting to gear up for the recruitment process, with one of his major goals being to be able to row in college. 

“[One of my goals] is definitely recruitment to a college of some sort; one of my friends is going to the University of Connecticut for rowing,” Corral said. “I also might want to coach a team once I’m out of college.” 

Overall, Corral says he urges more McCallum people to join rowing and continue to grow the program and the team. 

“If anyone is reading this, just join, we could use more manpower,” Corral said. 

REMY LILY 

Sophomore Remy Lily began rowing at Austin Rowing Club at the start of high school and has since become a varsity rower. Lily said she was introduced to the sport by her older sister, who was the captain of the varsity team.

“My sister did it since she was in seventh grade, and she was the team captain for three years, so I always saw her doing it,” Lily said. “I also used to go to this really small school, and they didn’t really have sports there, so everybody got into rowing; it was kind of a big trend at that school. I got here last year, and I was like, I need something to do after school, so I joined rowing.”

Lily explained that it can be hard to do a sport outside of school because the district doesn’t recognize it, but it also allows her to take more electives as it doesn’t take up class periods like other athletics. 

“It’s hard because it doesn’t count for AISD absences, but we go on a lot of trips, and we have notes, but they don’t accept them,” Lily said. “It’s nice though, because I also do basketball and it takes up so much of my class periods and it’s nice to have something that’s separate from that. I also get to meet people from a lot of different schools, which I really like.”

Since joining the basketball team this year, Lily said it has provided an extra challenge to balance both sports since both are so taxing. 

“When they were both happening, I was like, ‘Why did I sign up for both of those?’ I was going from basketball practice for two hours during the class period straight to rowing, so it was a lot,” Lily said. “I also liked it because I got to meet a lot of different people [through basketball] and have perspective, because rowing is a lot mentally and physically, so it was nice to have something a little bit more chill.”

Since joining the competitive team at ARC, Lily said she has grown a lot as a person and an athlete due to the intense mentality of the sport. 

“I’ve only been rowing competitively for a year, and I feel I’ve grown a lot in that year, and we almost went to nationals last year, which was my first season rowing, so it’s cool to see how different people grow fast,” Lily said. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself and my limits. Just because it is a very mental sport, and because we have to be there six days a week, I learned to know where my priorities are.”

Despite taking this season slower due to balancing basketball and rowing, Lily still was earned a spot in one of the higher-level boats competing, an accomplishment of which she takes great pride. 

“I came into the season telling my coaches that I need to take the season slow, and I’m also at the cut off, so I’m a sophomore, but I’m competing with juniors and seniors, so I thought this was a season I can just get faster, but then I made one of the better boats going to Ohio, and I was like, ‘OK maybe I can do this,’” Lily said. “I’m just taking it day by day, but I feel like the more I do it, the more that I enjoy it, and I’ve grown to like it a lot more.”

Looking ahead, Lily said she’s not aiming to row in college since the main attraction to her is the team camaraderie and social aspect rather than the technical precision of the sport. 

“I feel like I want to enjoy my college experience, and I just don’t think I enjoy the training part enough to do that,” Lily said. “I more enjoy the team part of it, but I have so many friends going to Stanford and University of Pennsylvania for rowing, which I’m not at that point yet, but I could maybe try to get to that point.” 

AUBREY MORGAN

Sophomore Aubrey Morgan began her rowing journey as a physical rower before switching to becoming a coxswain. A coxswain steers the boat, calls commands and leads the team during practices. Now, as the head coxswain for the varsity men’s team at Texas Rowing Club, Morgan said she has grown immensely. 

“I worked really hard to become the top coxswain on my team. I beat out a few people that were older than me and had more experience,” Morgan said. “I think the biggest thing was just showing up every day. I’ve only missed two practices since August, which is pretty big for me, so I’m really excited.” 

Although fully committed now to rowing, Morgan says her initial introduction to the sport was simply due to not clicking with other sports. 

“I was really bad at soccer and lacrosse, and my parents were looking for something different,” Morgan said. “I started off as a physical rower for about a year, and then they realized you’re not growing above five feet tall, so I switched to being a cox, and it worked out really well.”

Morgan said she is already starting the recruitment process, hoping to get recruited by the end of her junior year, but her commitment to rowing has not been easy, having to sacrifice theater in order to commit seriously to the sport. 

“[I want to find] something with a good program, but also education-wise, I think education is the main thing and then rowing would be like a part of that, so I’m starting emails and everything now,” Morgan said. “I used to be a theater major but I had to drop that because I wasn’t able to go to the practices and performances, but it’s also helped because for college and recruitment, that’s a whole other situation that I wouldn’t have even thought of if I hadn’t been a part of [rowing].”

Overall, Morgan encourages other people from McCallum to join rowing as she says it’s been an amazing way to make more friends and meet different types of people.

‘If anyone’s reading this, I’d say, please join, we’re always looking for new people and it’s a fun way to meet people from different schools,” Morgan said.