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Bay City Rowing Club

Regional High School Rowing Program

Great Lakes Bay Crew is the perfect opportunity for High School students to experience and excel at the sport of rowing through the Bay City Rowing Club.

We are inviting and accepting all students from the Bay, Saginaw, Midland and surrounding areas of the Great Lakes Bay Region to join us this year with their friends and classmates. Do you have a friend and classmate interested in learning to row? Ask them to join you for:

  • An outdoor activity that works the body and mind!
  • An opportunity to meet and row with other students in the region!
  • An amazing addition to college applications and a potential for college scholarships!

Ready to Join GLB Crew?  

2021 – July HS Rowing Session – New Rowers

We are excited that this season (2021) we will be offering a four week program in July for students interested in learning to row!  Last year due to Covid-19 we were only able to offer a very limited program for new HS rowers.  This year restrictions have been lifted by US Rowing to allow rowing in team boats, but we still must follow Michigan’s requirements for outdoor recreation and sports.  As the situation is fluid, mask wearing might be required for some aspects of class participation (not while rowing) depending on Michigan’s requirements in July.
Our July session will start on July 7 and conclude on July 29.  Practices will be 2 -3 x/week on either Tues, Weds, Thurs or Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.  Practice dates/times are shown on page 2 of the 2021- Application New Rowers Session 2.  To reserve your student’s place in the session, complete the online payment and follow the registration process described below.  Contact us to be placed on a notification list for a later session, or if you have any questions.

Registration process 

*IMPORTANT* To maintain a safe environment for our student participants and to adhere to US Rowing guidelines, we require some information for participation. Please follow the step-by-step instructions carefully to ensure you have the necessary information submitted for your high school student to participate in rowing. Practice dates/times can be viewed by clicking on the Register online button.
  1. Register online and complete the payment. Contact us for alternative payment options.
  2. Download the 2021- Application New Rowers Session 2, the HS Medical Form and the HS Covid Agreement (print, fill-out, sign and hand-in these forms to coach on first day of session.
  3. Read through Club Polices and Safety RulesClub Safe Sport Policy  documents.
  4. Register your student for a US Rowing Basic membership ($9.75) and sign the US Rowing agreement/waiver online, at  https://membership.usrowing.org using BCRC’s Club Code – YLLV6.  Record your student’s US Rowing number for future reference.

FAQs

No, high school crew members do not have to sign up for a separate BCRC membership, this is included in the program fee.

Our club adheres to all US Rowing club policies and procedures.  As a requirement of our US Rowing liability insurance, all BCRC members and Great Lakes Bay Crew participants must have a US Rowing Basic membership.  This carries a small fee, roughly $10.

Typically, our program fills up quickly.  Signing up online is the best way to reserve a spot.  If registration is not active online, please use the Contact us form and you will be notified when online registration is open.  If the session you are interested in is full or already started, please contact us to be put on a waiting list.

Since rowing is a water sport, there is a possibility though small that the boat could capsize and you might end up in the water. You should be able to swim 50 yards and be able to tread water for 5 minutes.  Our coaches will be in a launch boat accompanying the rowing boats and have PFDs in the event of an emergency. If you are not confident in your swimming ability we do have compact PFDs that can be worn while rowing.  Please discuss this with your coach at the first practice or before.

Comfortable exercise clothes, socks and a water bottle are a must. No baggy shirts, shorts or pants as these can get stuck in the equipment.  If the weather is nice, we also recommend a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. If the weather is windy or colder, it helps to have an extra layer of clothing like a wind-breaker or light long-sleeve jacket. Optional items would include a change of clothes (sometimes you can get splashed with water) and extra shoes or flip-flops.

With rowing, there is no perfect place to start. Whether you consider yourself physically fit or not, we encourage you to learn the sport to see how you like it. Rowing will challenge you both mentally and physically, fitness will improve with time.

All class sessions are held at our boathouse on Middlegrounds Island in Bay City (a map is available on our Contact page). Practices involve both indoor and outdoor training. We row on the Saginaw River, and we might travel a few miles north or south on the river while rowing. Any on-land or indoor practice will happen in, or close by, our boathouse.

Our boathouse has both men’s and women’s locker rooms, and both have individual lockers that are available for temporary use at no charge. However, our boathouse is always locked while we are on the water, so many of our members leave their belonging on the benches in the locker rooms without any worry. If you’d like the use of a locker, make sure you ask when coming to your first class.  

We understand you may have to miss a day, and that’s fine. It will be your responsibility to let the rowing coach know as soon as possible. 

Canceling a day of rowing is highly unlikely. We have the ability to practice both indoors and outdoors, so even if weather doesn’t allow for rowing on the river, you will still practice indoors at the boathouse on rowing machines. If a class must be canceled, your coach will send an email (or text) as early as possible to let everyone know. 

Midland Baseball Foundation

The Bay City Rowing Club’s Great Lakes Bay Crew would like to thank the Midland Baseball Foundation for their generous donation to our program in 2019.  This donation allowed us to purchase a coach launch boat, motor and dolly.  We were presented with the check at a Loons baseball game at the Dow Diamond!

Midland Baseball Foundation
Midland Baseball Foundation

Physical Address

350 West Lafayette Avenue
Bay City, MI 48706

(Across from the Boys & Girls Club
of the Great Lakes Bay Region)

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 615
Bay City, MI 48707-0615

 

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Legal

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