The rowing team at Sebastian River High School was started nine years ago by Tom Lange. Head rowing coach and program director Frank Campione rowed for Sebastian River in the early years and received a four year scholarship to row for FIT.
Campione is excited about the participation of the fall season. “The Fall season is our off season,” Campione said. “We have about 30 members now and we will go to a few races. Our prime season is in the spring and we have about 50 – 60 students.”
Coach Campione said he is also seeing more athletes from other sports join the crew team. “We have a lot of kids that are strictly rowers,” Campione said. “But over the last two years some of the kids who participated in basketball, cross country and baseball have come out. This year in particular some of the kids have said to me that they would rather spend their time just rowing coming away from of those other sports. They just enjoy it more and feel they get more out of it.”
Rowing at this level isn’t like other sports where you buy a basketball and head to the park and play. Sebastian River has been fortunate to have great equipment and facilities available to the team. “It’s kind of a hard sell. A lot of people really don’t know what the sport is,” Campione said. “Once they see the boathouse that we have at Canal 54 and see the equipment that we use they get addicted to the sport.”
Coach Campione said that rowing at Sebastian River will help teach students’ life lessons that they can use throughout their professional careers. “What I’ve been trying to do since I got here is establish a winning culture with this program,” Campione said. “The experiences that they have with this sport will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”