The varsity crew team has had to navigate some choppy waters this season. First, in November, all varsity crew members learned that the GDS team would be disbanded and absorbed into the private Thompson Boat Center Racing (TBC) team. Later that month, after some backlash from players and their parents, athletic director Mike Brooks decided to keep the crew team at GDS.
Crew is the only sport at GDS that requires payment. In the past, GDS crew has cost families $650. If the GDS crew team had been absorbed into TBC, participating would have cost families $1,500.
Rowers and coaches both said that TBC is very competitive and that TBC is more of a commitment than rowing for the school because its schedule isn’t aligned with GDS’.
When interviewed by the Bit, sophomore Jacob Tobias said that the extra cost and commitment of TBC crew was unappealing. “I was upset by the decision because doing crew for TBC is a lot more of a commitment, especially because this is my second year,” Tobias said.
According to Brooks and five of the varsity rowers, students did not clearly express their interest in rowing for the team before the spring season began, which led Brooks to dissolve the team.
“We send out the [crew] sign-up form maybe three or four different times from the summertime through the start of the year,” Brooks said. “At first, there was almost no interest.”
After receiving little varsity interest, Brooks sent out an invitation in December to the few students who had already signed up for crew. “In that meeting, four people showed up,” Brooks said.
Freshman Eli Herald, a rower on the team, said he “had no idea we had a crew team” until one of his friends told him.
After learning that there was a GDS crew team, Herald said he planned to sign up when the season came around. “I was pretty excited to be part of the crew, so I was pretty disappointed when I heard about the decision [to dissolve the team],” Herald said. Herald said he then immediately contacted Brooks and asked to join the team.
“I think it was just a miscommunication in the end,” junior John Morsberger, who has been on the GDS crew team since his freshman year, said. “[Brooks] didn’t realize how important [rowing] was to us, which was fair because we waited very late before we told him we wanted to row.”
Morsberger’s parents reached out to Brooks after the decision to dissolve the team was publicized. Tobias, whose parents also reached out to Brooks, said Morsberger’s parents organized the effort. “John’s parents are the ones who kind of got most of the people involved,” Tobias said.
Brooks said that when parents started reaching out, it was much easier to decipher which students were interested in rowing. “Those parents were able to close that loop and provide me with a list,” Brooks said.
There was no such resolution for the two female athletes who signed for crew this season—junior Madeleine Genia and freshman Rebecca Hirsh. Both were told by Brooks that there weren’t enough people to form a female team. Genia, who said she felt hurt and upset by the decision, believed GDS had recently given away a double scull boat, which would have allowed the two women to compete.
Brooks said he had no knowledge of a double scull boat being sold during his tenure as athletic director. “As far as I know, we’ve never had anything like [a double scull], and if we did have one, it might have just been something that we were borrowing from TBC,” said Brooks.
Former athletic director David Gillespie said that a double scull was borrowed from TBC in the past. The varsity women’s team used the double scull in the spring of 2024 when the team had four female rowers.
Both women are not allowed to compete in competitions or practice with the men, Brooks said. He explained that because of the limited number of rowing spots available—five including the coxswain—it simply wouldn’t be possible to accommodate the two female rowers.
“I really like rowing, and it would have been really nice to be part of a community with other rowers at the school,” said Genia. “Next year, I hope I get that opportunity.”