New Crew House offers teams amenities, great views

Chris Clark’s workday used to begin in a damp, poorly lit tent pitched near Willows Beach on Lake Mendota.

His vantage point has improved immensely.

Clark, the men’s crew coach, today surveys the same lake from a new $8.35 million Crew House at the north end of Babcock Drive.

Beginning in September 2003, the rowing teams worked out of the tent about a quarter-mile west of the new facility and trained in the Field House while the Crew House was being built.

“This is a dream,” says Clark. “It was surreal, coming from that tent. Here, you’re in a place that looks like a lab or an office building.”

The 52,000-square-foot Crew House is home to three programs — the men’s crew, as well as the women’s open and lightweight rowing teams — that include more than 200 student-athletes.

The rapid expansion of women’s rowing and the increasingly competitive rowing environment called for a larger and more up-to-date facility than the old 15,000-square-foot boathouse offered.

The new facility includes moving-water rowing tanks that allow rowers to get much-needed training time during Wisconsin winters. Mirrors that surround the tanks give rowers a chance to watch their techniques and improve them.

The tank room itself is about 800 square feet larger than the tent to which rowers had become accustomed.

Joe McMullin, a freshman from northern Virginia, says the Crew House will make Badger rowers even more successful.

“It’s pretty sweet,” McMullin says. “Having the tanks will help us so much because in the winter we can work on our form, and in the spring we can hit the water and work on our speed.”

Having the tanks means that coaches can better observe rowers’ form and give suggestions, he adds.

The lake level of the building offers storage space for more than 100 boats and was raised from the level of the old, bunker-like boathouse that had a history of flooding.

On the second floor, there are coaches’ offices, rowing tanks, locker rooms and a community room. A vintage wood boat, the Norman R. Sonju — named for a former UW crew coach — hangs in the lobby.

And the third floor features three separate workout rooms, one for each program, sports medicine facilities and exterior terraces with an excellent lake view.

Freshman rower Anthony Hoell, of Milwaukee, agreed that rowers have been amazed by the amenities the Crew House offers.

“After spending last fall in the tent, I’m definitely overwhelmed,” says Hoell. “It’s unbelievable how big this is. It’s definitely one of the biggest and best in the nation.”

Clark says that rowing programs across the nation have recognized the need for better facilities. The University of California recently built a new facility, and the University of Washington has a facility that is nearing completion.

Hoell says that although the facility may be more comfortable than the tent, the attitude surrounding the program hasn’t changed.

“In one of our last days in the tent, coach told us, ‘When we get to the new Crew House, you’ll still being doing workouts that kill you, just in a nicer environment,'” he says, before climbing on a rowing machine and beginning the day’s workout.