This year Briar Woods High School introduced the very first Loudoun County Public Schools rowing team.

Rowing or crew is defined as when athletes sit in boats or shells and row with oars.
Crew Club at Briar Woods was popular this year. While the club was very popular and fun, it’s not for the weak or lazy. Crew practice begins every morning at 6 a.m.

"When you get on the water it really wakes you up," said freshman Trey Howard.
According to another freshman, Daniel Sherbenske, "practices in the morning are a little rough, but once you’re out on the water, it’s great!"

Since this is the initial year for crew, it took the effort of the whole entire team to get the reservoir up to their standards for practices and regattas.

"It took a lot of hard work…we cleaned up the entire reservoir, cut down trees and built a 100+ foot dock" said Howard.

Soccer has games, wrestling has matches, swimming has meets, but crew has regattas. While a regatta sounds like a fun day at the reservoir the events are actually very long and involved form of competition.

Briar Woods’ crew has already one regatta this season, where "we didn’t win but we didn’t lose either" joked freshman Oahn Dao, who is also on the crew team.

"When it’s time for our race we get out on the water and we row into our lane at the starting line…once we’re all aligned it goes dead silent and it was probably the most intense moment I’ve been through" added Howard.

Since Crew is a new at Briar Woods, the club had, and is still working very hard to raise enough funds for the club to continue.

This year crew club has had about five fundraiser; including the popular table of free doughnuts.

"We’ve done everything, from bake sales, free doughnuts, to plane washes, and our first Loudoun Fest" said Howard. On top of all these fundraisers, the Crew Club also has a “silent sponsor”. This silent sponsor has agreed to match the amount of $25,000 dollars if the Crew Club can raise the same amount.

"The Crew Club has been a massive success and we will definitely be continuing the club next year," exclaimed Howard.