About the Nonprofit
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Greetings from the Rowing Team at UGA,
Founded in 1995, the University of Georgia Rowing Team is a student-run organization that provided students with the equipment, coaching, and organization to compete in the oldest intercollegiate sport in America. Rowing teaches students vital life lessons such as dedication, hard work, and cooperation. As a student-run team, we also give students the opportunity to become leaders of a large and complex organization, taking roles such as Financial Officers who handle a $100k budget, Fundraising which is responsible for acquiring said funds, and others, all of which come together to make the team the best it can be.
The Georgia Rowing Club provides a home facility at the University of Georgia for around one hundred rowers and coxswains as well as full-time employment for one to two fully qualified, USRowing certified head coaches. Each member of the team participates in practices at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia several times per week. Rowers and coxswains alike cherish the opportunity to push themselves alongside one another as they complete fun but properly grueling training sessions. As a result, the team fosters an unparalleled culture of mutual respect forged by the discipline and effort it takes to make a successful boat.
Many students come to college not knowing exactly what they want to do or where they will fit in. It is a daunting experience to transition from attending high school to a university of over 30,000 students. It is essential for these students to find their niche. The Georgia Rowing Club works hard to carve out a niche on campus and accepts many students seeking a home. The club provides countless opportunities for self-improvement and friendship. Facilitating training sessions and providing tutoring and career resources in the form of upperclassmen and alumni are a few ways that the club fosters self-improvement in both physical health and fitness as well as mental and career development. Traveling to practices and regattas together, staying in the same hotel rooms, and attending team events together are excellent opportunities for members to make friends to last a lifetime.
As a club team at UGA, we do not receive any funding from the Athletic Association, and we receive only about five percent of our one hundred thousand dollars annual budget from the University. We are a registered non-profit organization that is currently funded primarily by student members through dues, fundraising, and merchandise sales.
Rowing is a year-round sport, and the team is very active throughout the school year. In the past, our team had the privilege of competing in the world’s largest rowing regatta, the Head of the Charles in Boston, Massachusetts, where our men’s and women’s crews raced against multiple international competitors and prominent rowing programs from across the United States. Every year, we also represent UGA at the Head of the Hooch Regatta, the second largest regatta in the United States, as well as SIRA and ACRA, the regional and national championship regattas, not including all the smaller competition in between these other events all throughout the Southeastern United States.
Furthermore, over the last decade, the Georgia Rowing Club has consistently participated in the Athens Half Marathon, Fort Yargo State Park cleanup, and many other smaller local events as volunteers to help give back to the community. Most recently, the team managed to remove more than 100 lbs of waste from Fort Yargo State Park and help maintain the beauty of the natural environment in which the team practices.
