As another summer comes to a close, the Ithaca College sculling team returns to the water, looking to build on its continued success. Fresh off the women’s rowing team’s sixth consecutive Liberty League Championship, the team is back with its eyes on another strong campaign.

With a new class on the water, head coach Beth Greene ’00 said she is excited to see everyone adjust to their new place on the team as they develop more experience.

“We graduated a couple of our very strong heavy hitters,” Greene said. “I am looking forward to seeing the next class rise to the occasion and figure out who the next heavy hitters are going to be.”

First-year athletes are not the only ones with a new role on the team. Over the summer, long-time sculling and rowing head coach Becky Robinson ’85 retired, opening the door for then–assistant coach Greene to take over. Greene said Robinson led by example and helped shape her into the coach she is today.

“She was the best example I had — as an athlete and coach — of someone who looked for the positives in people’s rowing and their skill as team members and reinforcing the positive,” Greene said. “That’s informed a lot of how I coach. As a coach, it’s really easy to see what’s wrong and what people need to change, but Becky’s style was much more about giving athletes opportunities to be pushed and challenged.”

Greene said Robinson emphasized the mental aspect of training, something she hopes to continue moving forward.

“She was great at addressing the whole athlete, physically and mentally, that focuses on positivity, as it’s so easy to be hard on yourself as an athlete and person,” Greene said. “Taking the time to develop and understand that it’s trainable to have good thoughts about yourself and believe in yourself, that’s a part of her coaching style that I absolutely want to continue.”

Despite the coaching change, senior Lily Babcock said she believes there will be no issues working with a new head coach, having worked with Greene during her first three seasons with the team.

“I don’t think it will be that different since coach Greene has been an assistant coach for so long alongside Becky,” Babcock said. “I think it’ll be a smooth transition and I don’t think it’ll be super noticeable, as I think every season is different with teammates leaving, graduating and new freshmen coming in.”

Coming off another championship spring, senior Caroline Hoskins said the focus will remain the same as last spring, but the approach will be different.

“At the beginning of the spring season, we had this mantra and goal that was very clear that we wanted to win the Liberty League again,” Hoskins said. “We focused on that the whole season and this is why we’re doing it, this is what we want. I think that really putting in the work and the focus this fall will be important, but it’s also a good time to ease back into things, rather than going from zero to 100.”

Hoskins said the season will be centered around the basics and building long-term endurance. Sculling races in the fall are 5,000 meters and rowing races in the spring are 2,000 meters — which means the team is not only practicing for sculling but also preparing for the spring season. Additionally, there are no sculling championships, which means these athletes do not get their shot to compete for a Liberty League title until spring. 

“Sculling season is very much technical work and I think that if we all sort of buy in, we’ll be able to achieve that again,” Hoskins said. “We’re able to get that endurance base-cardio in the fall that prepares us really well for the spring.”

Babcock said sculling season is all about checking in on progress and said it is a great opportunity for newcomers to test their strengths.

“One of the main goals for me is to start off at one point and progress by the end of the season,” Babcock said. “Especially for the people on the team who haven’t raced in a single — it’s really cool to see them progress every day.”

Hoskins said that despite the roster size being smaller this season, she is looking forward to building close relationships with her teammates.

“Our team is relatively small right now and so it’s been really cool getting to know everyone,” Hoskins said. “Continuing that comradery and cohesiveness of the team is a good goal, as we want to perform well at the races we go to. Sculling season is really cool because even the people that rowed before don’t necessarily have sculling experience.”

In an effort to mix up the training, Greene said there are changes she is hoping to make around practice, emphasizing how comfort can lead to complacency on the water.

“We’ve had some patterns that we got really comfortable with and the attention to detail slides when you get too comfortable,” Greene said. “I want to try to come up with even just small tweaks to keep it fresh enough that the athletes do have to keep their brains on instead of going into autopilot. Repetition makes you comfortable and confident, but too much can make you zone out.”

Greene said that the new position will feel different at first, but that she is looking forward to getting back to work with the team on the water. 

“It’s new for all of us as this is my first season as head coach,” Greene said. “This is a lot of their first seasons, for some of which it’s their first season sculling, and for all of us it’s our first without Becky around. What I love the most is shoving off the dock and getting to spend the time one–on–one and focus on the task at hand. I’m excited to get to the coaching part.”

The Bombers open the season at 10 a.m. Sept. 22 on the Cayuga Inlet for the Cayuga Sprints.