“The Shark” Visits SLHS Crew Team

6 SLGH Crew Team athletes have completed the 135,000-meter (about 83 miles) row across Lake Michigan. Throughout the season, Coaches Boerson and Winter have encouraged the athletes to complete a “row across the lake” challenge to prepare for the upcoming spring season. So far, 6 students have completed it and the team as a whole has completed it 11 times.

Jim Dreyer, a.k.a. “The Shark”, traveled to Spring Lake, Michigan to speak with Spring Lake and Grand Haven crew athletes about mental toughness in the face of a seemingly impossible task. Among his many achievements, Jim has swam across all 5 Great Lakes to raise money for charity and set multiple world records. One point that Coach Winter hoped Dreyer would bring up is having a support system because you can’t do everything by yourself, and as he mentioned “You have to work together with your teammates and be on the same wavelength to perform the best”.

The SLGH Crew team is run by Co-Coaches Emma Boerson (Grand Haven alumni) and Daniel Winter (Spring Lake alumni) since the fall of 2020. Winter was the first ever Crew Team recruit in 2015, and the team has grown exponentially since then and now has a team of 17 athletes. 

The SLGH Crew team has 4 races scheduled for this Spring and will compete in Grand Rapids on April 29th. As Coach Boerson puts it, rowing is not only a fun sport in general but “it is also a great cross-training sport”, and with rowing being a year-round sport, with races in both Fall and Spring, it is a great option for any athlete looking to be active in their off-season. For more information on how to join the SLGH Crew Team, or information on their race schedule visit their Instagram @slghcrew.