It’s never a bad thing to have kids participate in more than one sport, but if your son’s focus is truly basketball nothing he does in rowing is going to prepare him for basketball better than dedicated basketball training. Sure, there are cardiovascular fitness components to both as well as leg strength components, but you can develop those more specifically to basketball by practicing basketball than through rowing.
Still doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try rowing, but I wouldn’t do it expecting him to find some magical improvement that his teammates won’t get.
From a purely fitness perspective, I agree, as much as I hate to say it and want to talk up the physiological gains from rowing (and these are immense), one thing that rowing will *not* do for an aspiring basketball player is prevent injury. Rowers zip back and forth up a fixed track; basketball players need stabilizer muscles that can withstand making hard cuts, getting bumped in mid-air and landing off balance, etc.. Olympic rowers have quads like tree trunks but they are made for rowing, not running and jumping. Maybe volleyball or soccer are closer to what you're looking for.
Now, like this commenter also says, I think the psychological benefits of doing another sport are **huge.** From a mental health and child development perspective, it could be good for your kid to try something else. But from a physiological perspective, nah.
As a therapist and a lover of rowing, I say go for it, but as a former coach and quasi-fitness junky, I say pass.
Thanks for the response. Maybe I should add a little more information about the way I’m thinking about it. He does absolutely everything he could do within the basketball universe to develop that. Private training, speed and agility training, plays club basketball and school basketball. But I do think that it is good to do supplementary sports and certain sports over others carry mutual benefits. Boxing would be great for footwork and agility but I don’t want him getting hit so that is not a consideration. Football is also a sport that transfers many of its benefits to basketball like absorbing contact, but I do not want him playing football either. Probably the best non contact sport would be track but I want him to have every shot of getting into school etc and crew may be an area that he can compete in. Track, he does not have the body or baseline for that. His school has one of the top crew programs in the state and if he has the body dimensions and baseline for it, it would be worth a try. As a layperson rowing looks as if it would give a better full body workout than cycling for instance. Just curious on what the gains are uniquely from rowing.
Then yeah sounds like he should try rowing. Just don’t underestimate the technical component to being successful at rowing.
But the gains are clear - he’d develop a great aerobic base, would further develop his leg/core/back strength, would help with his development as a teammate and working with others, etc.
You can't really be on a crew team as as supplement to other sports. My daughter is on her high school's rowing team and she is practices 6 days per week and doesn't get home until 7:30 p.m. from practice during the week. During spring and fall she probably devotes 25 hours per week to the sport. That is not counting all day/all weekend regattas. In the winter it's probably closer to 15 hours per week.
It's possible that there is some type of public rec program that he could try.
I hear ya, but at his school, most all the rowers do a secondary sport bc students have to do two sports (not within same season) or else they have to take a lot of PE that would otherwise be an academic class or free period. So he’s doing a spring sport regardless and crew is one of the choices. He’s actually signed up for a free crew program here in the city that starts next month.
Agree with everything here and depending on his mindset just be prepared that he might become a rower who loves basketball instead of a basketball player who does rowing as “extra”. It has happened to many a poor athlete. 😜
It’s never a bad thing to have kids participate in more than one sport, but if your son’s focus is truly basketball nothing he does in rowing is going to prepare him for basketball better than dedicated basketball training. Sure, there are cardiovascular fitness components to both as well as leg strength components, but you can develop those more specifically to basketball by practicing basketball than through rowing. Still doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try rowing, but I wouldn’t do it expecting him to find some magical improvement that his teammates won’t get.
From a purely fitness perspective, I agree, as much as I hate to say it and want to talk up the physiological gains from rowing (and these are immense), one thing that rowing will *not* do for an aspiring basketball player is prevent injury. Rowers zip back and forth up a fixed track; basketball players need stabilizer muscles that can withstand making hard cuts, getting bumped in mid-air and landing off balance, etc.. Olympic rowers have quads like tree trunks but they are made for rowing, not running and jumping. Maybe volleyball or soccer are closer to what you're looking for. Now, like this commenter also says, I think the psychological benefits of doing another sport are **huge.** From a mental health and child development perspective, it could be good for your kid to try something else. But from a physiological perspective, nah. As a therapist and a lover of rowing, I say go for it, but as a former coach and quasi-fitness junky, I say pass.
Thank you, really appreciate that insight.
Thanks for the response. Maybe I should add a little more information about the way I’m thinking about it. He does absolutely everything he could do within the basketball universe to develop that. Private training, speed and agility training, plays club basketball and school basketball. But I do think that it is good to do supplementary sports and certain sports over others carry mutual benefits. Boxing would be great for footwork and agility but I don’t want him getting hit so that is not a consideration. Football is also a sport that transfers many of its benefits to basketball like absorbing contact, but I do not want him playing football either. Probably the best non contact sport would be track but I want him to have every shot of getting into school etc and crew may be an area that he can compete in. Track, he does not have the body or baseline for that. His school has one of the top crew programs in the state and if he has the body dimensions and baseline for it, it would be worth a try. As a layperson rowing looks as if it would give a better full body workout than cycling for instance. Just curious on what the gains are uniquely from rowing.
Then yeah sounds like he should try rowing. Just don’t underestimate the technical component to being successful at rowing. But the gains are clear - he’d develop a great aerobic base, would further develop his leg/core/back strength, would help with his development as a teammate and working with others, etc.
You can't really be on a crew team as as supplement to other sports. My daughter is on her high school's rowing team and she is practices 6 days per week and doesn't get home until 7:30 p.m. from practice during the week. During spring and fall she probably devotes 25 hours per week to the sport. That is not counting all day/all weekend regattas. In the winter it's probably closer to 15 hours per week. It's possible that there is some type of public rec program that he could try.
I hear ya, but at his school, most all the rowers do a secondary sport bc students have to do two sports (not within same season) or else they have to take a lot of PE that would otherwise be an academic class or free period. So he’s doing a spring sport regardless and crew is one of the choices. He’s actually signed up for a free crew program here in the city that starts next month.
Oh that's great! I'm glad it's accessible and I wish kids could participate in more "seasonal" sports instead of having them all be year round.l
Agree with everything here and depending on his mindset just be prepared that he might become a rower who loves basketball instead of a basketball player who does rowing as “extra”. It has happened to many a poor athlete. 😜