rules to play rowing

Rowing often referred to as crew in the United States, is a sport with origins back to Ancient Egyptian times. It is based on propelling a boat racing shell on water using oars. By pushing against the water with an oar, a force is generated to move the boat. The sport can be either recreational focusing on learning the technique of rowing, or competitive where athletes race against each other in boats.There are a number of different boat classes in which athletes compete, ranging from an individual shell called a single scull to an eight person shell with coxswain called a coxed eight.

While rowing, the athlete sits in the boat facing toward the stern, and uses the oars which are held in place by the oarlocks to propel the boat forward towards the bow. This may be done on a canal, river, lake, sea, or other large bodies of water. The sport requires strong core balance, physical strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance.

Whilst the action of rowing and equipment used remains fairly consistent throughout the world, there are many different types of competition. These include endurance races, time trials, stake racing, bumps racing, and the sidebyside format used in the Olympic games. The many different formats are a result of the long history of the sport, its development in different regions of the world, and specific local requirements and restrictions.

In sweep or sweepoar rowing, each rower has one oar, held with both hands. This is generally done in pairs, fours, and eights. In some regions of the world, each rower in a sweep boat is referred to either as port or starboard, depending on which side of the boat the rowers oar extends to. In other regions, the port side is referred to as stroke side, and the starboard side as bow side; this applies even if the stroke oarsman is rowing on bow side and or the bow oarsman on stroke side.

In sculling each rower has two oars or sculls, one in each hand. Sculling is usually done without a coxswain, in quads, doubles or singles. The oar in the scullers right hand extends to port stroke side, and the oar in the left hand extends to starboard bow side.

The rowing stroke may be characterized by two fundamental reference points. The catch, which is placement of the oar blade in the water, and the extraction, also known as the finish or release, when the rower removes the oar blade from the water. The action between catch and release is the first phase of the stroke that propels the boat.At the catch the rower places the blade in the water and applies pressure to the oar by pushing the seat toward the bow of the boat by extending the legs, thus pushing the boat through the water. The point of placement of the blade in the water is a relatively fixed point about which the oar serves as a lever to propel the boat. As the rowers legs approach full extension, the rower pivots the torso toward the bow of the boat and then finally pulls the arms towards his or her chest. The hands meet the chest right above the diaphragm.

At the end of the stroke, with the blade still in the water, the hands drop slightly to unload the oar so that spring energy stored in the bend of the oar gets transferred to the boat, which eases removing the oar from the water and minimizes energy wasted on lifting water above the surface splashing. The recovery phase follows the drive. The recovery starts with the extraction and involves coordinating the body movements with the goal to move the oar back to the catch position. In extraction, the rower pushes down on the oar handle to quickly lift the blade from the water and rapidly rotates the oar so that the blade is parallel to the water. This process is sometimes referred to as feathering the blade. Simultaneously, the rower pushes the oar handle away from the chest. The blade emerges from the water square and feathers immediately once clear of the water. After feathering and extending the arms, the rower pivots the body forward. Once the hands are past the knees, the rower compresses the legs which moves the seat towards the stern of the boat. The leg compression occurs relatively slowly compared to the rest of the stroke, which affords the rower a moment to recover, and allows the boat to glide through the water. The gliding of the boat through the water during recovery is often called run.

There are two schools of thought with respect to the appropriate breathing technique during the rowing motion: Full lungs at the catch and empty lungs at the catch.With the full lung technique, rowers exhale during the stroke and inhale during the recovery. In laboured circumstances, rowers will take a quick pant at the end of the stroke before taking a deep breath on the recovery that fills the lungs by the time the catch is reached.

In the emptylung technique, rowers inhale during the drive, and exhale during the recovery so that they have empty lungs at the catch. Because the knees come up to the chest when the lungs are empty, this technique allows the rower to reach a little bit further than if the lungs were full of air. Full lungs at the release also can help the rower to maintain a straighter back, a style encouraged by many coaches.A scientific study of the benefits of entrained breathing technique in relatively fit, but untrained rowers did not show any physiological or psychological benefit to either technique.

Rowing is a cyclic or intermittent form of propulsion such that in the quasisteady state the motion of the system the system comprising the rower, the oars, and the boat, is repeated regularly. In order to maintain the steadystate propulsion of the system without either accelerating or decelerating the system, the sum of all the external forces on the system, averaged over the cycle, must be zero. Thus, the average drag retarding force on the system must equal the average propulsion force on the system. The drag forces consist of aerodynamic drag on the superstructure of the system components of the boat situated above the waterline, as well as the hydrodynamic drag on the submerged portion of the system. The propulsion forces are the forward reaction of the water on the oars while in the water. Note also that the oar can be used to provide a drag force a force acting against the forward motion when the system is brought to rest.Although the oar can be conveniently thought of as a lever with a fixed pivot point in the water, the blade moves sideways and sternwards through the water, so that the magnitude of the propulsion force developed is the result of a complex interaction between unsteady fluid mechanics the water flow around the blade and solid mechanics and dynamics the handle force applied to the oar, the oars inertia and bending characteristic, the acceleration of the boat and so on.

The distinction between rowing and other forms of water transport, such as canoeing or kayaking, is that in rowing the oars are held in place at a pivot point that is in a fixed position relative to the boat, this point is the load point for the oar to act as a second class lever the blade fixed in the water is the fulcrum. In flatwater rowing, the boat also called a shell or fine boat is narrow to avoid drag, and the oars are attached to oarlocks at the end of outriggers extending from the sides of the boat. Racing boats also have sliding seats to allow the use of the legs in addition to the body to apply power to the oar. Racing shells are inherently unstable, much like racing kayaks or canoes. The rowing boats require oars on either side to prevent them from rolling over.

Rowing is one of the few nonweight bearing sports that exercises all the major muscle groups, including quads, biceps, triceps, lats, glutes and abdominal muscles. Rowing improves cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength. Highperformance rowers tend to be tall and muscular: although extra weight does increase the drag on the boat, the larger athletes increased power tends to be more significant. The increased power is achieved through increased length of leverage on the oar through longer limbs of the athlete. In multiperson boats 2,4,or 8, the lightest person typically rows in the bow seat at the front of the boat.

Rowing is a low impact activity with movement only in defined ranges, so twist and sprain injuries are rare. However, the repetitive rowing action can put strain on knee joints, the spine and the tendons of the forearm, and inflammation of these are the most common rowing injuries. If one rows with poor technique, especially rowing with a curved rather than straight back, other injuries may surface, including back pains. Blisters occur for almost all beginner rowers as every stroke puts pressure on the hands, though rowing frequently tends to harden hands and generate protective calluses. Holding the oars too tightly or making adjustments to technique may cause recurring or new blisters.

Single and double sculls are usually steered by the scullers pulling harder on one side or the other. In other boats, there is a rudder, controlled by the coxswain, if present, or by one of the crew. In the latter case, the rudder cable is attached to the toe of one of his shoes which can pivot about the ball of the foot, moving the cable left or right. The bowman may steer since he has the best vision when looking over his shoulder. On straighter courses, the strokesman may steer, since he can point the stern of the boat at some landmark at the start of the course. On international courses, landmarks for the steersmen, consisting of two aligned poles, are provided.