Schenectady County Community College To Offer Women's Crew Team

Schenectady County Community College is excited to announce that the College will add Women's Crew to its athletic program for Fall 2007.



SCCC joins Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif., as the only community colleges in the United States to offer crew as an intercollegiate sport. This spring, the College will begin actively recruiting athletes from throughout the state to join the inaugural SCCC Women's Crew Team.



"We are very excited to be adding women's crew to our intercollegiate athletic offerings at Schenectady County Community College. We believe that there are a number of outstanding female rowers at Capital District high schools who would benefit from having a crew program at a two-year school right in their own back yard. They could compete for two years at SCCC and then transfer to the four-year school of their choice. We're excited to get started," said David Gonzalez, SCCC Athletic Director.



Since there are no other community colleges on the East Coast that offer crew, SCCC will be competing against such four-year schools as Union College, Skidmore College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University at Albany, Ithaca College, SUNY Buffalo, Marist College and Cornell University.



Chris Chase, Head Coach of the Saratoga High School Rowing Team and Executive Director of the Saratoga Rowing Association, applauded SCCC for initiating the women's team at the College. "How exciting it is to hear about SCCC beginning their women's rowing team... I think it shows a great deal of vision on behalf of the College to do this. Rowing is the second fastest growing sport in America (girls lacrosse is first). New York state has the largest number of high school teams in any state in the country," he said. "I think the plan is brilliant for SCCC to begin a rowing team. What an opportunity for rowers to use SCCC as a stepping stone to such great four-year universities that embrace rowing," added Chase, who has been the Head Coach of the Saratoga High School Rowing Team for 11 years.



Daniel Schmidt has been hired as the Head Coach for the program and will be recruiting athletes for the new program.  He is the Head Men's Rowing Coach at Niskayuna High School and a 2000 graduate of Niskayuna High School. He competed collegiately at Ithaca College for four years and has coaching experience at both Cornell University and the Aqueduct Rowing Club.



"I feel like it's going to be a great fit for the College with the fact that there is a lot of opportunity for transfer. We're the only two-year program on the East Coast and we have a great potential for growth. I'm hoping to get some great athletes in here and start the program out strong in the fall," he said.



The new SCCC Women's Crew Team is another example of how the College continues to fulfill its mission and serve the needs of the community. One of these needs is providing an opportunity for rowers from high schools who are interested in continuing their sport at the college level.



Anyone interested in learning more about the program is asked to contact David Gonzalez, SCCC Athletic Director, at (518) 381-1356 or gonzaldm@gw.sunysccc.edu.