School News Roll Call And LBJC: Andrew Menzel Is Staying The Course To College With Rowing
Published In The Feb 2011 Issue Of The School News Roll Call And Written By Jack Nunn, Owner Of Roworx Indoor Rowing Classes, Boot Camp, And Yoga At The Long Beach Rowing Association.
In January, the annual Indoor Virtual Rowing Race was held at the Long Beach Rowing Association on the Concept 2 rowing machines. In the world of rowing, a good score/time on the Concept 2 indoor rowing machine for a 2,000-meter race can almost guarantee your admission to any college with a rowing team in the United States. The equation for the past 30-plus years has been as follows: a good GPA + SAT + 2K (2,000 meter) time on the Concept 2 = your choice of any college and possible scholarship with the sport of rowing! Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting the Menzel Family from Seal Beach in my Roworx Indoor Rowing Class. Maggie, her husband and her son, Andrew Menzel, took the class for a few months, and Andrew, a 17-year-old former football player at Los Alamitos High School, was very interested in joining the Long Beach Junior Crew rowing team for the spring/summer season. It was perfect timing, as the beach sprints were fast approaching. I devised a plan that Andrew would race under the Roworx Affiliation and race 2,000 meters—approx. 1.25 miles—and would pull a fast time and beat current Long Beach Junior Crew members while he had little to no experience in rowing. Andrew was tall and strong, and with some coaching from me during the race, he rowed to a time of 7:09 for a 2,000-meter race. I told Andrew that the goal was to break seven minutes, and he came really close.
Andrew Menzel ended up coming in fifth place in the Junior Crew Novice Event out of nearly 50 entries. Yes—that is fifth place, with very little rowing experience out of 50 students with rowing experience! Not bad. My first-ever 2,000-meter race on the machine was when I was exactly 17 years old at the exact same period when I joined the Junior Crew and I had pulled a 7:04. However, I had a slight advantage at rowing just a bit before because my father, John Nunn, was a bronze medalist in rowing in the 1968 Olympics as well as an Olympic Rowing coach in 1976. After the race, I immediately introduced Andrew to all the 
coaches from the Junior Crew, and just like that, he was swept from my hands off the Roworx Fitness And Indoor Rowing Program and is now on his way to trying to train hard enough to make it into college and row for his dream college, the U.S. Naval Academy. Since my father and I have been rowing for so long, we both know almost every rowing coach from every major university throughout the United States. I’m sure Andrew Menzel will still stop by for a class or two during the summertime, and he has one more year to prove himself and possibly even get a scholarship to the college of his choice. Who knows? He might even have a shot at making it to the Junior National Team Level as I did with the same amount of time it took me. Since the learning curve in rowing is very steep, you can become very effective in a very short period. Like any sport or activity, in rowing, it takes a little longer to fine-tune everything else about the stroke and how to apply the power through your legs while balancing on the water. Strength, endurance, mental toughness and teamwork all play a huge role in the sport of rowing. One last thing—going fast in the sport of rowing depends on how efficiently you can
use the strength through your legs, because rowing is 70 percent legs and the rest of it is really momentum through the body. Everyone thinks rowing is a 100 percent upper- body workout, but in reality, only 10 percent of the power comes from your arms!
For More Information On How To Get Your Children Involved In Junior Rowing Either On Or Off The Water Please Contact The Long Beach Junior Crew Organization At http://longbeachjuniorcrew.org/ Or Contact Keith Johnson At johnson.dk@hotmail.com
If You Would Like Indoor Class Lessons On The Concept 2 Rowing Machine Or For Those Interested In Rowing Class Workouts Please Visit www.roworx.com Or Contact Jack Nunn at roworx@gmail.com
Location For The Long Beach Junior Crew And Roworx Indoor Rowing Are At: Pete Archer Rowing Center, 5750 Boathouse Lane, Long Beach, CA 90803
Tags: Andrew Menzel, Beach Sprints, Get Faster On The Concept 2 Rowing Machine, Indoor Rowing Classes, Indoor Rowing In Long Beach, Jack Nunn, Long Beach Sprints, Rowing Your Way To College
