In the history of the University of Oregon’s club rowing team, coaching continuity hasn’t been a trend. Normally, coaches would spend around one to two years with the program before leaving. That changed in 2011 when Marlene Kindorf was appointed as the head coach of the Oregon rowing team.

Kindorf, a former rower at the University of California, Berkeley, has the Oregon rowing program on an upwards trajectory. Last year, the women’s novice eight-boat took home silver at the American Collegiate Rowing Association championships – the national championship for non-varsity Division I rowing teams.

With one race into the fall season, Kindorf discussed with the Emerald the current status of the Oregon rowing team and what to expect in the future.

The Oregon rowing club is also seeking new recruits.

At the end of last year, it seemed that your program was making strides towards success. Would you agree with that?

Overall for the team, it was very much a rising year. The team really stepped up to a new level of training and a new level of competition and we’re hoping to do the same this year. We’re really going for it this year, too.

What goes into this change? How does a rowing team improve?

There are a couple things. Number one: I would say a very organized training plan. Not just working out, but building a training plan that will take us all the way to nationals. I would say that’s number one. Number two is a cultural shift in the team. When I mean cultural, I mean them perceiving themselves as a recreational activity through club sports. We’re making a change to “We are a competitive program and we’re going to run ourselves like a (Division I) varsity program.” The fact that we’re under the club sports offices is simply semantics. We’re going to train, race and perform like a varsity program. Number three, I would say, is recruitment. We’re trying to get our name out on campus a lot more and get more people aware of the rowing team and that we’re a competitive program, not just an extracurricular activity. Number four is coaching consistency.

Do you have a specific goal for your team this upcoming year?

That first year women’s boat, seven of those girls returned to the team this year. So for that varsity women’s boat, I want to see them start pushing up against Division III, II and even I teams. They beat Division I teams last spring. The goal is for us to continue to go up against those kind of teams and be competitive with them, but we want to go to ACRAs and medal in the varsity eight women’s boat this year. On the men’s side, the recruits we have this year, it’s a small group of guys, but I have to say it’s probably the most athletic looking group of guys I’ve seen here in my four years. They very well might be able to do what the women did last year.
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt