The Wilmington Youth Rowing Assn. (WYRA), founded in 1989, is a club rowing program with 70-90 rowers, ages 13-18, from 26 different public, private, and parochial schools (as well as those home-schooled) from Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania, northeastern Maryland and southern New Jersey.

In the fall all our crews practice Tuesday thru Friday 3:30-6 pm and Saturday mornings 8:30-11 am with selected regattas on specific Saturdays and/or Sundays (see our schedule).

During the winter months those rowers not in a school sport are encouraged to work out at the boathouse on our ergometers (ergs), on our state-of-the-art indoor rowing tanks, and in our weight room. Novices work-out 3 days per week and varsity 4-5 days per week.

Spring crew starts the end of February and continues into late May. Varsity rowers practice 6 days a week and novices continue with their fall 5 days a week schedule.  Regattas take place in Baltimore, Princeton, Camden, and St. Andrews among other venues culminating in a regional USRowing regatta leading to the USRowing Youth Nationals in Cincinnati in June.

WHO GETS TO ROW? There are no “benchwarmers” in WYRA crew. All our rowers row and race during afternoon and Saturday work-outs and in most regattas. Students in 8th – 12th  grades row together in separate male and female boats but often travel and work-out together at WYRA’s 17,000 sq.ft Boathouse.

All new rowers spend their first year as novices but we DO NOT take SENIORS as novice rowers. Anyone interested in rowing with WYRA should start no later than their junior year. Those students already in a sport and unsure whether they should try rowing are encouraged to try crew in our summer Rowing 101 mini camps held in June and July.

Rowing is a wonderful, healthy sport and our rowers are very fit. Rowing raises self-esteem and teaches responsibility, self-discipline, sportsmanship and teamwork for rowing is the ultimate team sport. A boat can’t pull ahead unless everyone pulls together. Ninety-eight percent of our rowers go on to college and more than fifty percent continue to row in college, some with rowing scholarships.

We invite anyone interested in joining WYRA crew to call and make an appointment to see our Boathouse, sit on an erg, and try the rowing tanks.

Join the crew! Rowing is a sport you can do for the rest of your life.

For more information call the Boathouse – (302) 777-4533 or e-mail Executive Director Faith Pizor: fpizor@wyra.org.

Summer Crew

We will be  holding full-day Preseason Camps for Varsity Boys, one day each month during the summer. Check the calendar and News post for details.  There will also be two days of Preseason Camps for Varsity Girls mid-August.

Just out – Fall 2009 Schedule!

Check out the Fall 2009 Schedule and see what WYRA is doing this Fall!

New! WYRA forms are now interactive. Forget about manually completing each form. Now you can complete them online, attach and send them via email. And for your added convenience,  you can now pay for WYRA online using PayPal. Just go to the Forms section and check it out!