As the weather grows colder, the ground begins to frost, and the water starts to freeze, students participating in water sports practice and competition change significantly. As they can no longer practice their sports on the water, they have to search for alternatives in indoor simulations and weightlifting.

Sophomore Carsten Bauer does rowing with a club year round. “There’s really nothing I would change [to the winter practices], there’s not a lot of alternatives,” Bauer said. The winter practices consist of mainly grueling exercises on the rowing machine, as well as occasional weightlifting exercises. During the typical rowing season, Bauer’s rowing team meets six times weekly. “We row at a bunch of different weeks around the Twin Cities area,” he said.

Bauer joined rowing in the first place because of his time overseas. “It was pretty popular when I was in Germany, so when I came back to Minnesota, I wanted to try it here,” he said.

Freshman Anneli Wilson also participates in rowing. “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing a sport,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s rowing team practices five times a week during the summer on the Mississippi River, but only occasionally practices on the weekend in the offseason. Wilson’s team rents out large facilities with a large amount of rowing machines. “It’s a really great time,” she said.

In addition to rowing, another water sport popular with students is water skiing. Junior Adele Gjerde participates in show water skiing with the Twin Cities River Rats. Show water skiing consists of multiple acts choreographed to music and centered around a theme. During the regular season, the team has practices on weekdays and shows every Thursday. During the winter, the team practices on dryland. They run through their acts the same, just on land instead of water. “We practice stunts dryland pretty regularly,” Gjerde said.

Gjerde learned how to water ski at a young age as her parents, who grew up doing the sport, passed it on to her. She joined the River Rats because she wanted to water ski more often and in a more structured and competitive setting.

Like many other water sports athletes, the community Gjerde has found through water skiing combined with her love of the water “My favorite part about water skiing is being around my friends and family, especially on the River Rats team,” she said. “It’s a very community[-based] activity, there’s a lot of different people involved and we all trust each other a lot.”