The Lister Crew Training Center, which houses 20 ergometers, has been pivotal in the crew teams’ success in recent years. However, due to the Shattuck Schoolhouse renovation, Lister has been entirely transformed into the classrooms of English Faculty Kate Blake and Charles Danhof. But with remnants of past New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) champions covering the walls, it is hard to hide every ounce of pain and dedication that the teams have poured into Nobles Crew. “I think you can’t not notice it, right? There are pictures on every wall, and a mural of Charles. I mean, it’s actually a really inspiring space,” Blake said. She also describes the work she and others put into making Lister their own space. “We got a rug and six bean bag chairs. We have our TV, and we’ve covered up the mirrors [for the most part]. I think we’ve done what we can with it,” Blake said.
However, the new occupation of Lister poses a problem for the crew teams, as rowers use Lister for erging and test pieces during the fall and spring, as well as for the infamous Winter Training program. Every rower can recount both the adrenaline rush of a personal best on the erg in Lister and the sense of dread that comes with walking through the parking lot while preparing for the worst workouts of their life. “I just remember that one day where we were all 2k-ing and we had shrimp for lunch beforehand, and like eight people threw up in Lister,” Jason Douglas (Class II) said. Apologies to any freshmen with class in Lister who are just hearing this story for the first time.
Recalling one of his more heinous moments in Lister, Lusas Keefe (Class II) said, “I got a bloody nose right before a 2k. That one didn’t go so well.” Winter Training is home to many of these more unpleasant associations with Lister. Sophia Soussou (Class I), a retired rower who now has class in Lister, said, “I’m definitely brought back to my 10k sophomore year, when I was gasping for air in the back of Lister, and it was like 30 degrees outside. And shortly after, I decided to end my crew journey.” Lister has always been a place where achievements are celebrated and each person is pushed to their absolute limits. Now, however, these achievements are presented in the context of essays rather than brutal erg tests.
Nonetheless, Lister is necessary when preparing for the spring crew season. It is one of the only current spaces on campus in which each member of the crew team can erg at the same time, rather than in shifts. However, now that Lister is a classroom space, the teams will need to find a new space to train. The solution to this problem is for Nobles Crew to return to its roots. This year, Winter Training will be held in the Lincoln Boathouse. Nobles crews used to launch out of Lincoln to row on a shallow, less than two-kilometer stretch of water called Motley Pond. In 2015, Nobles Boy Crew (NBC) and Nobles Girls Crew (NGC) relocated their boats to Stoller Boathouse, a 15-minute drive away. Because of this, Lincoln has been out of commission and only used for middle school crew (which was discontinued this year) and as a yoga studio. Now, the ergs that were moved out of Lister will be placed in Lincoln so that the athletes can prepare for their spring season during the months when they cannot be on the water.
At the end of the day, while Lister may be repurposed this year, it’s impossible to forget all the blood, sweat, and tears that each member of NBC and NGC has contributed to shaping the space as it is.
