(The Duxbury High School Girls Varsity Rowing team from last season.)

With the growing popularity of US Olympic rower and former Duxbury resident Will Miller, the Duxbury Bay Maritime School’s (DBMS) rowing program is gearing up for a busy fall season with a competitive high school team that has gained lots of recognition.

The Duxbury High School (DHS) rowing teams’ enrollment numbers for the summer programs at DBMS have risen significantly. The director of rowing at DBMS Kristen McCarthy said the program’s beginnings were humble. “It started out with Cap Kane and Bill Miller (father of Will) who bought a few racing boats about 10 or 12 years ago,” said McCarthy. “They had four’s and then some quads for the adult program. It’s just gone crazy since, we kept adding boats and team members and every year it gets a little bigger.”

In recent years, the crew team has had to hold tryouts since so many rowers want to make the high school team and compete. This season was no exception.

“We used to just accept anyone regardless of experience,” said McCarthy. “Recently we’ve had to require that they have experience and hold tryouts since there are just so many more kids.”

The students of DBMS start out by learning how to scull, which is rowing with two oars to each person. As they progress to more experienced levels and on to high school, they take up sweep rowing which is one oar per person. Most of the kids who were on crew in high school and graduated are instructors now at the school, and many compete at the college level as well.

The Duxbury High School crew team competes in the Massachusetts Public School Rowing Association against 21 other teams from around the state. The teams compete mostly in Lowell, Worcester and on the Cape, at regattas with a few other locations scattered along the coast.

Fred Clifford,  DBMS chair of the board, said the rowing program has been a huge success for both his school and the community, and that Will Miller’s success in the Olympics will only drive interest more.

“The rowing program is going gangbusters,” said Clifford. “(Miller) will only help.”

Executive Director Chuck Leonard agreed, noting the DBMS recently had to purchase more boats to accommodate the influx of new students.

“Last year, we had 72 high school rowers,” said Leonard. “It swelled to over 100 this fall.”

Last year, the crew team was divided between Girls Varsity, Boys Varsity and Girls Novice and Boys Novice that competed at regattas. There are two seasons that the team competes: fall is long distance rowing, with all races a 5k, and  spring season is considered a sprint season where the races are either 1500 or 2000 meters. Rowing for the girls team for four seasons, Miranda Van Dingstee, who will be a junior at DHS, finds rowing to be a welcome challenge in her life.

“It’s hard to be a really great rower, but once you put the work in it’s worth it,” said Van Dingstee. “Everyone should try it, it’s a lot of fun to be on a team and it’s a great group of people.”

The Duxbury crew team has had great success competing, placing second in the state last year. It’s also one of the most comprehensive programs south of Boston. With such a popular and successful program, it’s no wonder so many members make it to Division I schools for rowing in college.

McCarthy is amazed at the skill level of the students, saying that for such a demanding sport they all pick it up quickly.

“It’s amazing what these kids do,” said McCarthy. “We have eighth graders out there bossing around these six foot boys and learning how to coxswain, rowing can be so good for kids and even to people.”

McCarthy understands the benefits of rowing from a personal standpoint as well having started after college as an adult.

“I started rowing when I moved out to California. I picked it up and couldn’t stop,” said McCarthy. “I came home for a summer and heard Duxbury had started a program and came and checked it out. I was talking to a guy who worked at DBMS and he asked me if I had ever thought about coaching, I gave it a shot and I couldn’t believe how much fun it was and I’ve been here for five years now.”