By Lisa Stukel, Contributing Writer
Northborough– Northborough native Sally Morris has coached crew for almost 30 years, with her teams enjoying tremendous success. Since arriving at Exeter College in 2006, her first eight (an eight-oared racing boat) has won gold at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championship Regatta every year but one, and the second eight took gold in the last four and silver the previous two years. Exeter's top-two eights went undefeated in the 2011 season. Her rowers nominated her to win USRowing's 1st Annual Fan's Choice Award for Best Junior Coach 2011.
In the? 2012 NEIRA regatta May 26, her girls varsity eight won a silver medal, girls second and third eights? both took gold; according to Morris, “The three boats combined won the Team Point Trophy (for the highest overall points of the 18 crews/teams that entered the regatta in these three boat levels for the girls eights).
Morris was a four-year varsity-letter-winner with the crew program at Trinity College in Connecticut, where she graduated in 1985. After college, Morris earned a master's degree? in classics from Tufts University in 1990 and became department chair and instructor in classical languages.
As a teaching intern coming directly out of college, Morris joined the crew coaching staff at Brooks College in addition to coaching field hockey and basketball, where she would find her calling as a teacher and a coach for the next t20 years.
Under her guidance, Brooks” fours (four-oared boats), captured four NEIRA Regatta Championships in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005, as well as two USRowing Youth National Championships in 2004 and 2005. During her crew coaching career, Morris has seen numerous rowers move on to successful college programs and compete at world-class and Olympic levels.
Morris attributes much of her coaching success to her sports experiences at Algonquin Regional High School.
“When I was in high school, I played varsity field hockey and basketball,” Morris said. “There is no doubt that my fantastic coaches at Algonquin helped shape the way I coach today.
“My varsity field hockey coach, Ms. Brown, was very encouraging and always had nice things to say about me. She held me to high standards and taught me to strive to do my best,” she added. “My varsity basketball coach taught me a lot about strategy and tactics for competition. I, in turn, have been able to teach the same strategies to the athletes that I coach today.”
Morris feels that she was lucky to have strong, female coaches back then, when there were not that many.
“I see a trend towards more female coaches in every sport, including crew,” she said.
Sally coaches crews with four, eight, and 16 people in a boat.
“When the crew is doing well, it looks like a choreographed ballet,” she said. “Their body movements are quiet and powerful. Things don's go as well when a crew looks like they are straining.”
Morris sees the biggest challenge with synchronizing a crew of people with different heights and strengths within their bodies.
“Some people have more upper body strength, and some have lower body strength,” she said. “The challenge is to take all these different body types to make eight people look like one person, stroking through the water.”
Morris has overcome these challenges to become a winning coach.
“Last year, my boats were undefeated,” she said. “This summer I am bringing my top eights to Henley, England, to participate in the Henley Royal Regatta.”
In addition to her trip to England, Morris plans to take eight students to Rome, Italy, for the biannual Rome Study Tour, to study the classics.
For more information about Morris and the crew program, visit www.exetercrew.com.