Rowing to scholastic stardom

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- A funny thing happened to Alisia Ford on the way to

college.

Ford, a 17-year-old Corona del Mar High School senior, had been

running cross-country for three years, but she found that pounding the

pavement wasn’t really her thing. It lacked the kind of team unity she

wanted and left her unfulfilled.

What changed things for Ford was a simple comment from a friend who

took one look at her 6-foot frame and told her to try crew.

Today, Ford is a six-month mini-veteran of the rowing scene. She’s

been pulling an oar on an eight-woman boat, practicing with a girls’ team

at the Newport Aquatic Center.

The team spirit? Ford said it’s pretty good in crew.

“If we lose, we all lose,” she said.

And if the team wins, the victory is that much sweeter.

But what Ford didn’t anticipate is the way joining a crew team would

affect her education. Since jumping in a boat, she’s become a hot

commodity.

Ford is a good student. She hopes to attend Brown University next

fall, or maybe USC or UCLA.

Her grades, though, received a major boost from her participation in

crew.

“It’s opened doors for me,” she said. “A lot of schools need crew

girls.”

Christy Shaver, the girls’ rowing coach at the aquatic center, said

rowing women are in demand now because of schools’ efforts to comply with

sports funding laws.

Stricter enforcement of Title IX, a 1972 federal law requiring equal

funding for men’s and women’s sports, has meant schools have to search

for intelligent ways to balance women’s programs against expensive,

traditionally male programs, such as football teams.

“It’s really nice,” Shaver said. “We get recruiting letters from

colleges all the time. They’re finding out that rowing is a way of using”

the money for women’s sports.

For Ford, who said she just loves the spirit of the rowing experience,

the school benefits are gravy.

“I look forward to going,” she said -- just for the love of pulling an

oar.