About Aztec Rowing

A Century of Commitment to Excellence

 

This year, our crew proudly celebrates 100 years of competitive rowing at San Diego State University. Over the last century, Aztec Rowing has fostered a culture of dedication, teamwork, and resilience, shaping generations of hardworking student-athletes. This milestone marks not just a reflection on our rich history, but also a pivotal moment to ensure the future success of our program.

How You Can Support
As part of our centennial celebration, we’re launching a campaign to secure the resources necessary to propel Aztec Rowing into the next 100 years. Whether you’re a former rower, a proud Aztec, or a supporter of collegiate athletics, there are several ways to contribute:

  • Centennial Campaign: Join our goal of 100 supporters donating $1,000 annually for five years.
  • Legacy Supporters: Donors giving $5,000 annually will receive a custom-painted Aztec rowing oar in red, black, and white.
  • General Donations: Contributions of any amount are gratefully accepted and will directly impact our team’s future.

Your support will strengthen our ability to recruit and retain exceptional coaches, enhance training facilities, and provide opportunities for student-athletes to thrive. Join us in honoring this incredible legacy and ensuring Aztec Rowing remains a source of pride for SDSU for generations to come.

Our Mission & Vision

 

The mission of San Diego State Rowing is to teach the student-athlete discipline and strength of body & mind through the sport of rowing. We strive to create an environment where dedication, leadership, and teamwork are buoyed by daily progress to become the best team we can collectively be. By doing so, this program gives students a chance to grow as leaders and individuals through their hard work and learned ethic. As members of Aztec Rowing and San Diego State University, SDSU Men’s Rowing will strive to proudly represent these institutions and their commitment to sportsmanship, athletic achievement and academic rigor on both the Regional and National level.  

Team Philosophy & Culture

 

 

Operating as a Sport Club under the guidance of Associated Students at San Diego State University our program is focused on providing a competitive atmosphere on the water while being a support structure off of it. With the penultimate goal always being to go fast (really fast), Aztec Rowing primary purpose is to create an atmosphere that allows for it’s student-athletes to learn and grow in preparation for their lives beyond SDSU. There is a place to be both highly competitive with an emphasis on high performance while also creating space for those student-athletes to learn life lessons they’ll carry with them forever. 

Why Rowing?

 

With more and more high school rowing programs popping up across the country, it’s no surprise to see collegiate rowing growing as well. Like most sports, each has it’s own appeal and the transition to college is a great opportunity for some former high school athletes to try out a new sport. While there are a number of reasons why someone may try rowing in college, these are the most common we hear from our student-athletes as to why the stay wih the sport:

1. Competition – Athletes from other sports come to rowing as a way to try something new, but stay with rowing because of the daily competition on the water in practice, in the erg room on the rowing machines or while striving to become an “Iron Aztec” in the weight room. 

2. The People – Whether you’re looking for a tight network of friends on-campus, an extensive Alumni network, or a worldwide community centered around sport/athletics you’ll assuredly find all three with Aztec Rowing. 

3. Being on the Water – It’s almost impossible to explain, but any rower will tell you, there’s nothiing quite like being on Mission Bay with your teammates to make the boat go faster. No matter how hard the workout, when you get back on land, you miss getting the chance to chase that feeling. 

Our World Class Facilities

The H Del Beekley Boathouse is connected to Mission Bay Aquatic Center and has three boat bays that house both the Men’s & Women’s Crew for San Diego State. Located on the beautiful waters of Mission Bay near the heart of San Diego, we are blessed to row in one of rowing’s greatest cities on it’s finest body of water.

We currently have a two-bay boathouse centered around sweep rowing with 6 Eight-oar shells and 4 Four-oar shells available for daily use.  Ergometers are available at the boathouse in the incredibly rare case that weather impacts our practice. Other amenities available at the H. Del Beekley Boathouse and attached MBAC are a Men’s & Women’s locker room with showers as well as classrooms where the team can gather for meetings and video review sessions.

The Ergometer Room is located on campus in Peterson Gym, just across the street from the ARC. The room possesses 20 state-of-the-art ergometers for use in teaching and training both Novice and Varsity rowers. 

 

Located on campus in Peterson Gym across from the Aztec Recreation Center, our dedicated weight room houses all the equipment needed to assist rowers getting in the physical shape they need to compete at the highest level.

Equipment Available:

6x Squat/BenchPress racks with Olympic rubber-plate weight set + Adjustable Bench
6x Deadlift Pads
4x Full Range Dumbbell Sets
4x Full Range Kettlebell Sets
6x TRX systems
Multiple Jump Boxes, Trap Bars, Exercise Bands, Chalk, Speed Ropes, recovery equipment and more!