The Story and History of Westfield Crew
By George Handza
Over the years and extending to decades, The Westfield Leaderhas published countless articles and sports features. The inscription “member since …” customarily appears on credit cards. If such a convention existed for The Leader, on George Handza’s card it would read “subscriber since …as long as I can remember,” according to George. Given this circumstance, it is not surprising that The Westfield Leaderplayed a significant role in the genesis of Westfield Crew.
George’s familiarity with the local tabloid was not by chance, though chance would play a role in the precipitous moment of ignition of the idea for Westfield Crew. Having participated as an administrator and coach in the town’s basketball, soccer, and baseball organizations, George was a regular reader on Thursdays when the paper was delivered. Many of his teams and athletes’ exploits (including his own son and daughter) routinely received press coverage, and at times, the Thursday edition was the evening’s highlight after a busy corporate schedule followed by a practice or game. Often it wasn’t until 11:00 PM when George could unwind and read the paper.
In early 2001 George was prospecting for a low impact cross training opportunity for the basketball players he was training and coaching. Having played basketball in college, the U. S. Air Force, and on corporate teams, George realized that there was a fixed reservoir of durability to the human anatomy. And while peak performance and fully realizing one’s potential demanded year round conditioning and training, the toll on the young athlete’s (and older athletes like George) bodies was obvious. The choice was either down time or some form of low impact training.
With this in mind, and as chance would have it, George stumbled upon one of the smallest and most inconspicuous articles inThe Leader. It was just a dozen or so lines about two Westfield High School students who were rowing at the Nereid Boat Club located on the Passaic River in Rutherford. With little knowledge of rowing and facing the prospect of “down time” for him and his athletes, George was curious about the activity and with nothing to lose, drove to the club one evening to investigate and watch some of the men rowing on the water.
Keen in observation of all things physical, it was immediately obvious to George that the slide in the boat with the feet stationed to a fixed platform was both low impact and high resistance, and this could be invaluable to a runner and especially to a basketball player interested in jumping higher. Additionally, as the men came off the water and secured their boats inside the boathouse, it was clear that high level cardio had taken place. So standing there introspectively but with his athletic demeanor, edgy confidence, and competitive countenance, not considering that he was on private property at a private club in a place he ought not to be, George was approached by one of the men. “Interested in sculling?” the man inquired. To which George replied, “I don’t know about this sculling you refer to, but the rowing looks like something I could sink my teeth into.” And with a sly grin, the man offered George an invitation to step inside the club and talk about this rowing George referred to.
Athletes have an intuitive if not intrinsic pheromonal sense of relating to each other, and the moment George entered the club, it was all there: the competition, the dedication, the determination. So as Renee Zelweger said to Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire, “You had me at hello,” George was immediately smitten by the inside of the club. After touring the training room, kitchen, and conference room, time suddenly stopped. Standing in front of George, was a rudimentary bar behind which four handles of beer taps danced to a back drop of a wall lined with 22-ounce crystal beer mugs, each engraved with a member’s name. Breaking from his trance at the offer “Care for a cold draft?” that might have been the moment Westfield Crew was born.
To say the rest was history would be an over simplification. Working toward a masters rowing qualification, George clocked numerous 4:30 AM training sessions, encountering considerably more cost than the high quality kegs of draft beer kept on tap to satisfy the beer standards of European summer rowing guests. By the summer of 2002 George was a club member in good standing, rowing and racing on a regular basis. He became acquainted with two rowers and their parents from Westfield. At that time, high school rowers could not be members of the club but could pay a fee to row in the summer with a member as sponsor. So George paid the fees and brought his son Woody and the other interested rowers to the club for summer workouts. The “cold drafts” were strictly off limits, even for George.
In the spring of 2002 Westfield rowers at Nereid could participate in the spring racing season. But with only a few rowers, Westfield did not have the critical mass to compete as a high school team. They could race under Nereid’s banner de facto as Westfield with Nereid providing the coaches, facilities, and equipment. During this time, other high schools rowing at Nereid were expanding. By the fall of 2002, rowers at Nereid--other than Westfield--had become bona fide teams representing their high schools. At that point, Nereid invoked a new policy whereby all the teams would now be high schools teams responsible for supplying their own coaches, equipment, and transportation plus pay a facilities fee. For the 2003 season, that meant the Westfield rowers either had to compete as a high school team or not participate at all. Fortunately, by the spring of 2003 Westfield was able to cobble together eight rowers and borrowed and rented equipment. George coached part time and paid a part time coach to fill in when he was not available. A few more Westfield rowers were recruited in the summer, and by December 2003 it appeared that there was enough interest to continue into 2004.
George had previously been at the helm of a New Jersey nonprofit corporation, Westfield Competitive Basketball Inc. (WCBI). Its articles of incorporation and by-laws had been prepared and filed by an attorney who was also the father of one of George’s basketball players. George asked the attorney if he could do the same for rowing. The attorney, a former Georgetown lacrosse player and lover of all things sports, responded with a resounding yes. In December 2003, Westfield Competitive Rowing Inc. (WCRI) became a nonprofit New Jersey corporation with the ability to collect funds and disperse payments.
The year of 2004 was a lean one. Westfield High School Crew, now doing business as WCRI, had the bare minimum of what could be considered a critical mass for a team. Still, the spring racing season was exciting, and the summer rowing a success. Interest expanded through word of mouth. George’s son Woody was finally on the team, and in the fall, George and Woody would enter open regattas. Press coverage in The Westfield Leaderincreased exposure and interest among high school students. The 2005 season looked promising with the prospect of 16 rowers.
2005 was significant for two reasons. First, the addition of 16 rowers meant that more equipment would be needed. Two used quads had already been acquired and a new boat was finally purchased through grants, fund raising, and a tuition increase. WCRI was on its way towards building a fleet! But the coaching piece was languishing. Unable to coach full time, George secured a patchwork of transient coaches, resulting in little continuity and synergy.
Unlike mainstream high school sports, rowing coaches are a rare breed. With no rowing coach candidates either in district or out of district, the crew team was at risk of sinking. Then the second significant thing happened. While investigating school club opportunities, George came upon a very interesting one: an indoor erging club. In other words, an indoor rowing club. Upon inquiry, George learned that a teacher at Roosevelt Intermediate School was running the club and was a member of the Carnegie Lake Rowing Association. The teacher, Rob Greenwood, had extensive coaching experience in private school and was planning to apply for one of several open coaching positions at the high school. Convincing Coach Greenwood to take the head coaching job was not all that difficult since he was currently rowing on a regular basis at Princeton, but when George made it clear that he would save the team, which was on the brink of dissolving, Rob came aboard. Westfield Crew finally had its first, and to this day only, head coach.
The years from 2005-2008 were challenging growth years. With Woody captaining the team in 2006 and being in the first Westfield boat ever to advance at Stotesbury, things were looking up. But Woody was a senior and would be attending college to play basketball in the fall. George would be going to his games. Up to this time all the parents understandably moved on once their child graduated high school. If George did the same Crew would end. George decided to stay on and perpetuate the opportunity for the community and the high school.
By 2008, the club was growing. Still, challenges remained: maintaining a robust team roster, recruiting, dodging the debris on the Passaic, eluding summer thunderstorms, competing in regattas, fund raising, and managing cash flow.
Perhaps the most significant thing other than Coach Greenwood muscling the team forward year after year, was the magic he accomplished in 2008. Far beyond anyone’s expectations, Rob entered into discussions with the Rutgers rowing coach and informed George that they could enter into a lease to row at the Rutgers docks. Although the team would not have access to the interior of the boathouse, they could rack their boats on the outside. So George and Rob pulled the trigger on that opportunity, not really knowing where the funds would come from to pay the lease. But at this point, they had come too far to let a little thing like securing funding hold the club back. And if Coach Greenwood could pull off a miracle like getting the team in at Rutgers, then let the one-upmanship begin. George would have to supply the next miracle.
2009-2012 were successful years on the Raritan as the club expanded to over thirty rowers split evenly between male and female. In 2010 the WCRI joined the Westfield Police Athletic League’s family of youth sports opportunities and PAL donated funds towards a new quad christened “Westfield PAL.” But once again the team was challenged with coaching stress. Thirty plus rowers, all at different stages of development, was a grinding burden for one coach. But as fate would have it, Woody started graduate school at Rutgers and coaching turned out to be right in his wheelhouse. For the next three years, Woody coached with Rob and the stress melted away. The future looked bright and promising.
A significant milestone occurred in 2011 when the team acquired a new aluminum 40 foot boat trailer, retiring the original boat trailer purchased for $1,500 and held together with tape and glue and sold “as is.” (It was probably never once street legal during its tenure).
2013-2015 saw a renewed coaching challenge when Woody graduated to enter the corporate world and left his coaching resume behind. Coach Greenwood took up the slack, coaching upwards of 40 rowers. Crew would be in the hunt for another assistant coach for several years. During this time, the team got their first female scholarship rower (Texas Christian University) and a number of rowers would go on to row in colleges. The fleet expanded to four quads, two doubles, and two coach’s launches.
2016 – Present: After extensive prospecting, the team recruited a teacher with a rowing background who was interested in coaching. Dave Smelko a special education teacher in the Clark school district, rowed at Duquesne University and had a knack for working with young people. Since joining the team in the winter of 2016, Dave has expanded his responsibilities, completed the US Rowing level 2 certification, and is now a full time assistant coach.
Westfield Rowers continue to row in colleges such as Hamilton and Lehigh, and another female scholarship was secured for 2018, this time at Rutgers. The last four years has seen the club’s best fund raising efforts, with each year eclipsing the previous goals. This has led to the establishment of “The Friends of Westfield Crew,” whose mission is to focus on fund raising. Two new quads and a coach’s launch were added during this period. The 2018 spring racing season has been the team’s most competitive to date with more medals won than any previous year. After 15 years of trials, tribulations, and continuous improvement and growth, along with steady development of youthful athletes into college graduates and corporate citizens, WCRI looks forward to the next 15 years and the prospect of naming a boat after a WCRI alumni.
By George Handza
Over the years and extending to decades, The Westfield Leaderhas published countless articles and sports features. The inscription “member since …” customarily appears on credit cards. If such a convention existed for The Leader, on George Handza’s card it would read “subscriber since …as long as I can remember,” according to George. Given this circumstance, it is not surprising that The Westfield Leaderplayed a significant role in the genesis of Westfield Crew.
George’s familiarity with the local tabloid was not by chance, though chance would play a role in the precipitous moment of ignition of the idea for Westfield Crew. Having participated as an administrator and coach in the town’s basketball, soccer, and baseball organizations, George was a regular reader on Thursdays when the paper was delivered. Many of his teams and athletes’ exploits (including his own son and daughter) routinely received press coverage, and at times, the Thursday edition was the evening’s highlight after a busy corporate schedule followed by a practice or game. Often it wasn’t until 11:00 PM when George could unwind and read the paper.
In early 2001 George was prospecting for a low impact cross training opportunity for the basketball players he was training and coaching. Having played basketball in college, the U. S. Air Force, and on corporate teams, George realized that there was a fixed reservoir of durability to the human anatomy. And while peak performance and fully realizing one’s potential demanded year round conditioning and training, the toll on the young athlete’s (and older athletes like George) bodies was obvious. The choice was either down time or some form of low impact training.
With this in mind, and as chance would have it, George stumbled upon one of the smallest and most inconspicuous articles inThe Leader. It was just a dozen or so lines about two Westfield High School students who were rowing at the Nereid Boat Club located on the Passaic River in Rutherford. With little knowledge of rowing and facing the prospect of “down time” for him and his athletes, George was curious about the activity and with nothing to lose, drove to the club one evening to investigate and watch some of the men rowing on the water.
Keen in observation of all things physical, it was immediately obvious to George that the slide in the boat with the feet stationed to a fixed platform was both low impact and high resistance, and this could be invaluable to a runner and especially to a basketball player interested in jumping higher. Additionally, as the men came off the water and secured their boats inside the boathouse, it was clear that high level cardio had taken place. So standing there introspectively but with his athletic demeanor, edgy confidence, and competitive countenance, not considering that he was on private property at a private club in a place he ought not to be, George was approached by one of the men. “Interested in sculling?” the man inquired. To which George replied, “I don’t know about this sculling you refer to, but the rowing looks like something I could sink my teeth into.” And with a sly grin, the man offered George an invitation to step inside the club and talk about this rowing George referred to.
Athletes have an intuitive if not intrinsic pheromonal sense of relating to each other, and the moment George entered the club, it was all there: the competition, the dedication, the determination. So as Renee Zelweger said to Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire, “You had me at hello,” George was immediately smitten by the inside of the club. After touring the training room, kitchen, and conference room, time suddenly stopped. Standing in front of George, was a rudimentary bar behind which four handles of beer taps danced to a back drop of a wall lined with 22-ounce crystal beer mugs, each engraved with a member’s name. Breaking from his trance at the offer “Care for a cold draft?” that might have been the moment Westfield Crew was born.
To say the rest was history would be an over simplification. Working toward a masters rowing qualification, George clocked numerous 4:30 AM training sessions, encountering considerably more cost than the high quality kegs of draft beer kept on tap to satisfy the beer standards of European summer rowing guests. By the summer of 2002 George was a club member in good standing, rowing and racing on a regular basis. He became acquainted with two rowers and their parents from Westfield. At that time, high school rowers could not be members of the club but could pay a fee to row in the summer with a member as sponsor. So George paid the fees and brought his son Woody and the other interested rowers to the club for summer workouts. The “cold drafts” were strictly off limits, even for George.
In the spring of 2002 Westfield rowers at Nereid could participate in the spring racing season. But with only a few rowers, Westfield did not have the critical mass to compete as a high school team. They could race under Nereid’s banner de facto as Westfield with Nereid providing the coaches, facilities, and equipment. During this time, other high schools rowing at Nereid were expanding. By the fall of 2002, rowers at Nereid--other than Westfield--had become bona fide teams representing their high schools. At that point, Nereid invoked a new policy whereby all the teams would now be high schools teams responsible for supplying their own coaches, equipment, and transportation plus pay a facilities fee. For the 2003 season, that meant the Westfield rowers either had to compete as a high school team or not participate at all. Fortunately, by the spring of 2003 Westfield was able to cobble together eight rowers and borrowed and rented equipment. George coached part time and paid a part time coach to fill in when he was not available. A few more Westfield rowers were recruited in the summer, and by December 2003 it appeared that there was enough interest to continue into 2004.
George had previously been at the helm of a New Jersey nonprofit corporation, Westfield Competitive Basketball Inc. (WCBI). Its articles of incorporation and by-laws had been prepared and filed by an attorney who was also the father of one of George’s basketball players. George asked the attorney if he could do the same for rowing. The attorney, a former Georgetown lacrosse player and lover of all things sports, responded with a resounding yes. In December 2003, Westfield Competitive Rowing Inc. (WCRI) became a nonprofit New Jersey corporation with the ability to collect funds and disperse payments.
The year of 2004 was a lean one. Westfield High School Crew, now doing business as WCRI, had the bare minimum of what could be considered a critical mass for a team. Still, the spring racing season was exciting, and the summer rowing a success. Interest expanded through word of mouth. George’s son Woody was finally on the team, and in the fall, George and Woody would enter open regattas. Press coverage in The Westfield Leaderincreased exposure and interest among high school students. The 2005 season looked promising with the prospect of 16 rowers.
2005 was significant for two reasons. First, the addition of 16 rowers meant that more equipment would be needed. Two used quads had already been acquired and a new boat was finally purchased through grants, fund raising, and a tuition increase. WCRI was on its way towards building a fleet! But the coaching piece was languishing. Unable to coach full time, George secured a patchwork of transient coaches, resulting in little continuity and synergy.
Unlike mainstream high school sports, rowing coaches are a rare breed. With no rowing coach candidates either in district or out of district, the crew team was at risk of sinking. Then the second significant thing happened. While investigating school club opportunities, George came upon a very interesting one: an indoor erging club. In other words, an indoor rowing club. Upon inquiry, George learned that a teacher at Roosevelt Intermediate School was running the club and was a member of the Carnegie Lake Rowing Association. The teacher, Rob Greenwood, had extensive coaching experience in private school and was planning to apply for one of several open coaching positions at the high school. Convincing Coach Greenwood to take the head coaching job was not all that difficult since he was currently rowing on a regular basis at Princeton, but when George made it clear that he would save the team, which was on the brink of dissolving, Rob came aboard. Westfield Crew finally had its first, and to this day only, head coach.
The years from 2005-2008 were challenging growth years. With Woody captaining the team in 2006 and being in the first Westfield boat ever to advance at Stotesbury, things were looking up. But Woody was a senior and would be attending college to play basketball in the fall. George would be going to his games. Up to this time all the parents understandably moved on once their child graduated high school. If George did the same Crew would end. George decided to stay on and perpetuate the opportunity for the community and the high school.
By 2008, the club was growing. Still, challenges remained: maintaining a robust team roster, recruiting, dodging the debris on the Passaic, eluding summer thunderstorms, competing in regattas, fund raising, and managing cash flow.
Perhaps the most significant thing other than Coach Greenwood muscling the team forward year after year, was the magic he accomplished in 2008. Far beyond anyone’s expectations, Rob entered into discussions with the Rutgers rowing coach and informed George that they could enter into a lease to row at the Rutgers docks. Although the team would not have access to the interior of the boathouse, they could rack their boats on the outside. So George and Rob pulled the trigger on that opportunity, not really knowing where the funds would come from to pay the lease. But at this point, they had come too far to let a little thing like securing funding hold the club back. And if Coach Greenwood could pull off a miracle like getting the team in at Rutgers, then let the one-upmanship begin. George would have to supply the next miracle.
2009-2012 were successful years on the Raritan as the club expanded to over thirty rowers split evenly between male and female. In 2010 the WCRI joined the Westfield Police Athletic League’s family of youth sports opportunities and PAL donated funds towards a new quad christened “Westfield PAL.” But once again the team was challenged with coaching stress. Thirty plus rowers, all at different stages of development, was a grinding burden for one coach. But as fate would have it, Woody started graduate school at Rutgers and coaching turned out to be right in his wheelhouse. For the next three years, Woody coached with Rob and the stress melted away. The future looked bright and promising.
A significant milestone occurred in 2011 when the team acquired a new aluminum 40 foot boat trailer, retiring the original boat trailer purchased for $1,500 and held together with tape and glue and sold “as is.” (It was probably never once street legal during its tenure).
2013-2015 saw a renewed coaching challenge when Woody graduated to enter the corporate world and left his coaching resume behind. Coach Greenwood took up the slack, coaching upwards of 40 rowers. Crew would be in the hunt for another assistant coach for several years. During this time, the team got their first female scholarship rower (Texas Christian University) and a number of rowers would go on to row in colleges. The fleet expanded to four quads, two doubles, and two coach’s launches.
2016 – Present: After extensive prospecting, the team recruited a teacher with a rowing background who was interested in coaching. Dave Smelko a special education teacher in the Clark school district, rowed at Duquesne University and had a knack for working with young people. Since joining the team in the winter of 2016, Dave has expanded his responsibilities, completed the US Rowing level 2 certification, and is now a full time assistant coach.
Westfield Rowers continue to row in colleges such as Hamilton and Lehigh, and another female scholarship was secured for 2018, this time at Rutgers. The last four years has seen the club’s best fund raising efforts, with each year eclipsing the previous goals. This has led to the establishment of “The Friends of Westfield Crew,” whose mission is to focus on fund raising. Two new quads and a coach’s launch were added during this period. The 2018 spring racing season has been the team’s most competitive to date with more medals won than any previous year. After 15 years of trials, tribulations, and continuous improvement and growth, along with steady development of youthful athletes into college graduates and corporate citizens, WCRI looks forward to the next 15 years and the prospect of naming a boat after a WCRI alumni.
