To an outsider, the MSU Crew Club’s practice facility is no different than any other team’s. It has a collection of exercise machines, upbeat music playing on the overhead speakers and a bit of a musty smell. But to the about 40 members of the team, the practice space is more because after years of searching, they’ve finally found a place they can call their own — in an old meat locker.
“This is like our home now,” journalism senior Marty Deskovich said. “It’s our own space.”
Until last fall, the team had practiced in the ROTC weight room in Demonstration Hall, but after the space started becoming too crowded, head coach Mike Bailey was told they had to find somewhere else to practice.
“I started sending out emails, asking everybody on campus if there were any places we could use,” Bailey said.
Soon after, he received a call from Guy Procopio, the director of Culinary Services, who thought a vacant meat locker in Central Services near Spartan Stadium might be a place for them.
“He brought us over here and said, ‘How’s this?’ and I said, ‘It might do,” Bailey said. “When the kids walked in here, they just right away said, ‘This is awesome.’”
During winter break, the team — which mostly funds their own expenses — spent time cleaning and painting the meat locker, and today, it looks no different than any other training room. The only difference is the warmth and newly found team unity members said they feel from the space.
“I feel like it was a team-bonding experience because we cleaned it up over break together and now it’s just us using it,” communication senior Meagan Meldrim said.
Meldrim, who has been with the team since her freshman year, said being one of the few girls on the team has been a unique experience.
“You definitely get a different perspective on how guys work,” she said. “They think that I’m just one of the guys sometimes.”
Being on the Crew Club is not all fun, however. The team members put in an average of 15 hours of practice per week and must sacrifice some of their social life to be a part of it, Bailey said.
“We really have to live a different lifestyle than other college students,” journalism senior Pat Lyons said. “We don’t go out on the weekends. We have to go to bed early and get up early.”
Deskovich said he feels the same way when he gets up to head to 6 a.m. practices.
“Campus is surreal,” he said. “You forget that there are 46,000 people around here somewhere, still sleeping or studying.”
The team is training for an indoor rowing competition in late February and will begin practicing on the water after spring break. Despite the grueling schedule, Lyons said being part of the club is more than worth it.
“It’s kind of cool because you’re focusing yourself on something you get a little more out of,” Lyons said. “You can go out for a night and have a good time, but you only have one shot in your life where you can do this and compete at this level.”
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