Despite being situated in a city surrounded by lakes, our school has never had a crew team– until now. This year, South Lakes High School Crew is launching its first-ever season, and siblings Ryne and Kyra Huppi are steering the team in the right direction.
Crew Captain Ryne Huppi has a passion for rowing. He has competed in three fall seasons with a club team, but he has always wanted to row in a spring season, which he could only participate in with a school team.
As soon as he and his family heard about the introduction of the sport to his school, Ryne immediately wanted to take initiative.
“Building a crew team takes a lot of work and patience to get it running,” he said. “I wanted to help in any way I could to get it off the ground.”
His connections with other schools’ crew teams helped the Seahawks tremendously in gaining resources and information.
“I’ve been talking to college and high school coaches about coaching information and borrowing equipment. We’ve already gotten three boats from Lake Braddock High School and hope to borrow some from Independence,” he said.
Ryne’s twin sister, Kyra Huppi, has been watching her brother’s competitions, known as regattas, for the last three years. She expressed similar enthusiasm in helping to kickstart the crew team.
“In my position as team manager, I make sure that everything runs smoothly. I manage anything that has to do with attendance, logistics, and fundraisers,” she said.
Both siblings are proud to be a part of South Lakes crew. They shared their sentiments regarding the team dynamic and the rapid progress they’ve observed their teammates making.
“Our crew is doing really well for where we are and everyone looks good form-wise,” Ryne said. “But besides that, community is a big part of crew and we’re forming a pretty tight-knit team.”
“I think we’re getting very close [to each other], and as the season progresses, we’ll get even closer,” said Kyra.
Though learning how to maneuver the boats in the water is still a work in progress as the team faces limited practice slots, South Lakes Crew hopes to participate in a regatta this season against other teams. Ryne explained their goals for this spring season.
“Besides ensuring that we can keep the team running for another season, a current big goal would be to get a varsity four-boat to go to a regatta,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of time to practice so it’s hard, but we’ve had lots of support from the rowing community and we have a good group that is passionate about starting a new sport.”
