Title IX often takes the credit for introducing many young women to rowing, but Mission Bay’s longstanding rowing scene is doing its part as well. Three clubs share the bay — the San Diego Rowing Club, Mission Bay Aquatic Center and ZLAC Rowing Club. They also share in shaping San Diego’s rowing future. “We are seeing more prevalence of young rowers, both men and women,” Dave Frost of SDRC said. “In our juniors program, we do have a fair number who go on to college and row competitively, which is exciting.” The influx of younger rowers is a change from the past few decades. “I think most of the women who are masters did not have the opportunity to row in college because the Title IX phenomena didn’t happen until about, what 25 years ago? So a lot of the women did not row in college. I think that will change in time,” said Frost. “Most of the men that are in our club did row in college because it was a male-dominated sport until scholarships were more equitable,” he said. “Of the men, most started rowing in their 20s. The women, most of them started rowing in their 30s or 40s.” ZLAC, America’s oldest women’s rowing club, plays its role in introducing women to the sport. The all-women organization competes at all levels from juniors to masters. Mission Bay Aquatic Center also introduces people to the sport and offers a more recreational experience. The San Diego Rowing Club tends to be known more as a racing club in both juniors and masters. “It’s a growing sport,” Frost said. “Title IX made it much larger on the youth level because of scholarships for women in that sport. But over time, that has grown into more rowing for after-college graduates, as well as people realizing it’s a great all-over body sport, you burn a lot of calories and you don’t have a lot of impact on your knees as you get older.” For more information on ZLAC, visit www.zlac.org. To learn moure about Mission Bay Aquatic Center, visit www.mbaquaticcenter.com. For information on San Diego Rowing Club, visit www.sdrc-row.org.