She wanted to start a rowing club from the minute she stepped on campus.

Junior movement science major Rachel Bynum started the rowing club her first year and, after only three semesters, it is holding its own against larger and older programs.

“Last year was our novice year,” the team’s coach Peter McIntosh said. “But we’re really starting to increase our competitiveness.”

The team just finished its fall season and will now move into more land training. In the spring, the team will compete in sprint races—where the club usually has a good showing, McIntosh said.

The team recently purchased new boats for the shorter races.

Bynum said they use boats from the Fort Worth Rowing Club, but members of the TCU rowing club wanted boats for themselves.

“We wanted boats to use that were for us, so we could have our people get used to how they feel,” Bynum said.

Bynum started rowing after an injury in high school ended her volleyball career.

“I really wanted to do something that was very team-oriented and was low impact because of my joints,” Bynum said. “Rowing is the perfect sport even though it’s mostly sitting down.”

Bynum said the rowing club is still a small program, but she is proud of the progress they’ve made over the past two seasons.

McIntosh agreed.

“Even though we’re a club, we think of ourselves as the team – the rowing team – that represents TCU,” McIntosh said. “No matter what you do, you go to a regatta, you’re wearing that TCU on your back.”