This article is featured in the 2024 Freshman special issue.
At Dartmouth, varsity athletes make up approximately one-fourth of the undergraduate population. Many of these athletes spent their childhood and high school years dedicated to their sport, in the hopes of being recruited to compete in college. However, not everyone on a varsity team was recruited — some chose to “walk on” after arriving at Dartmouth.
Many athletes choose to walk onto a team to access the tight-knit communities offered by varsity athletics. The Dartmouth spoke to three of these students about their decision to try out after matriculation — one that significantly altered their envisioned college experience.
For Asa Dow ’26, college was always going to include “some kind” of recreational athletic activity. After befriending some members of the men’s heavyweight rowing team in his first few weeks on campus, Dow realized that joining the varsity heavies was possible.
“The idea of rowing seemed really cool, especially since we’re so close to this insane body of water for it,” Dow said. “So then I started being like, ‘Oh, it would be kind of crazy if I try to figure something out.’”
While Dow said walking on “seemed a little daunting” — since it appeared that other walk-ons had prior rowing experience — he ultimately chose to try out.
Carly McAleer ’26 said she was inspired to walk onto the varsity women’s rowing team after taking a physical education rowing course her freshman fall. She was drawn to both the sport and the “community” of the women’s rowing program, she explained.
“I personally knew that I didn’t have any aspirations to rush [a sorority], and so I think that part of me was thinking about where I would find community outside of my dorm and orientation,” she said. “The girls … that were doing the P.E. program [and I] … all got relatively close during that term, and a bunch of us decided to start the walk on process.”
While not everyone who started the walk-on process with McAleer joined the varsity team — as varsity rowing requires ample time and energy — McAleer said she has found rowing “beneficial” to her productivity.
“If I want to feel productive at practice at 7 a.m., I need to go to bed at a reasonable time and have a scheduled day,” she said. “And now, when I’ve had periods of not rowing in the off season, I’ve realized how important it is for me that I have rowing because I often lose focus without the schedule.”
Even some life-long athletes who believed their days of strict schedules and grueling training were behind them have struggled to resist the pull of a team atmosphere.
Hannah Maccarone ’26 was involved in athletics for most of her life, but she resolved to “leave athletics in high school” because she was feeling “burnt out” by the time she graduated in 2022. However, at the start of her freshman fall, she stumbled upon the Dartmouth women’s rugby table at the club fair. There, she signed up for tryouts at the encouragement of some of the upperclassmen athletes running the booth. Like McAleer, Maccarone said she was drawn to the “close-knit” community that “you can really only find with a team.”
“Coming to college, everything is so new and different, and you don’t really know anybody,” she said. “I was yearning for that team aspect that I had always had the security of in high school.”
While the sense of community and desire to push themselves all drew Dow, Maccarone and McAleer to the walk-on process, the try-out process looked different for each of these athletes.
At the end of McAleer’s P.E. class, women’s varsity rowing assistant coach Merritt Denham asked her if she was “interested in becoming a varsity athlete,” McAleer said. Denham gave her and “a few other girls” in the class the opportunity to attend optional practices outside of the P.E. course in order to walk onto the team, McAleer said. After attending varsity practices at the end of the fall, McAleer was “fully integrated” onto the varsity team in the winter of her freshman year.
Dow began his walk-on process after meeting with men’s heavyweight rowing head coach Wyatt Allen during his freshman fall. Allen taught Dow the basics of erging — an exercise that simulates rowing on a machine — and allowed him to train in the rowing boathouse to meet the required time and technique standards to join the team.
In order to “make the roster,” Dow said there were a “couple of thresholds” — or time standards — he had to meet. However, he said the coaches gave potential walk-ons “chances” if they fell slightly below the thresholds but were still physically promising.
“The coaches understand that it takes people, even if they’re really physically fit, a long time [to meet the thresholds],” he said.
Dow said he felt supported by the coaching staff and team while he was gaining his bearings, noting that his teammates were “really friendly right off the bat.” Once, as Dow was leaving practice without taking merch — assuming that it was for official team members — David Edington ’23 “made [him] grab one,” Dow said.
“He was like, ‘You’re part of the team now,’” Dow said.
Dow also said his coaches, including Allen — who was a walk-on himself during his collegiate career at the University of Virginia — motivated him to complete the walk-on process.
“Dartmouth [rowing] is really special in the amount of walk-ons that we take,” he said. “I think [Allen] brings that mentality, and I think he notices that there’s a lot of people like me, who, if they’re given a chance, can really prove themselves.”
Maccarone said her tryouts were focused on testing “basic athleticism,” rather than actual rugby skills such as catching and throwing. By the end of tryouts, she was one of four women remaining. After they joined practice for a week, the women were offered spots on the team, and all four accepted.
Maccarone said she felt encouraged by the coaches and players throughout the tryout process, despite not knowing the rules of rugby before signing up.
“There would be a couple of [players] there each day, and they were just so cool and enthusiastic about the sport and so encouraging for new people to learn the sport that I was like, ‘Oh, it is truly okay that I am a beginner and I am a learner,’” she said. “They’re okay with that, and I’m okay with that, and this is a great space to learn and grow together.”
Although joining the women’s rugby team has “completely changed” her college experience, Maccarone said she has still been able to partake in other activities on campus.
“I’m in clubs, I’m doing research — I’m doing everything I thought I would do but with the bonus of rugby,” she said. “Overall, it’s definitely a positive addition.”
While walking onto a varsity team may seem like an intimidating process, all three athletes have found that the camaraderie and new experiences have been well worth the effort.
