20 athletes from 10 countries outside the U.S. make up the university's heavyweight crew roster.
PRINCETON -- The C. Bernard Shea Rowing Center is gothic in style, the tower of the 1887 boathouse highlighting the view on Lake Carnegie.
Such architecture is common in structures throughout Europe, making this backdrop more appropriate than ever for this year's Princeton University heavyweight rowing team.
Twenty athletes from 10 countries outside the U.S. make up the heavyweight roster.
The team competed in the Eastern Sprints Sunday in Worchester, Mass., taking silver to Yale, and will row at Mercer Lake the weekend of June 3-5 for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) championships.
If Princeton could compete for a United Nations Cup in the sport, it might win by default.
Great Britain leads the way with 11 rowers on the heavyweight roster. Others are from Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, India, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.
"The last five-six years there has been a growing number of international students interested in Princeton, and a steady increase for rowing in general,'' coach Greg Hughes said. "More kids are learning about the opportunities over here in the U.S. A lot of students have been reaching out to us and expressing interest.''
Hughes was actually one of them when he enrolled in Princeton University after having attended high school in Vancouver.
Sophomore Tom George learned to row on the Thames in England after giving up on rugby.
Senior Martin Barakso's birthday gift at age 12 was attending a "Learn To Row'' camp on the Mahs River in British Columbia.
Senior Ed Northrup was introduced to the sport by family members who had rowed, starting out on Australia's Yarra River freshman year in high school.
The three of them are in the Varsity Eight boat along with five Americans.
"It's kind of cool to have all these different perspectives and have them all come together,'' said senior Patrick Eble of Fort Washington, Pa. "Everybody learns from each other.''
Hughes feels that most rowers outside the U.S. learn a little earlier.
"Kids have been rowing at a very high level in Great Britain and Europe than some of the Canadians and U.S. rowers we get,'' Hughes said. "They might be a little more experienced in terms of how many years they've been rowing. A lot of them start earlier. It's pretty hard to start before ninth grade in the U.S.''
Eble took up the sport as a freshman in high school, not so much because he was drawn to the sport but because he was cut trying out for football, basketball and baseball.
"I had full intentions of being a three-sport athlete, but I wasn't,'' he said, "so I went out for crew.''
He rowed in the Schuylkill River, which, as he put it, "Is a cool place to learn.''
Learning has been a byproduct of this program's diversity.
"Maybe the first week or two there might be some differences,'' Hughes said about geographical accents and expressions,'' but the terminology in the sport is 99 percent the same.''
Not everything is the same.
Barakso is teased when he returns home, his parents questioning words they're not familiar with. Four years later he continues to hear "foreign'' words. "I'm reminded pretty frequently, but it's nothing too major,'' he said. "New Jersey has a lot of expressions.''
"That's hard to quantify,'' Northrop offered about accents and expressions. "Australia has a culture of relaxation, sometimes to a fault. In the U.S. people are relentless, working toward the future. That's one thing I picked up on.''
Northrop is another who took up crew as result of not excelling in other sports. He tried track, soccer and rugby before picking up an oar. Basketball, swimming, lacrosse and volleyball fell by the wayside before Barakso landed on water.
Like most sports, rowing can result in pain and injuries. Hand blisters are the first to appear, bloodied from repetitive squeezing of the oars. Back problems are not uncommon, and even knee issues can occur.
American or not, the purpose, the mission, is to excel and improve.
"Regardless of where they're from, rowers have different mindsets than other athletes,'' Barakso said. "You don't get too much glory, you're not in the spotlight. Nobody is really paying attention to what happens when you're practicing on the lake at six in the morning.
"All of us I guess, just the kind of people we are, we get satisfaction knowing you can put in one thousand hours of hard work and know it's going to pay off.''
It has this season, as the Varsity Eight (1V) is 8-1, and the 3V and 4V are undefeated. They ended the regular season last month by winning the Content Cup over Brown.
The Eastern Sprints will provide familiar faces - among them the Ivy League teams - and the IRAs will follow with the heavyweights that include the likes of the University of Washington and California.
Last year the V1 boat placed third in nationals, as did the team in the overall standings.
"Rowing has been the core of my Princeton experience,'' Northrop said. "It's the reason I came to the university. The team has been an incredible conduit for personal growth both on and off the water.''
No matter the language.