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Stu Schmill '86 Coaches U.S. Crew Team to International Victory

Stu Schmill '86 (kneeling) and his U.S. crew team brought home a total of 10 medals, most of them gold, from the 17th Maccabiah Games in Israel. Schmill coached men's crew teams at MIT from 1987-2000 and was director of the crew program from 1990-2000.

Former MIT crew coach Stu Schmill '86 recently resumed coaching duties, this time of an international team of eight Jewish rowers competing in the quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel, July 10-21. Some 7,700 athletes from over 50 countries participated in 34 sports throughout the Games, also known as the Jewish Olympics. The U.S. team, which Schmill coached twice before in 1997 and 1993, dominated the rowing competition on the Sea of Galilee, earning seven gold, two silver, and one bronze medal.

Schmill's team of four men and four women ranged in age from 19 to 39 and consisted of a diverse array of backgrounds, including a pediatric anesthesiologist (and former U.S. national rowing champion) Jon Werner and Adina Roskies PhD '04, a philosophy professor at Dartmouth.

The Maccabiah Games provide more than a gathering of top-notch athletes. The competitors also tour Israel in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the country and their heritage. "Everybody's Jewish, and so you're going to Israel and learning about the country, seeing the country, meeting and connecting with Jews from all over the world. And that cultural element is fairly strong, so it makes a little bit of a different twist," says Schmill, who currently serves as director of the MIT Educational Council, a group of alumni interviewers of prospective undergraduates, and is an associate director in the Admissions Office. He coached MIT crew teams from 1987-2000 (and was director of the crew program from 1990 until his departure) and now acts as master of ceremonies at the Alumni Association's annual Reunion Row.

"Usually at other international competitions you keep to yourself, particularly before and during the competitions. Here there were a lot more open friendships that were being made among the countries," says Schmill. He prepared his rowers to expect a different kind of event. "I made sure they knew that we were going to train hard and compete hard and focus on the competition and winning, but that there were going to be times when the cultural elements were going to take over, so we were going to have to balance that."

As for Schmill, he enjoyed reconnecting with friends at the Games and his brief return to coaching crew, which ended five years ago at MIT. Perhaps most striking, though, were the spirit and focus of the event. "You're not really competing against the other people, you're competing with them. And for me that's what I really appreciated about these Games."

August 11, 2005