Brown Speedway

In a recent Sailing World poll on college sailing, the Brown University sailing team ranked number one in women’s and #2 in coed. Since I know next to nothing about college sailing, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a good team to see what makes it tick. With Brown being fifteen minutes up the road, it seemed like a good place to start.

Brown teams have held the #1 spot in the Sailing World rankings in Women’s and Co-ed sailing at various times throughout the last year, including a first place finish overall for the coed team in the fall, and a third place finish for the women. In the past six years, this team has produced fourteen All American sailors, as well as fourteen appearances in the North American Championships and at least two teams going again this year.

Sallly Walkerman '05(crew); Anne Davidson '05(skipper)

When Coach John Mollicone Jr. arrived at Brown six years ago, the sailing program was in a state of transition. The team was small, with a part time coach and six or seven boats on the water for a full practice. In his first year there, the team moved their operations to a more accessible location with more boats. Since then the team has grown; they have fifty-five students on their roster with a typical practice having fifteen or more boats on the water. The club has twenty-four new boats planned for the fall as well.

A former college sailing All American himself (at Boston University in 1998), Mollicone has also participated in a number of different racing programs - from sailing as part of a championship J/24 team, to racing dinghy’s, to kicking my ass every Wednesday night in the summer on a keel boat at our club. He is an intensely competitive sailor, but a soft spoken and laid back guy off the water who is willing to help anyone that wants to talk to him.

We like to say that we have a ‘relaxed intensity’ on our team. I want the kids to have fun and enjoy college, but I want them to go out there and sail as hard as they can…a lot of these kids have to be self motivated and want to learn from one another. They become very good at working together and using their determination to get better.” With a women’s team, a coed team, a team racing team, and tons of freshmen and newcomers, Mollicone has his hands full trying to motivate and develop over fifty students. It’s a lot of work, but it seems to have paid off for the team. According to women’s 420 crew and graduating senior Sallie Walkerman “I’ve really come into my own as a college crew. John Mollicone has played a huge part in this, from recognizing potential in me and asking me to work hard, then giving me the tools to get where I wanted to be.” Sallie’s skipper, senior Anne Davidson, agrees. “John has taught me how to take my sailing to a higher level. I am a more mature (patient, level-headed, and aggressive) sailor that I was before coming to Brown.”

Having a mix of experienced and novice sailors has its own challenges. As a coach, John tries to match novice sailors with skippers who have the patience and ability to help them learn. He says “Anyone that wants to learn and get good enough, that’s athletic, and has the determination, can do well. They have to have a lot of patience because they kind of get thrown into the fire; they’re out their racing on the very first day.”

Louise Sherman '05 crews for Katie Lovelace '06

The team is considered a “Club” sport, one of the last of top ranked College teams to maintain that status as opposed to Varsity. But that does not really affect the team’s competitiveness. “We still get top recruits who want to come here. They know we’re a serious program.” says Mollicone. John sees that as a strength for the team. When recruiting “we’ll say we’re a top ranked team, and our biggest strength is in our numbers. One of the reasons for that is that we are a Club sport, we don’t have to cut anybody and our kids have a lot of fun.”

To help build such a strong team, Mollicone follows the high school results, watches clinics, and stays on top of who is developing. As a coach at an Ivy League school though, his recruiting options are limited due to league rules on scholarships and recruiting. A varsity sport can sometimes put in a little better word with the admissions office, which is something some of the other schools with Varsity teams can do but the Brown team can not match. Mollicone sometimes finds that being at a school with one of the toughest admissions policies in the country can be difficult “Over the last few years we’ve had a lot of people that wanted to come here, but a lot of them haven’t gotten in.” In fact, Brown only admits 16% of the roughly 16,000 high school seniors who apply every year, making the odds quite long for applicants who are not near the top of their class with good college admissions test scores.

Close to half of the students who come out for the Brown team have no prior experience with sailing and racing. But that doesn’t mean they can’t make it to the top. In the last five years, three of the All American crew selections had never sailed before they got to Brown. On this year’s team, all three of the coed teams that race Varsity events have crew that had not sailed before; two of them came out for sailing the first time last year.

The Brown team races in as many regattas as they can – as many ten events in different venues in a single weekend. Selecting who does which regatta is sometimes a challenge, but is determined by who comes to practice, who’s winning races, and who is doing well. “With as many as 8-10 events per weekend, everybody that comes to practice gets the opportunity to sail” says Mollicone. Because Brown finished ranked #1 in the fall, they have a schedule that permits them to compete in several varsity level events each weekend, plus a number of other regattas.

Sherman and Lovelace

A number of well know sailors have come out of the Brown program over the years. In the last Olympics both Katie McDowell ’98 and Kevin Hall ’92 were former Brown sailors. There have been others with Olympic aspirations and bigger plans. “The biggest thing we’re hoping is that sailing is going to be a part of their life after college” says Mollicone. “That’s the great thing about it, it’s a life sport.” All of the Brown sailors I spoke to affirmed that they plan to continue sailing, although not necessarily at the most competitive levels. “I did when I was in high school,” says senior Louise Sherman, “but I now view sailing not as a life goal, but as a hobby. In my opinion the life of an Olympian is unbalanced; I’d get burned out.” Ms. Sherman does plan to keep sailing and plans to be involved with coaching next year before she heads off to law school.

When thinking about college sailing, Mollicone advises high school students to look closely at the schools and their educational needs first. “I always tell kids they should find a school they would be happy with if they didn’t sail. They’re not getting a scholarship to sail, and they are not likely to get paid for it after school.” Of course, parents should be assured that although sailing takes up a lot of time, school is definitely the first priority. Due to the club nature of the team, the students can be flexible about when they sail, and the team will never force them to choose between academics and sailing. Adds Mollicone “They’re going to have a great experience, learn a new sport, and leave college with something they can do for the rest of their lives. They’re in good hands here, and they look after each other – they’re a great group of kids.”

Davidson and Walkerman

The Brown sailing team is now heading into the final stretch of the season. The women’s 420 team has already qualified for a spot at the National Championships, and the coed squads also qualified for Nationals while winning the New England Regional Championship. This year’s seniors are finishing their theses, getting ready for their exams, and thinking of the future. “Sailing in the summer will always be a part of my life,“ says Sallie Walkerman ‘05. Team mate Anne Davidson adds “I will always be close to the water and have access to a boat…[though]I see no need to tough out those miserable days in the late fall, winter, and early spring.”

All of these student-athletes are coming away with something important; a sense of discipline, team work, and connection with their team. And they come away with an enhanced appreciation for a sport they can take with them for the rest of their lives. National titles and Sailing World rankings aside, I would consider that an unqualified success.