After an offseason hiatus, the University of Alabama rowing team will kick off its spring season with a scrimmage against Michigan State on Saturday.

It is by chance, however, that the scrimmage against the Spartans is happening. The site for Michigan State’s spring training froze over, forcing the team to migrate down to the South. Alabama coach Larry Davis said he jumped at the opportunity to face Michigan State.

“It’s a bit of a challenge to play someone that difficult of an opponent within the first weeks of the season,” Davis said. “It’s still a good opportunity to test our [mentality], and it’s also good to have a team of that level come down and compete in our own water.”

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Davis said the scrimmage will test Alabama as a team.

“Any time you can test yourself against some of the best teams in the United States, it gives you a good idea as to where you are as a team,” Davis said. “Assuming we’re doing well and competitive with them, it gives us an idea that we’ll try to do what we need to do for the season.”

Davis said the team has worked on trying to be competitive throughout the entirety of the race.

“You have to have a complete race. You can’t have half a race, three-fourths of a race or even nine-tenths of a race,” Davis said. “You’ve got to have a complete race, and we’re certainly going to be excited to see how we do against Michigan State in that aspect.”

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Davis said while the holiday break in between seasons might have hurt a different team, he’s seen the athletes on his team make strides to stay in shape and active over the winter months when they are away from practice.

“It looks like so far this year they were able to do a fair amount,” Davis said. “I think as the team grows a little more mature, they are understanding to make that personal responsibility. When away from the direct supervision of coaching, they continue to work on their fitness and come back to be ready to go. I think we made a step forward in that mindset.”

Alabama spent the break between seasons recruiting six new rowers for the 2014-15 season. Charlotte Adkins, Erin Hayes, Margaret Gillespie, Meghan Hampton, Olivia Miller and Nicole Lane will join the team next fall. Davis said recruiting has motivated the current rowers to be competitive in maintaining their seat on the team.

“We’re expecting to push the ladies that are here,” Davis said. “We’re going to have that internal competition where we always try to be faster, stronger and better.”

As for the championship at the end of the season, Davis said the team is focusing on one competition at a time.

“We’re not looking that far ahead yet,” Davis said. “There’s still a lot we still need to put into place.”

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