To most students spring break means a time of travel, relaxation, spending time with friends and no work.

For members of the Penn State crew team, travel is still in mind but with work as a big part of it.

The team will leave Friday and spend spring break week at Camp Bob Cooper, a rowing camp in Summerton, S.C. This is the sixth consecutive year that Penn State has attended the camp, dating back to 1996 -- just two years after its inaugural season.

The camp gives the team members a chance to spend an entire week working to refine their rowing skills, an opportunity not available to them at this time of year in central Pennsylvania.

"We're not going to be sitting around sunning ourselves.

"We will be working hard, but it's going to be a lot of fun," said Chris Colasanti, club vice president and men's team captain, who will be making his second trip to the camp.

The team will be taking a record 87 members to the camp this year. John Biddle, the team's second-year coach, said that the commitment from so many athletes makes him "exceptionally proud."

"This is the keystone week of training for the spring season," said Biddle.

While at Camp Bob Cooper, the athletes will practice three times a day as they work to hone the skills they began working on in the fall.The training includes both land, such as running, work on indoor rowing machines and calisthenics, and water workouts. Other colleges, including the University of Pittsburgh, will also be attending the camp and will be holding scrimmages with the Penn State team throughout the week.

As well as working on rowing skills, the team will also get a chance to improve the team's internal relationships. Second-year varsity rower Adam Pietrala said the camp is a way for the team to get to know each other. Colasanti said the fact that all the members are living together and not just seeing each other for two hours a day really gives them no choice but to bond together.

"It will be a mixture of fun and hard work. We get to bond with our teammates and work on our rowing skills," said Colasanti.

Their coach also sees this as a chance to know those they will be competing with.

"They (the athletes) are so close for so many days, around the clock, that they not only have to learn to row but to deal with their teammates as well," said Biddle. The team hopes that the week-long training experience will be beneficial as the team prepares to kick off the spring rowing season. The team travels April 13 to Cambden, N.J., to compete in the Knecht Cup. The spring season, which immediately follows the winter indoor season, lasts from early April until late May.