Rowing (sport) in the context of "Paddling"

College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries.

College sports trace their roots back to the early 19th century. Originating from public schools in Britain, varsity matches between Oxford University and Cambridge University spread to Harvard University and Yale University, which influenced the development of college sports in the United States, and to college sports in Commonwealth, European, and other countries, such as Japan.

The Commonwealth Games sports comprise all the sports officially recognised and approved by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). There are a total of 16 core sports and a further 4 core para-sports that are competed at every games. In addition, the CGF allow organising committees to choose from various optional sports and disciplines to complete their games' program.

At the 1930 British Empire Games, the precursor to the modern Games, there were six sports: athletics, aquatics (swimming and diving), boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, and wrestling.

Lightweight rowing (abbreviated Lwt or Lt) is a category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (FISA), this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people".

At the international level, for crew boats, the limits are:

Water sports or aquatic sports are sports activities conducted on waterbodies and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants.

Rowing at the 1960 Summer Olympics featured 7 events, for men only. The competitions were held from 30 August to 3 September on the Lago di Albano.

The Albano lane system is a method of marking kayak, canoe and rowing racecourses using lines of buoys. It was first used internationally in the 1960 Summer Olympics held on Lake Albano, Italy. It has since become an international standard for most FISA events and is used in Olympic rowing events.

Sport in Ireland plays an important role in Irish society. The many sports played and followed in Ireland include Gaelic games (including Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and handball), association football, horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, motorsport, boxing, tennis, hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, and rugby union.

In terms of participation, association football (soccer) is the most popular team pursuit for males at 8.8% with Gaelic football attracting 3.4%. Personal exercise (at 13.4%) and running (8.9%) are the most popular individual male activities. Traditionally, team sports do not figure highly amongst females, with a greater percentage of post-school-age women choosing individual sports and fitness activities. As of 2018, additional funding and focus was afforded to females in sport, with a number of successes in women's international sporting competitions. Association football (soccer) is the most played team sport in Ireland. Gaelic football, hurling, golf, aerobics, cycling, swimming and billiards/snooker are the other sporting activities with the highest levels of participation in the Republic of Ireland.

In competitive rowing, the following specialized terms are important in the corresponding aspects of the sport:

The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's open weight rowing. It is the direct successor to the Rowing Association of American Colleges, the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, which operated from 1870–1894.

The IRA was founded by Cornell, Columbia, and Penn in 1894 and its first annual regatta was hosted on June 24, 1895. Today Navy and Syracuse are also part of the association. Each year these five schools choose whom to invite to the IRA National Championship Regatta and are responsible for its organization.