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by Emily Sklar

At one point or another, I’m sure, we’ve all been reminded to count our blessings. Don’t sweat the small stuff! they tell us. Stop and smell the roses!

Sometimes, though, life in New York makes this excellent advice hard to follow – and if, on a sweltering summer morning, you find yourself stalled in an overcrowded, unairconditioned subway car, hoping the trickle of sweat you feel running down your back is your own – it can be tough to remember how much good there is in the world…let alone how much good there is here in the city.

My experience at Row New York’s School Day Adaptive program last Wednesday reminded me.

The School Day Adaptive program is a collaboration between Row New York and School District 75, and was launched in 2008 to provide on-land and on-water rowing instruction to girls with physical and cognitive disabilities.

On the morning I visited the Queens boathouse, a group of girls from P.S. 721M was coming in. It was a perfect day to row. Under a cobalt-blue sky dotted here and there with puffy white clouds, the surface of Meadow Lake was nearly flat. Across the lake, in the distance, a steady stream of cars rumbled along the Grand Central Parkway – but on the dock, the only sounds I could hear were the gentle creaking of wood, the soft splash of the water, and the distant call of seagulls.

At 10:30am, the school bus arrived and nine girls clambered out, followed by their two teachers. The group made its way up the ramp to the boathouse, and after a quick huddle and some hydration, RNY coaches Alessandra and Denise led us outside for some warm-ups.

We shrugged our shoulders forward. We shrugged our shoulders back. We crab-walked, lunged like dolphins, and galloped like horses. Jasmine, Alexandra, Jessica C., Jessica A., Naomi, Jitza, Alexis, Carly, and Yoandra didn’t look like a typical crew, but their energy and enthusiasm communicated that these girls were ready to row – and finally, when our heart rates were up and our bodies warm, it was time to get on the water.

One by one, each girl was handed an oar and walked to the end of the dock, where Denise was waiting to give everyone a hand onto the barge and get us situated. Once we were all in place, Alessandra ran through a quick recap of the fundamentals and we pushed away from the dock.

The basic rowing stroke is “chicken wings, mummy arms, body over, scrunch forward, back to chicken wings”, and the basic directive is to keep in sync with the person in front of you; when she slides forward, you slide forward; when she slides back, you slide back; when her oar cuts into the water, yours does too. It sounds simple, but as I attempted to do it for the first time, I was amazed at how much there was to remember – and how difficult it was to put all of the elements together.

“Wings!” “Chicken!” “Mummy!” I muttered to myself, trying unsuccessfully to synchronize my movements with those of Alexis, who occupied the seat in front of me. As I struggled with my own uncooperative body, though, I noticed that something very different was happening at the front of the boat: the girls were rowing. In time.

“Way to go, girls!” Alessandra cheered. “You’ve got your rhythm!” I watched, transfixed, as three sets of oars sliced into the water simultaneously and as six pairs of arms pulled back in unison. Something beautiful and exhilarating was happening in this boat, on this lake, in the middle of New York City – something so beautiful and exhilarating, in fact, that for a moment, I actually forgot what I was supposed to be doing – rowing – and just sat there, the oar in my hands, marveling.

There is a world of difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing something because you’ve experienced it yourself, and while I’ve been a supporter of Row New York since its inception and am familiar with its many wonderful programs, I appreciate Row New York on an entirely different level now, having felt its touch directly. The School Day Adaptive program is humbling, inspiring, and – like all of Row New York’s programming – an unquestionable Good in the world. I have no doubt: if everyone could experience what I did on Wednesday, this organization would be funded into the next century…and beyond.

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