This month marks eleven years since the filing of Row New York’s articles of incorporation with New York State. With the April 12, 2001 filing, Row New York came into official existence as a legal entity, setting the stage for the start of programming in 2002.

Row New York began with only eight rowers and a single borrowed boat. The organization’s first days were humble, but founder Amanda Kraus had a passion to fulfill Row New York’s mission. While obtaining a master’s degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Amanda was inspired to found Row New York to meet the challenges of under-resourced communities in the city.

Over the course of the decade, Row New York has grown tremendously. We have added community rowing, corporate team building, adaptive rowing, and more to our programming suite. Over 4,000 people from around New York City have participated in our activities and have known the joys and benefits of rowing. We’re as committed as ever to our core mission of empowering young people from the city’s under-resourced communities to build strength, gain confidence, and pursue excellence through rowing.
Thank you to all friends of Row New York for your support through the years. We are all looking forward to many more to come!

Pictured: Amanda Kraus with early supporter Olympian Jim Dietz and his sons, and Row New York’s first crew at our first race with our novice 8.

Row New York’s coxswains received a personal coxing clinic this weekend from U.S. Olympian Mary Whipple. Whipple made a presentation at our Queens boathouse Saturday afternoon designed to help our coxswains improve their techniques. Whipple, a University of Washington alumna, coxed her women’s eights to a silver medal at the 2004 Athens games and to a gold in 2008 at Beijing.

Whipple’s clinic gave our coxswains the very best of her Olympic-caliber knowledge. She explained the importance of listening, how to get the most from each practice, motivating rowers, mastering race logistics, calming nerves, and much more. Her advice ranged from the familiar (“steer straight!”) to the less intuitive (“don’t be a cheerleader”).

Danna Matute gave the clinic a positive review. “As soon as she started speaking, I could connect and I knew what she was talking about so it was just amazing.” She added, “There’s always something to learn and today I learned a lot.”

Whipple’s home on the Internet, 9thSeat.com, can be reached here. Thank you to Mary Whipple for sharing her insights with Row New York!

Parents and guardians of Row New York’s newest middle school rowers gathered this week for our twice-yearly parents’ night. Coaches Nate, Clara, and Tom joined Academic Director Darise in briefing parents on Row New York’s mission, philosophy, and training schedule. With our Long Island City office playing host, the parents viewed Row New York’s public service announcement video, met the staff, and learned all about their daughters’ new team.

Our parents’ night is held to give parents relevant information regarding their daughters’ experience in our program. Our staff explains logistics, states our goals, describes how we reach those goals, and sets expectations for rowers’ and parents’ involvement. With our parents fired up and committed, they become partners in our efforts. With the structure they provide at home and the structure Row New York provides after school, we set our rowers on the path to athletic and academic achievement.

We were pleased to host parents this week. Good luck to their daughters!

Assumes Management of Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse

New York, NY – Row New York is extending its footprint into Manhattan by assuming management of the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse (owned by the New York Restoration Project – NYRP) on the Harlem River. In its ongoing effort to make rowing accessible to young people from New York City’s under-resourced neighborhoods and communities, Row New York will use this Upper Manhattan facility to double the size of its already successful year-round programs for middle and high school youth. Currently, Row New York provides athletic and academic opportunities to nearly 2,000 girls and young women every year and with the addition of the new facility they will expand their programming to include boys and young men, as well as offer an extended masters and recreational program.

Since Row New York began almost ten years ago, with a borrowed boat and eight eager girls, it has been a pioneer in making rowing accessible to young people from New York City neighborhoods – with proven results. Ninety-nine of its students have gone on to college, many with scholarship support, and Row New York’s competitive high school team has one gold or silver medals at the New York State Championship for the past four years.

While Row New York began with a focus on empowering girls, it has not had the resources to accommodate under-served boys – until now. Building a strong youth program is the top priority of the Peter Sharp Boathouse heading into fall 2012.

“We are thrilled to move into the Sharp Boathouse and continue to serve New York City’s youth. To be able to row on such beautiful water in a central location is a dream come true for us and our plan is for this to become a true community boathouse with rowing for all,” said Amanda Kraus, Executive Director and Founder of Row New York. “We look forward to running excellent youth outreach programs, as well as masters rowing and adult learn-to-row programs. We are also talking to several New York City private schools who are eager to begin rowing programs, and hope they will join the group of passionate rowers in the Sharp Boathouse. We are grateful to NYRP for allowing us to take over such a beautiful facility.”

Based in Swindler Cove, the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse is a floating oasis on the Harlem River and a home for NYC youth to gain important life skills through the sport of rowing. Row New York will bring ten years of expertise and proven results to the youth program at Peter Jay Sharp.

The boathouse was the brainchild of Bette Midler, founder of NYRP, who saw the potential for creating a rowing hub on the Harlem River, and providing athletic and academic opportunities for under-served youth. Following the development of Swindler Cove Park in the early 1990s, and its opening in 2003, NYRP engaged architect Robert A.M. Stern to design the boathouse. The floating structure came to rest at its current location in 2004.

In addition to being the home for Row New York, collegiate teams from Fordham and Manhattan College row out of the Sharp Boathouse. Row New York plans to offer masters rowing in spring 2012 and to begin youth programming in the fall.

Chris Dlugozima of GreenPath, Inc. financial advisors visited Row New York’s seniors Monday for a personal finance and debt workshop. As part of our efforts to prepare our rowers for college and post-college life, Dlugozima offered lessons on maintaining a sound financial footing, free of excessive debt and overspending. This blogger asked Dlugozima about his organization, its mission, and why it aligns with Row New York’s programming.

“GreenPath,” Dlugozima explained, “is a non-profit organization that provides financial counseling to adults and financial education to the community. We assist people that have difficulty with debt, including credit cards, mortgages and rent, student loans, medical bills, and debt collectors.” GreenPath teaches a variety of clients, from high schoolers to college students to community organizations, how to better manage their finances.

This past Monday, Dlugozima said, “I introduced the girls to concepts related to budgeting, using credit wisely, and paying for college. For example, I illustrated the danger of making the minimum payment on a credit card.” Dlugozima had the rowers complete an interactive exercise fixing a fictitious budget. “In the activity, Snooki from Jersey Shore was overspending and they helped her gain control of her finances.”

Dlugozima’s workshop was important to Row New York because of its relevance to young people. Says Dlugozima, “I’ll often meet with people in their 20s who face overwhelming amounts of debt or other financial challenges. Many of these situations can be avoided, but it takes a lot of planning and sacrifice. For example, going to a great college that saddles you with $100,000 in student debt will affect future life decisions for years to come.”

Row New York thanks Chris Dluogzima and GreenPath, Inc. We are pleased to enter into this partnership for the benefit of our rowers.

Row New York is back on the water at Meadow Lake. With the coming of spring, our rowers are outdoors again, ferrying boats from the racks to the water, tightening oarlocks, pushing off the docks, and rowing hard. The past several months were active, of course. Our girls spent those winter days erging and training indoors, keeping fit and building strength for the upcoming season. Now they are ready to put all their training to use in the service of speed and bringing home hardware.

The spring presents excellent opportunities for winning that hardware. The Big Duck Regatta, Mercer Lake Sprints, Long Island Championships, and New York State Championships are all ahead. Last spring, the medals came pouring in and made the season one of our most decorated. We expect nothing less this year.

Pulling our hardest and seizing victories on the water comes first, but our girls have been enjoying the finer things of spring rowing as well. The warmth of the sun, the lake breeze, and the splashes of water are all welcome sensations after a season indoors.

Our schedule this spring:

Mercer Lake Sprints – April 20 and 21
Big Duck Regatta – April 28
Long Island Championships – May 6
New York State Championships – May 11 and 12

Over a dozen Row New York juniors attended our annual Professional Women’s Dinner on March 1. For the second year in a row, the Maverick Capital Foundation hosted this event, designed to introduce young women to the career world of resumes, networking, and job applications. According to juniors Kimberly Bush and Monique Avin, the evening was a valuable chance to learn important life skills.

“Each rower,” Kimberly explained, “was set up with a professional woman to interact with and ask them questions…about college or even business life.” Monique added that the professionals present reviewed their resumes and told the juniors “what got them to where they are today.” Kimberly called generating questions to ask in interviews – instead of simply providing answers – the most difficult part of the evening. She called the most fun part “getting out of my shell and skipping past the nerves” and “also eating! The food was delicious.”

“The purpose of the event,” Kimberly said, “was to get a feel of how interviews are conducted and the basic elements of applying for jobs, what to wear to interviews, and…how to conduct yourself.” Each junior learned something. Monique – who is currently considering nursing or English as her field of study – said she learned that going to college with a variety of potential majors instead of one was a sound position to be in. Kimberly said she learned that because it demonstrates what personal qualifications you will bring to a workplace, simply being yourself is a good interview strategy. Asked about her career aspirations, Kimberly said, “I would love to become a psychologist! My plan in college is to major in psychology and minor in photography.”

Row New York thanks the Maverick Capital Foundation for hosting this dinner to help our girls make careers out of the things they love.

Kate Mullan joined Row New York’s staff this week as we expand into Upper Manhattan. Kate will be managing our new programming out of the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse on the Harlem River, where she has coached rowing since 2010. Bringing Kate on board is part of Row New York’s plan to staff our new expansion.

Kate graduated from Yale University in 2010 with a degree in History of Art. At Yale, she was a member of the women’s varsity crew, winning Ivy League Championships twice and multiple team trophies at EAWRC Sprints. She stroked the boat that won the Collegiate Eights event at the 2006 Head of the Charles Regatta. Before Yale, Kate rowed at West Side Rowing Club in Buffalo, NY, where she later coached.
Kate keeps busy in her spare time. She is currently training for her first triathlon, Hawaii’s Lavaman. Kate enjoys cooking elaborate meals. In New York, she has worked at an art gallery, a bookstore, and as an assistant to a sports physical therapist. She has studied film in Prague and has worked with families to develop their communities in poor areas of Manila.

Of her new work at Row New York, Kate said, “I’m excited because there’s going to be an organization presenting opportunities on the Harlem for juniors to row where there currently are none. In terms of the future of rowing in New York and Manhattan, its a very positive thing.”
Row New York is excited to have Kate’s enthusiasm and excellence working on behalf of New York City’s young people. Welcome, Kate!

Director of Rowing Jennie Trayes accompanied five Row New York middle schoolers to the 2012 Pull With Purpose Row-a-thon this past Saturday. The River Rowing Association of Nyack, NY sponsors this two-hour erg relay benefiting the Nyack Center, a community center offering nutrition and academic support to Nyack’s youth.

Five of our middle school rowers joined in the relay. Emily L., Jasmine T., Wendy L., Michelle P., and Jalen R. formed the Row New York team. They had a wonderful time, pulled with notable strength and skill, and grabbed a top-twelve spot in the competition. River Rowing Association was pleased with the relay’s turnout and especially pleased with Row New York’s acceptance of an invitation to participate. Rowing Director Jennie Trayes said, “It’s always great to be part of a rowing community that can pull together for a great cause.” Thanks to the association for their event sponsorship and invitation.

More information can be found at River Rowing Association’s website here.

Row New York Coach Sarah Bates Johnson received a surprise baby shower this past Saturday ahead of the birth of her baby girl. With the novice and varsity teams gathered at our Long Island City office for practice, Sarah was called into a “secret meeting” with Interim Varsity Program Director Mike Eichler. This diversion allowed the teams present to prepare the office for the big surprise. Sarah was overjoyed with the demonstration of affection. Our girls enjoyed, it too, shouting with glee at every gift opened.

Row New York’s affection for Sarah is very real. She is a dedicated volunteer and former member of the U.S. National Team whose coaching expertise enhances our on-water performance. Her academic expertise off the water helps keep our girls on the path to college. We’re grateful for what she’s done and wish her the best. We share her excitement at the birth of a future rower and a Row New York Baby. Congratulations Sarah!