I’ve always been a tomboy and grew up loving sports, but it was in the bad old days of half-court basketball and ‘girls can’t play’. I’m also left-eyed, right-handed and totally uncoordinated. All my life, I’ve dreamed of being on a team, rowing together in a racing shell, and have been exercising with a rowing machine on my living room floor for the past forty years.
When the Coventry Senior Center announced a partnership with the Coventry Lake Community Rowing Association to provide a free introduction to rowing for Coventry seniors, I was first in line to sign up.
Rowing instruction is provided by experienced older volunteers as well as experienced high school and college students, who either volunteer or are hired for their coaching depending on experience and certifications. My first in-the-boat-on-the-water-instructor was Sophia, a rising junior in high school and one of the youngest youth coaches. I told her “I need you to tell me exactly what I’m doing wrong and show me how to fix it.” and she did!
Last week, getting into a ‘quad with a cox’ was magical. Our instructor was Katie, a college student and UConn Men’s Crew Coxswain, who took charge immediately. Four of us sat in a four-seat rowing shell, an oar in each hand, a mix of men and women, and all of us facing opposite to the boat’s direction of movement. Katie sat in the stern, facing us and the boat direction, explaining every step along the way: “Set the boat.” “Square.” “At the finish.” “Feather.” “Row!”
Four people on a lake in a skinny, tippy rowing shell is a unique teamwork experience not replicable on land. The goal in crew rowing is a seamless mind/body connection, both individually and among all rowers in the boat. Starting strokes are the most difficult and dangerous because that’s when the shell is most unstable.
There’s a whole new language to rowing, which is great mental exercise for our senior minds, but really difficult to put into practice while you’re trying to move your muscles and those oars the right way. The magical moments occurred when the four of us managed to move smoothly in sync for even a few moments – The Holy Grail of my heart’s desire.
Thank you rowing volunteers, old and young, and brave senior beginning rowers; thank you for finally making my teamwork dream come true.
In friendship, Christine Pattee