This summer I decided to get back into rowing. I registered for a learn to scull (2 oars instead of 1) program through Quinsigamond Rowing Club and it just ended today. There were six sessions- we did the first 3 in a quad because those are the most stable with just one person rowing. Then the fourth session we did in doubles, and I rowed the last two in a single. Monday I went out in a wintech explorer which was a little wider, and then today in a peinart which was more narrow. It was a really fun experience, I am so glad I did it.

Growing up, I played tennis and did Irish step dancing. My junior year of high school, I was having knee problems, was diagnosed with patella femoral syndrome, and was faced with finding a new activity. My orthopedic doctor had rowed for St. John’s in Worcester so he suggest rowing as a way to strengthen my inner quads to support my knee better. That summer I did the learn to row camp at Northeastern University, then rowed at CRI my senior year, and then rowed for four amazing years at WPI. While at WPI, I did a little sculling- most of it was good, but there were definitely some disasters. I remember walking off the dock holding a single with my coach my freshman year, then I flipped a double with my best friend Jen in the summer after my junior year of college, and then flipped a single senior year during spring training down in Cocoa Beach. This morning…I flipped and fell in the water reaching out to my oar lock hahaha- oh well, I had a change of clothes.

Sculling is awesome because you have two oars and use both sides of your body more evenly I think. I really liked rowing a single. The reward for good strokes is big, and crappy strokes are on you and only you, so you become really aware of what you are doing well, and what you need to work on. I had our coach video me on Monday and today so I could see my body and blade position. It’s really helpful to actually see whats happening with your rowing.

It was so good to get back into rowing. After my friend passed away, going to the boathouse was hard- it felt like a place of mourning, like I was visiting her grave instead of the happy place it had been. Reconnecting with Jon, one of my teammates from college that knew Jen started to bring back the happiness in rowing, and I started to feel that healing and instead of just hiding and shutting away that void from when I left crew behind, I am starting to fill it again.

New England LOVES crew. There are so many colleges and clubs on the Charles River,  Lake Quinsigamond, the Mystic River, and the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. Many private and boarding schools have crew programs as well. Groton School rows on the Nashua River which is near where we run with Mizpah. The Head of the Charles is a huge event here in the fall, and in the spring there are many prestigious sprint races on Quinsig.