28 JULY 19, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
SPORTS
Row New York teaches underprivileged girls
in Queens the ‘ultimate team sport’
BY JENNA BAGCAL
JBAGCAL@QNS.COM/ @JENNA_BAGCAL
For the past 16 years, one Queensbased
organization has been
teaching underprivileged girls
in the borough about rowing, while
preparing them for academic success.
Since 2002, Row New York has
been teaching middle school and high
school students about rowing and all
of the benefi ts that come along with the
sport. The World’s Fair Boathouse in
Flushing Meadows Corona Park was
where the organization fi rst started
taking out young rowers.
“Rowing is a unique sport,” said
Colleen Bailey, who has been the chief
marketing offi cer of Row New York for
the past three years. “In other sports,
you have the superhero who can control
whether the team wins or not. But
rowing is the ultimate team sport.”
The organization was founded by
executive director and founder Amanda
Kraus, who was the captain of the
women’s crew team while attending the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
According to Bailey, Kraus realized
that rowing is traditionally a sport that
is elitist and white, enjoyed by students
who attend top schools around the
country. She added that Kraus wanted
the sport to be accessible to everyone
in New York City, especially people of
color who may not have access to the
sport otherwise.
Bailey said that there are about 35
middle school students and 45 high school
students enrolled in the Queens program.
Eighty-four percent of the students in the
program are enrolled for free, based on
their income levels, and 15 percent are
enrolled on a sliding scale. The chief
marketing offi cer said that the organization
puts great emphasis on having
socioeconomic diversity in the program.
She added that all of the Queens
rowers are girls because that is how
the organization originated 16 years ago,
and Kraus decided to keep it that way as
time went on. Boys who are interested in
rowing can participate in the programs
they have in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
In total, Bailey said there are about 260
students across all programs.
The skills that the youth learn in the
programs include increased physical
strength, tenacity, focus, teamwork
and confi dence, according to the Row
Photo courtesy of Row NY
New York website. Bailey said the
skills that they learn through the sport
translate to the students’ academics as
well. Three to four days a week, the
kids are out on the water, and another
three to four days a week, they have
academic sessions.
“One hundred percent of students
in our program graduate high school,
and 96 percent of them go on to college,”
Bailey said.
Bailey said that the feedback that
she receives from kids in the program
is remarkably consistent.
“Almost all the kids talk about how
strong they feel,” she said, adding that
the kids in the program also remark
on their increased fitness levels,
athleticism, confi dence and pride for
participating in such a diffi cult sport.
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