sports
82 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 19, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo courtesy of Row NY
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 Queens-based
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.
Th e 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.”
Th e 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. Th e 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.
Th e skills that the youth learn in the programs
include increased physical strength,
tenacity, focus, teamwork and confi dence,
according to the Row New York website.
Bailey said the skills that they learn through
the sport translate to the students’ academics
as well. Th ree 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 fi tness levels, athleticism, confi -
dence and pride for participating in such a
diffi cult sport.
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