Joining the Crew.....

For my next adventure in research on crafting my innovative idea I decided to take a lesson at Community Rowing in Brighton. Rowing was a sport I aspired to learn as a child. Living in an area surrounded by Head of the Charles, a neighborhood teeming with former Ivy league rowers, and a view of the training team for a local university gave me the opportunity to appreciate the sport at a very young age. It seemed only natural that part of my collegiate experience would involve being part of a "crew".

I first became introduced to a rowing machine in high school after I was sidelined from running due to an achilles tendon injury. I really enjoyed the solidarity of rowing on the machine in the gym and getting lost in my thoughts.

Community Rowing requires that it is located in Brighton on the Charles River, requires a decent amount of real-estate to house sweep and sculling shells, oars, and additional equipment. Community Rowing is a not for profit offering rowing outreach programs to at risk youth and disabled veterans.  the barriers to entry for rowing and made it accessible to all income levels in the Greater Boston area. I registered for a 90 minute introductory course that reviewed the basics of rowing where we had the opportunity to get out on the water. The first 45 minutes of the course covered the basic form of rowing and was taught on land with the assistance of a rowing machine. The instructor broke down the act of rowing into three steps for us to follow when out on the water; body, legs, arms. Rowing on the water as part of a crew proved to be far more challenging than I had anticipated. When crew members rowed out of sync it placed you in danger of having your oar roll over you which would give you the appearance of looking like a crab flipped on its back. Rowing with 9 other strangers proved challenging when trying to hold one another accountable for rowing out of sync. 

Like Zumba, Community Rowing seemed to be more inclusive than some of the boutique exercise classes I attended. This can be partly attributed to their not for profit status and attributed to their clearly defined mission of "Rowing for All". Inclusion is also a major factor in a team sport and for this lesson I did experience rowing as part of a crew. Community Rowing also offers classes rowing in singles, a conditioning gym, and indoor training during inclement weather. The instructor's level of training and experience was greater than the typical training. My instructor had rowed crew at Southern Methodist of four years and had moved to Boston to work on a new master of coaching in rowing at CRI. The typical level of training for a boutique exercise class such as Zumba, Soul cycle or Pure Barre is typically a personal training certification and individual training in the particular concentration. An interesting fact based on our teachers length of time and experience is that Rowing is a sport where in order to be good at it it does not require that a minimum amount of time for you to achieve mastery. If you learn the techniques and are physically strong you can row as well or better than a counterpart who has been rowing longer. This broadens the scope of individuals who can learn rowing, you don't need to be 20 to join the crew. 

I enjoyed my time at CRI and was really impressed with the quality of the facility as well as the instructors. I look forward to exploring additional classes.