Rowing inspiration
I started rowing my freshman year of high school. A year and a half ago, I heard about a Marine, Bennie Perez, who was an adaptive athlete rowing at our club (the Greater Houston Rowing Club). However, there was no boat for him to row. Since some adaptive rowers don’t have full leg or core function, they require a fixed seat to row.
A fixed seat, as its name implies, does not move back and forth like the typical rowing seat. This allows adaptive athletes to row without needing to use their legs or core. At the time, we had no adaptive rowing equipment at all, leaving the adaptive athlete with no boat, and only an indoor rowing machine on which to row.
I was able to connect with Unlimited Rowing, a nonprofit organization located in Spring. Unlimited Rowing holds classes all over Houston to teach adaptive athletes how to row on indoor rowing machines, but had no actual boats. Through volunteering with Unlimited Rowing, I met many athletes who expressed a need for adaptive rowing equipment. I wrote a grant proposal to Bayada Home Health Care. One thousand seven hundred eighty-one words later, the grant proposal was complete. After weeks of anxiously waiting, the grant was approved. Thanks to the organization’s generosity, I was able to obtain $17,000 worth of equipment, including two adaptive rowing boats. The single is located at the Greater Houston Rowing Club, while the double is at Parati Rowing, but both can be moved and used wherever needed.
After our adaptive rowers had the proper equipment, I organized an event to teach them how to row on the water. This event was the culmination of 16 months and hundreds of hours of volunteering and countless emails. In the end, over 50 volunteers signed up to participate. Being in charge of such a massive event was a new experience for me. It was incredible to see so many new people take part in something I am passionate about. One participant said rowing on the water “just felt like freedom.”
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