Late every Saturday morning in the fall and winter, just as the Princeton boathouse starts to clear out of undergrads, another wave of athletes starts pouring in. A stream of cars emptying out kids into the parking lot attracts almost no attention – the Carnegie Lake Rowing Association and US National Teams have already come and gone from their dawn rows, and others are to come later - but this is a relatively unique group of athletes who are opening up the sport to others like them, with the help of the Princeton athletes and coaches.
Dating back to the fall of 2013, athletes from the Special Olympics of New Jersey (SONJ) have been rowing on the ergs, in the tanks, and now occasionally on the water out of the Princeton boathouse, in a pilot program that SONJ folks think may have real potential for their athletes and for the sport.
In 2013, Ryan Ceresani from Special Olympics New Jersey (SONJ) contacted Princeton heavy men's coach Greg Hughes to inquire of the university's interest in hosting a pilot program for rowing. Ceresani, who had rowed in high school at St. Augustine's Prep in south Jersey, had seen how several SONJ athletes had taken to the erg in a summer camp, and thought a more intensive program would work.
"Greg quickly opened the doors of the Boathouse, and recruited his rowers to take part in a pilot indoor program that winter," recalls Casey Henderson, SONJ Coach Education and Sports Training Manager.
"With Ryan's help, we organized a few introductory sessions here at the Princeton boathouse, and things just took off," Hughes said.
Held on Sunday mornings when the boathouse was mostly empty, the first sessions were focused on erg and tank sessions, with a small group of athletes increasing in numbers week by week, assisted and coached by members of the Princeton teams and coaching staff.
"For four months, Special Olympics New Jersey athletes were trained by Greg and the heavyweight men's team at the Boathouse and our SONJ Complex," Henderson said. "To finish out the training season, Greg added a Special Olympics heat of the boathouse's culminating indoor competition, the Crash-Ps."
Erg test day.
Hughes admits he was nearly as nervous about the Special Olympics flights at Crash-P as he was about his own team's performance.
"Before then, all of the training sessions for the Special Olympics group were held on Sunday mornings, which is a very quiet time at the boathouse," Hughes recalls. "If you've been to the Crash P, you know how packed and loud the boathouse is. There's tons of energy, and I was nervous that the different environment might be difficult for the Special Olympics athletes. I couldn't have been more wrong. They were completely pumped!
"They loved the energy, and their excitement inspired the 200+ Princeton rowers and fans that were there to cheer them on. It was by far the loudest, most popular event of the day. For me and for all of the Princeton rowers, it was so incredible to see the intensity and attitude of the athletes in the heat of competition."
In addition to racing, the SONJ athletes participated in the awards program, and were thenceforth fully integrated into the event.
Since then, the group has grown from a handful to a heap of athletes; at the 2016 Crash-P, over four dozen Special Olympic athletes rowed four flights of erg races in a room that was even more packed and loud.
Special Olympics athlete Richard Wannamaker, from Cookstown, NJ, has emerged as something of a star athlete in the program. The 27 year-old started competing in track with Special Olympics New Jersey when he was 10 years old, and has competed continuously since then in volleyball, floor hockey, and track. The 6'4" Wannamaker was on the Unified Volleyball team for Team New Jersey last year, which qualified him for the 2015 World Games. He was in the original group rowing out of the Princeton boathouse.
"When the program started, I jumped right on it and loving it ever since," he said. "It's a really hard workout, which I didn't expect at first. After my first time working on the erg, my legs were like Jello."
In 2014 he did the CRASH-B, rowing 3:20 for the 1k piece, and a week later went 3:17 at the Crash-P in Princeton.
"Boston was a great event, although I thought I was going to pass out (during the race)," he said. A week later he went three seconds faster. Since then he has been a steady presence at the weekend sessions, and is part of a small group that have started rowing on the water.
"It was great to get on the water, though I was nervous at first," he said. "Having rowed in the tanks here made it easier, but even with that it was hard; but especially with the Princeton guys coming to help out and row with us, I think there is a group of athletes who could get pretty good at it. Eventually I would like to see us go to a race on the water."
In addition to her newfound sport of rowing, Special Olympics athlete Katie McGee of Hopewell, NJ, does downhill skiing, cycling, swimming, bowling, and triathlon, in which she won second place in the Special Olympics National Games in 2014. Of her sports, McGee says she is best at cycling – but for a reason that might help her in the boat as well.
"I am best at cycling because my legs are strong," she said. "But when you have to do it in a triathlon, it's way hard," she said with a laugh.
McGee has rowed in the tanks, on the ergs, and in the boat as well. Of her outings in the shell, she said it was challenging, but she is seeing improvement.
"I'm getting the hang of it now," she said. "At first the circle of the stroke was hard, but I am getting there."
Monica Koppstein has done the program since the beginning while also competing in cycling, bowling, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and swimming. In 2007 she was selected in the sport of bowling to compete in Shanghai, China, in the Special Olympics World Summer Games.
"I switch to a different sport every season," she said. "I like rowing in the boat best, although following the directions and the timing is easier on the rowing machine than following in the boat."
Rowing is still an unsanctioned and rare sport among Special Olympians; Henderson notes that there are only three known Special Olympics localities in the world who have explored running a sustainable rowing program: Hong Kong, Bulgaria and New Jersey. After the Princeton program showed it could be done, subsequently SONJ worked to establish programs at the Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, NJ, and at Nereid Boat Club in Passaic. Henderson feels that these programs are the leading edge of a very promising future for the Special Olympics and rowing, and SONJ is working to formalize the way the programs are run.
"I think Princeton University and Special Olympics New Jersey are on the cusp of something largely untapped," she said. "Beginning this past winter, we worked to align the program with how our programs of other sports are structured, giving the programs more autonomy and responsibility. They communicated with families and athletes directly, took attendance, and gave additional workouts in between training sessions. Coaches had to fill out all official paperwork, and send the SONJ state office official competition paperwork in preparation for the Crash P's. They also sent in preliminary times so that athletes could be separated into the right divisions for awards at the Crash P's.
The Princeton program is now primarily run by Princeton junior Alex Michael, a member of the heavy men's team who has volunteered since his freshman year, when he walked on to the heavy men's squad. Having been a volunteer from the start, Michael now coordinates the volunteer groups of Princeton athletes who now come from all four Princeton squads, works with Henderson on high-end logistics, and also coaches the sessions, which now are held on Saturday mornings right after the university practice to allow more students simply to stay after practice to volunteer.
"I am so proud of all three of our programs in the state," Henderson said. "Each is unique and has different structures and resources to work with, but they take it on with joy and excitement. The student-athletes at Christian Brothers Academy take complete ownership of the athletes they train and have risen to every challenge of working with over 25 Special Olympics New Jersey athletes in their erg room each session! Nereid Boat Club did not hesitate to join with us this year, and did all they could to make their program a success this year. And at Princeton, the growth we have seen is due to the influence from within from Greg Hughes and his athletes. If he had not seen the potential and the possibility, we would not be gearing up for our fourth year of rowing right now."
"Coaching practices every Saturday is my favorite part," Michael notes. "I get the opportunity to schedule workouts and coach all the Special Olympics athletes with the help of the many wonderful coaching volunteers from the Princeton rowing team."
Michael also cites that first Crash-P as one of his most memorable experiences with the program, and also notes that the athletes do much more than just show up at the boathouse on Saturday mornings.
"One aspect of the program that always impresses me is how enthusiastic and dedicated the athletes are," he said. "Many of the athletes log a significant number of meters outside of our Saturday training sessions in addition to other sports that they play and jobs that they hold."
Michael is also inspired by his own teammates, who stick around at the boathouse to coach and row alongside the Special Olympics athletes.
"The response of the Princeton athletes has been overwhelmingly supportive," he said. "Several of my teammates have been coming down every week to coach, and an even greater number have been helping out when their schedules allow. This support really shows at Crash-Ps, when the whole boathouse rallies around to support the Special Olympics athletes as they complete their competition at the culmination of the winter season."
Henderson notes that the Special Olympics emphasis on "Fitness for life" is a good fit with erg rowing, and indoor rowing in general is well suited to athletes who like a more individual sport that also has the social benefits of a team, and are also in a climate-controlled environment that allows year-round participation.
For programs that may want to start and host a similar program, Hughes shows no hesitation.
"I would encourage any program to get involved," he said. "It's very easy; reach out to your state's Special Olympics organizing committee and express your interest. My guess is that they would be thrilled to work with you to get a Special Olympics rowing program started. At this point, we have developed a simple but successful model for an erg program. That model is easily transferable to another facility, as with the two additional programs started up here in NJ. We'd be happy to share everything we've done and learned so far to help start up new programs.
"The long term goal is to see this grow within the state and in other states. At this point, our program has been erg and tank based, and we have started to develop an on-the-water program. We've only done it a few times, but we are very excited to see it grow."
The Special Olympics oath is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." This attempt to bring rowing to a new enthusiastic and driven group of athletes seems like a winner.
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