In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, international protests, and a lot of soul-searching on the part of the rowing community, a group of black rowing coaches started to gather online to share and discuss their experience as black coaches, athletes, Americans, and simply as people of color in an environment in which they could be frank, honest, and direct. The seed of the Black Coaches and Rowers Association (BCRA) was planted.

At first the group was a collection of Black male coaches, but in time included Black coaches and athletes of all genders. Malcolm Doldron, lightweight women's coach at Boston University, shares the origins of the group.

"In June of 2020, in the wake of the racial justice awakening that ensued following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, I reached out to a delegation of Black men that were affiliated with the sport," Doldron recounts.

"The goal was to create an intentional space to discuss the exhaustion of all of the 'asks' that came with being a black man in a white space. Although there was a great deal of pain, frustration, and exhaustion we all carried into the meeting with us, when we got on that Zoom, and saw so many Black men that all shared the same love and passion for the sport of rowing, it turned what started as a gathering based on sorrow, to an extremely joyful and hopeful experience."

The experience encouraged the group to reach out to female coaches of color.

"I then reached out to a few of the Black women I knew in and around the sport, and encouraged them to create the same intentional space first, which they did," Doldron said. "Eventually we brought both groups together, and have been meeting on Sundays ever since."

As a group, Asiya Mahmud (Associate Head Coach at Drexel), Catherine Reddick (Board Secretary at Philadelphia City Rowing), and Ashley Pryor (Director of Operations with Ohio State Women's Rowing and CEO/Founder of Relentless Rowing Academy) offered their perspective on the association as well as related efforts.

"Over the course of the past year, the Black rowing community has prioritized organizing ourselves and creating intentional spaces for fellowship," they said. "The goal of connection and collaboration between people with shared experiences is nothing new. However, the fact that we are now making time to have conversations in an intentional space is. We are recognizing the importance of connecting ourselves to support one another and to serve as mentors and advocates for the next generation of rowers so that they can have a better experience than we had.

"There is a separate group focused on initiatives for women rowers of color that has also organically come together. It was started by Daphne Martschenko and Kadee Sylla. That's an important space to have because being a woman and BIPoC adds another layer to experiences and complexity to leadership opportunities. Gender and race and very much intertwined, particularly for Black women."

Kevin Harris, head women's coach at Tulsa, adds his perspective on the founding and evolving mission of the group. "Initially the mission of the BCRA was to serve as a safe discussion space for Black male rowers," Harris said. "It was a place where many of us could express facts and feelings without judgement and with recognition from peers that is generally lacking in our sport.

"It was apparent that many of us including myself were in a bad mental space around the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, to name a few of way too many Black people who have been murdered for simply being Black. They are us. Being Black in the United States is to recognize that you love a country that doesn’t necessarily love you back. That is also true for being Black in the United States as a rower. It was palpably healing for so many Black people who love the sport to come together and have their experiences and contributions to rowing be validated."

Mahmud, Reddick, and Pryor concur.

"The BCRA has been a great forum to develop our collective voice as Black rowing professionals. In our meetings, we do discuss how the intersectionality of other identities such as gender, orientation, religion, ability, socioeconomic status etc. all tie together," they said.

"Having everyone at the table for these conversations is vital to helping us develop the skills to examine and challenge all the forms of discrimination and oppression we encounter. Developing this critical ear and eye helps build solidarity so when someone isn't in the room anyone else can advocate effectively for all of us. We are optimistic that being able to represent our community's diverse needs and concerns with a more unified voice will help us affect the broad, systemic changes that rowing needs."

Harris outlines the group's mission as follows:

• To increase awareness of the fact that there are a number of Black and Brown rowers who have and are contributing to the US Rowing community at all levels and in multiple ways
• To help increase the diversity of our sport to make it more accessible and durable. There are a wealth of advantages to the sport and increasing the number of people who have those advantages only makes rowing better.
• To help Black and Brown rowers follow their paths from junior rowing through the National Team and support them at whichever level they seek to compete
• To increase diversity among the leadership of our National Governing Body, club boards, coaching positions, etc. in order to have more voices involved in the day-to-day operation of our sport
• To be an organization that serves as safe space to encourage diversity in our sport generally

Harris notes that the group has expanded from providing a supportive environment to Black coaches and athletes to encourage and create change in the larger rowing community.

"There has been a powerful change in mission," he said. "The original mission was to bring people together to talk in the midst of two of America's major epidemics (White Supremacy and COVID-19). The evolved mission is one of creating positive change within American Rowing in order to make our sport better."

To learn more and get involved, visit https://bcra.info/.