adaptive rowing

Welcome to Season 5 of Ready, Row! USA! We kick off our 2023 coverage with an interview with one of the rowing world's most admired figures: USRowing para high-performance director Ellen Minzner (replay on the website & audio on all major podcast apps).

Minzner discusses how US Paralympic rowing is embarking on groundbreaking research that will not only benefit the Paralympic program, but will have ripple effects for inclusive rowing programs everywhere. More on the research & associated grant here.

PLUS: Minzner previews her presentation on para/adaptive athlete development at USRowing's #RowCon23 on Sat. Feb. 4: Athlete Development: Para Athlete Development Model.

#rowingpodcast #pararowing #paralympic

UPCOMING: Ocean Rowing with Rannoch Adventure's CEO Charlie Pitcher; Jason Cottingham's interview with solo Atlantic Challenge rower Lara Vafiadis; and a full 3 days of interviews with the movers & shakers - and regular folks - of rowing at #RowCon23, USRowing's return to in-person annual gatherings; plus our regular Club Spotlights, Gadgets & Gear, and much more.

SPONSORS: 

Kerry Kingdon went from ultra marathoner to being told she could no longer run. After eventually being diagnosed with POTS and IST, she received treatment that made her feel ready for competition again. She took a position as adaptive coach at Bair Island Aquatic Center, where she runs an adaptive erg class and rows. Kerry won gold at Indoor National Championships in 2022, 2021, and 2019, Silver at Masters’ Nationals in 2018 and Crew Classic 2019 (PR2 Double).

Coach Patrick Johnson has played a critical leadership role helping Athletes Without Limits achieve its mission for the inclusion of athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities into mainstream sport. Patrick heads up the Athletes Without Limits (AWL)/DC Strokes/Veteran Leaders integrated rowing program, which is also a USRowing Freedom Rows designated Adaptive Program for Disabled Veterans and Members of the Armed Forces. In 2019 Patrick received USRowing’s Isabel Bohn Award for expanding rowing opportunities for those with physical and intellectual disabilities.

#rowingpodcast #livestream #athleteswithoutlimits #disabilitypridemonth

Got an event coming up at your rowing club or organization? Book one of our short, ad hoc “pop-up” livestreams! Use the event submission form and sign up for our mailing list!

SPONSOR LINKS

• Burnham Boat Slings
• GoodInklings Web Design & Management
• Resolute Racing & Sykes USA
• Pierce Press Publishing & Podcasting

S3, Ep.1 A very warm welcome back to the podcast for season 3. I'm really delighted to introduce you to Kate Lindgren, my latest guest, who is a member of Peterborough Rowing Club and a passionate sculler. Having lost her sight as a young woman, she only came to rowing later in life but has taken to it with an enthusiasm that can't fail to be infectious. Kate and I talk about:

• How and when she lost her sight
• Life in work and society as a blind person
• Roller disco!
• How she discovered rowing
• How her other senses come into play in rowing
• The sounds of rowing
• Single sculling and working with a coach and navigator
• Kate's favourite drill
• Kate's 20K challenge
• Racing
• Kate's own rowing language with her coach and their private rowing language
• Adaptive rowing and what it involves for clubs
• How to make rowing more attractive to people with disabilities
• The joy rowing gives to Kate
• Lockdown and ZoomErgos
• Kate's plans to row in a new place

You can find Kate on Twitter at @kathryn2503
To join my Patreon scheme, head to https://www.patreon.com/girlontheriver

Ep 15. One of the things I miss most about rowing is the post-rowing chat over coffee, where we just shoot the breeze about rowing, interspersed with plenty of gossip, a bit of serious discussion and a lot of silliness. Which is exactly what this episode is all about.

Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan are passionate rowers and rowing coaches. They're also the founders of Steady State Network - a superb rowing podcast as well as a movement, a magazine-in-waiting and a network. "Rowing for the rest of us" is how they describe it, and it's just as brilliantly blazer-free as they promise.

In our chat (it's really a chat not an interview) the conversation lets loose, covering:

• Being small as a rower
• How Tara would switch sides for the male GB rowers
• How Rachel and Tara discovered rowing
• How they met and set up SSN (was it a misunderstanding over Rachel's sexuality?)
• The joy of coaching masters rowers
• The Steady State ethos
• Regattas - regatta food and the best events in the US
• Diversity, inclusion and the Changemaker Scholarships
• Tara's work with adaptive rowers with the Seize the Oar Foundation
• Advice for clubs venturing into adaptive rowing
• Quick fire questions including some really quite extraordinary, X-certificate coxing calls

I hope you found this a little slice of rowing heaven to tide you over until you can get back on the water. In the meantime, do check out Steady State, and look out for Rachel and Tara on ZoomErgos on a Sunday (and me on a Wednesday morning!)