For the member of the Baltimore Rowing Club?s Juniors Program, being on the crew team can lead to college.
The program is for students between the ages of 14 and 18 whose schools do not already have a rowing program. Baltimore Rowing Club is one of five clubs on the East Coast that has a diversified Juniors program, and the only program that has an economically diverse team in which both men and women participate.
Aly Covino has been with the Baltimore Rowing Club since 2003, and head coach for the Juniors Program since spring of 2006. “Initially the program was started as non-competitive, but the team has taken a very sharp competitive turn,” she said. “And it?s really because of the kids. They have worked extremely hard to make it happen, and they?ve done a very nice job.”
One of the biggest advantages to joining the crew team at BRC is the chance to win scholarship money. “Rowing really opens doors for college. There is a lot of scholarship money out there for competitive rowers,” Covino said. “There?s this whole other world of financial aid, essentially. A kid who might be able to afford a community college but not a private college, all of a sudden has that ability.”
Two kids who were interested in joining the crew right away were 18-year-old Stephen Harlee and 17-year-old Akeem Smith, both students at New Era Academy in Baltimore.
“No one really knows about rowing,” Harlee said. “We were like, ?Rowing, what?s that??”
Smith lost more than 30 pounds while on the team. “I had my doubts at first, I really had to push myself. A lot of people wanted to see me fail, and I used that as my strength to go on.”
Harlee said that at first, it was hard to get used to rowing?s schedule.
“You have to dedicate a lot of time to rowing, and its very physically demanding,” he said. “In rowing, it?s not about you. If you stop, you let the whole team down. Once you commit, its not just about number one anymore. It?s about the team.”
Currently there are 26 students on the team, but Covino says she hopes to expand that to 40 next year. “We?ve had the interest. And the sport has just exploded over the last couple of years,” she said. “As we kept talking to our team, we realized there is an interest there, and we?re looking to grow our program because of that.”
