YALE UNIVERSITY'S
COMMUNITY ROWING PROGRAM
(community.rowing@yale.edu)
P.O. Box 208216
New Haven, CT 06520-8216

Yale Community Rowing Annual Report
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002

Yale Community Rowing Club Debut -
May 15, 2003

Yale Community Rowing has launched an advanced rowing program which will give youth from New Haven and the Lower Naugatuck Valley a chance to row throughout the summer. This is a major step in the realization of our ambition to run a substantial year-round rowing program. The Club will row in the mornings, five days a week beginning Monday, June 23. For more information about the Yale Community Rowing Club and to download registration forms click here.

Announcing Summer 2003 Learn-to-Row Program -
May 15, 2003

Our five weeks of learn-to-row clinics will start June 23. Registration is free, but enrollment is limited to the first 32 applicants for each session. Act now to ensure a spot in the classes. This link will lead you to the Learn-to-Row information and registration forms .

Adults can enroll in our adult class for a modest fee, the link for adult information and registration material is here.

New Summer Staff Hired -
May 1, 2003

The 2003 summer staff of college rowers has been hired. Yale is well represented as are five other schools from around the country. Visit our staff page by clicking here.

Announcing Spring 2003 High School Rowing Program -
January 20, 2003

This spring we will again run a spring rowing program geared to teach high school students in the New Haven and Lower Naugatuck Valley Communities the fundamentals of rowing.

There will be a one week introduction and teaching phase at Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The program will then move to Yale's Gilder Boathouse, in Derby, Connecticut where students will row on the Housatonic River.

If you are interested in participating, please contact David Vogel for more information and registration forms at (203) 432-5479, or by email at david.vogel@yale.edu. The program will be limited to 30 students, and the registration deadline is Thursday, March 27, 2003.

Winter 2003 Developmental Rowing Clinics -
January, 2003

The Yale Community Rowing Program will open 2003 with rowing clinics in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium indoor rowing tanks. Clinics will be held on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. Three sessions of two week clinics are scheduled.

• Session 1 - January 20-29
• Session 2 - February 3-12
• Session 3 - February 17-26

The clinics are geared primarily to high school students. Yale rowers and coaches will instruct the clases on the elements of rowing. Clinics will serve as an introduction to the training and skill development necessary for outdoor rowing in racing shells. These clinics represent an excellent preparation for our spring rowing program on the Housatonic River. There is no fee for these clinics, however, we have a limited capacity.

If you are interested in participating, please contact David Vogel for more information and registration forms at (203) 432-5479, or by email at david.vogel@yale.edu.

Yale Community Rowing 2001 - 2002 Annual Report
November, 2002

Staff: Director, Andrew Morley
Summer Rowing Director, Jamie Snider
Summer Coaches, Gwynna Biggers Yale, Jennifer Gilbert Univ of Georgia, Karla Landis Western Washington, Kevin Haley Ithaca College, Ben Knipe Dartmouth, Nick Moringo Dartmouth, Kate Strum Bates, Adria Negelow Univ of Georgia, Holly Yacko, Skidmore;
Summer Lifeguards, Trevor Vernal, Shelley Kohan

Sponsors:

• The Brownington Foundation
• The Katharine Matthies Foundation, Fleet Bank, Trustee
• Yale University Endowment Fund - Max Belding Community Rowing
• Yale University Endowment Fund - Rowing for Youth Program

Overview - In the fourth year of Yale Community Rowing we emerged from our three-year pilot program taking long strokes as an established program. Our mission to bring rowing to the youth of the New Haven and Lower Naugatuck Valley communities was well served through our year-round program and we achieved many milestones along the way. In the spring, Yale Community Rowing's first racing shell was dedicated and named in memory of long time Valley resident, neighbor and civic leader, Hazel Knapp. With this new equipment available, our first participants graduated from the rowing barges into true racing shells. We continued to reach a large number of children while we focused on enriching the experience for the more advanced high school teens. This we achieved with our inaugural spring rowing for high school students. Furthermore, emphasis was shifted in order to get many more National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) participants out of the rowing tanks in New Haven and onto the river in Derby. By welcoming a large number of parents and children to the new Gilder Boathouse we have begun to realize its promise as a resource to both Yale and the local community. This year over 650 people were involved in rowing through our program.

From the fall of 2001 through the spring of 2002 we initiated many contacts and made introductions to the sport. Supporting these efforts was a coaching staff comprised of the Yale Community Rowing Directors and volunteers from among the Yale University student athletes and coaches. This approach not only made rowing a possibility for a new clientele but it also opened the physical and human resources of the Yale rowing program to a population that had formerly watched from afar. In the summer of 2002 our paid staff of twelve exhibited teamwork characteristic of their rowing backgrounds as they managed an ambitious, expanding program.

Programs - The primary focus of our program continued to be the summer effort. However, throughout the year we were active in community outreach and in a variety of initiatives. In the fall we conducted a one morning Learn-to-Row program at the Gilder Boathouse, as part of the annual Healthy Valley festival. Participants included adults and children from the Lower Naugatuck Valley. We also conducted a rowing clinic on ergometers at the Yale Bowl Tercentennial Festival for Yale students, alumni and local youth.

In the winter we created a new indoor rowing program, designed as developmental clinics, for high school students from New Haven and the Lower Naugatuck Valley. This eight-week program was held two nights a week, from 7pm until 8:30 in the varsity rowing tanks from January to March. Thirty high school students from New Haven and Lower Naugatuck Valley public schools took part. Yale rowers and coaches helped coach the high school students. The program concluded with a demonstration given by the high school students for their family and friends. Almost all participants expressed a great interest in rowing outside in real boats.

This spring was the first time that the Community Rowing Program had local youth rowing on the Housatonic at any time outside of the summer program. The program was initially scheduled to run for four weeks, but due to significant interest from the participants, the program ran from the beginning of April until the second week of June, for a total of 9 weeks. They practiced twice a week from 4pm until 6pm at the Gilder Boathouse and they were our first rowers to spend significant time in racing shells. A total of 12 area high school students participated, including a few who had been involved in the indoor winter program and previous summer programs. All of the participants expressed a profound interest in continuing rowing in the coming seasons.

We created a rowing program for a dozen seventh grade students from Amistad Academy, a middle school in Fair Haven. Payne Whitney Gym was the site for swimming lessons and a swim test, and introductory rowing lessons in the indoor rowing tanks. The group then rowed at Gilder Boathouse weekly for five weeks. The program culminated in an inaugural row on Lake Quonnipaug in the old-style wooden boat the students had built themselves. The program generated so much interest that more students came to the boathouse even after the Lake Quonnipaug event and the Academy is considering starting a rowing program of their own next year.

Yale Community Rowing aided in the creation of a new rowing club in New Haven, the New Haven Community Rowing Program on the Quinnipiac River. The leaders of this effort were Peter Noble, director of the Fair Haven youth group Pequeñas Ligas Hispanas de New Haven, and Mike Vespoli, owner of the racing shell manufacturing company Vespoli, USA. The synergy of this group promises to help with the expansion of rowing opportunities for New Haven youth and adults.

The 2002 Summer Program involved many more area youths and youth groups than ever before. While the commitment to Yale's own summer camp, the NYSP, was maintained, it was formatted so the most interested participants could row at the Gilder Boathouse throughout the five-week program. In the past, Community Rowing staff was split between the gym and the boathouse and only a handful of NYSP participants had the opportunity to row at the boathouse. This year, the first week was dedicated solely to coaching the NYSP in the rowing tanks in Payne Whitney, and the following four weeks were spent entirely at the boathouse. In addition to providing the opportunity for more NYSP participants to row in actual boats, the new format allowed expansion of all the Community Rowing because the staff of ten coaches was able to spend much more time at Gilder Boathouse.

New one-week open enrollment programs for local youths were created in the towns of Shelton, Derby, Ansonia and Seymour. These programs filled to their capacity very shortly after being publicized. A program solely for high school students was created, which allowed the participants in the winter and spring high school developmental clinics to row throughout the whole summer. The programs with the Derby Recreation Camp and the Boys and Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley were continued this summer for the fourth consecutive year. These programs grew in attendance and enthusiasm over previous seasons.

Summer rowing expanded with new alliances and projects. We began a learn-to-row program for adults that filled to capacity. The New Haven youth group LEAP (Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership) came to the Gilder Boathouse for one week and learned to row. Lastly, two one-day programs were offered to the Connecticut Special Olympics and the American School for the Deaf. These programs ran all day on two Friday's at the Gilder Boathouse and provided a unique learning experience for youths from unique backgrounds.

Contacts and new programs that were created during our 2002 program should allow us to continue to expand our reach and scope in the upcoming year. We are very optimistic about the response from the community and about our vision for opening Yale's physical and human resources to New Haven and the Lower Housatonic Valley in order to bring rowing to a larger participating audience.

2002 Summer Program Schedule Finalized
May 6, 2002

The full schedule of Yale's Community Rowing Program for its fourth summer has been completed. This year we will be teaching over 500 people in the New Haven and Lower Naugatuck Valley communities how to row. This will be our largest summer program ever.

Again this year we will be working with Yale's National Youth Sports Program and the Derby Recreation Camp for the fourth consecutive year. Additionally, we are again offering programs for the Boys and Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley. This year we will be partnering with LEAP, a New Haven based youth group.

Our open enrollment programs include:

1. An Adult Learn-To-Row Program, from 8am - 9am, July 22 until July 26. To get registration forms for the Adult program click here.

2. A program for high school aged youth, from 11am - noon, July 22 - July 26. To get registration forms for the High School program click here.

3. A program with the Shelton Parks and Recreation Commission for youth aged 11-18 from 8am - 9am, July 8-12, and July 15-19.

4. A program with the Ansonia, Derby and Seymour Parks and Recreation Departments for youth aged 11-18, from 11am - noon, July 15-19.

For all of our programs, no experience in rowing is required! Anyone in the area can register for any program! If you have any questions, or would like to get involved, please call Andrew Morley at (203) 432-5479 or email him at community.rowing@yale.edu.

To see our full schedule, click here.

Hazel Knapp Boat Dedication
April 20, 2002

On Saturday, April 20, 2002, the Yale Community Rowing Program dedicated its first racing shell at the Gilder Boathouse in honor of longtime Derby resident Hazel Knapp.

Hazel served the Lower Naugatuck Valley communities her whole life, and always took great interest in the health of the Housatonic River, where she lived. A remarkable woman who was one of the first female radio broadcasters in Connecticut, in addition to being the Chairperson of the Valley Regional Planning Agency, and the leading member of countless civic organizations in the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Hazel passed away in 1998.

By naming our first shell after an individual who epitomized community dedication, we hope to inspire our own participants to emulate the selfless life of Hazel Knapp.

Yale's Director of Athletics, Tom Beckett spoke at the dedication, reaffirming Yale's commitment to the communities in which it is involved.

Yale Men's Heavyweight Crew coach, Dave Vogel, spoke of the significance of the boat dedications, and how it was fitting that the Community Rowing Program's first shell honored Hazel Knapp.

Ansonia native, and Yale Rowing Olympic Champion John Cooke also spoke. In addition to pleasing the crowd with his journey from an Ansonia High School football player to Yale Olympic Rowing Gold Medalist, he spoke of the great potential for the still young Community Rowing Program to have a great influence in the lives of New Haven and Lower Naugatuck Valley youth.

Jack Walsh, chairman of the Valley United Way and Derby Parks and Recreation Commission spoke on behalf of the Mayor of Derby, and expressed great gratitude for the program, and challenged Yale to keep its commitment to be a good neighbor with the Lower Naugtuck Valley.

Community Rowing Director Jamie Snider and local Shelton resident, and Community Rowing Program participant Catheryn Lozinak poured water from the Housatonic River to dedicate the shell.

Community Rowing Program Director Andrew Morley served as the Master of Ceremonies for the even. The ceremony followed a great day of racing between Yale's Varsity Men's Lightweight and Heavyweight crews and Columbia and Pennsylvania. To see more photos from the event, click here.

March 20, 2002

• ANNOUNCING SPRING 2002 HIGH SCHOOL ROWING PROGRAM!
• FOR INFORMATION, CLICK HERE.

• COMMUNITY ROWING SUMMER PROGRAM 2002 NOW HIRING!
• FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED, CLICK HERE.