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T
he reinstatement of the crew team at
The Storm King School during the
fall was a demanding yet rewarding ven-
ture. After announcing that SKS would be
offering a new sport in the fall and spring,
fifteen brave students embarked on a jour-
ney that would be filled with challenges,
competition, and camaraderie.
The challenges began the first day the
students placed their hands on the long
and narrow eight-man boat at the New-
burgh Rowing Club. They quickly learned
the essential commands and terminology
of the sport: port, starboard, bow, stern,
and the crucial command used to stop
—‘Way enough.’ After about a week
the boat was moved from the racks to
the water with ease, and the Storm King
Crew began taking their first few and
often hesitant strokes with the long oars.
While the coxswains, Dominique
D. and Allie Z. steered the boats, I
taught the technical aspects of the
rowing stroke from the launch and
the rowers encouraged each other
from the narrow shells in which
they were compactly sitting. Every
night we would ride back to the
School on the bus, discussing the
positives and negatives from the row and
setting new goals for the following days
and weeks.
Although we had only been
practicing for a few weeks, we
quickly lined up on the Hudson
River many consecutive Saturdays
to challenge other crews, includ-
ing Suffern, North Rockland, and
Newburgh. Our first few regat-
tas, we managed to place second
and third in the four-man and
eight-man boats respectively, but
the SKS rowers were not satisfied
with those results. We continued
to arduously train, running many
mountains and rowing for many
hours — sometimes in cold weath-
er and sometimes on the painful
indoor rowing machines. However, the
diligent efforts were rewarding in the end.
At our last race of the season, the eight-
man boat excitingly passed a boat from
North Rockland in the last one hundred
meters to place first in a field of five other
boats. Every member of the team had a
huge smile on their face, and they stood
Crew Team Reinstated
By Stephanie Frank, Crew Coach, ESL Leader,
International Student Coordinator
SKS
|
News
proud on the first place podium when
they received their medals.
This inaugural fall season, the Storm
King Crew developed great camaraderie
and together pushed each other day by
day, stroke by stroke, to achieve new
feats — for the team and for the School.
The rowers and I are extremely thankful
to the support we have received from the
School community, including a generous
donation from Bob Parke ’57 that allowed
us to purchase a new indoor rowing
machine and utilize the rowing facilities at
Newburgh Rowing Club. I look forward
to future victories, as more students fall
in love with the beautiful and challenging
sport of rowing.
Robert Parke,
Class of ’57
—
an avid
supporter of the newly
formed crew team, rowing
on the Potomac River near
Washington, DC.
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