New Program! The Access Rowing Team
The Pocock Foundation’s Access Rowing Committee is excited to announce the launch of a new program that targets eliminating barriers to access for high school students who otherwise might not join a crew team. The program will somewhat echo several successful East Coast programs (G-Row, Row NY) while incorporating some important changes. The end goal is the increased opportunities for program participants through their experiences in rowing, being a part of a positive peer community, and developing healthy relationships with their physical bodies.

Who: Open to all 8-12 graders who are currently in need of assistance to participate in extra-curricular activities, especially those from low-income families who are at increased risk for poor life-long health do to lack of recreational opportunities and skills. The Access program will be hosted by Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center in the Genesee Park neighborhood. Recruiting will take place at Rainier Valley public high schools, and through existing access rowing program partner organizations such as Lakeside LEEP, the Tech Access Foundation (TAF), and Zion Preparatory Academy. Recruiting will begin at schools in late spring and continue throughout the summer.

When: Program Dates: School Year, late August 2008 – June 1, 2009
          Administration Dates: Planning began December 2007

How:The Access Rowing Team is a supplemental program for the traditional junior Learn-to-Row model. In addition to teaching participants to row, instructors will provide strong mentorship, advocacy, and assistance for helping students to overcome some of the most common barriers to participation. Tactics for eliminating barriers will include:

• In-school recruiting and parent/guardian informational nights
• Partnership with local pool for swim / water comfort and safety lessons
• Reduced / subsidized cost
• Healthy after-school snacks
• Transportation assistance
• Academic monitoring and partnerships for assistance
• Subsidized regatta fees and travel expenses
• Transference planning and collaboration with varsity coaches / teams
• Varsity scholarship fund to assist graduate with ongoing fees and expenses
• On-going mentorship and assistant coaching opportunities for qualified program graduates

Two weeks before the start of fall crew season, the Access Team will begin meeting for pool sessions where participants will learn basic deep water comfort and safety skills and advance their swimming abilities. On September 11, 2008 the Team will begin after-school novice rowing sessions at Mt. Baker while staff continue to assist participants through the avenues outlined above. Come spring, Access Team participants and one of their coaches will join with the traditional novice team at Mt. Baker to row and compete. All participants will also receive the added benefits our “healthy living” guest lecture series and opportunities to get to know and work with the varsity coaches in order to prepare themselves for future rowing opportunities.

By the end of the school year, participants will have all the skills necessary to continue on as a varsity rower throughout the remainder of high school and beyond if they desire. To ensure continued access to crew, the Boating Advisory Council at Mt. Baker has made significant scholarship money available to qualifying participants for on-going participation.

Why: The mission of the program will be two-fold: to bring more people into the sport of rowing thereby offering the skills of the rower to more people, and also bringing a wider diversity of people into the sport thereby enriching the sport itself, its athletic body, and the appeal of rowing to the full demographic of the American people. The program will benefit the receiving varsity programs and their athletes as well as the program’s participants.

More Northwest Outreach Progams
The following Northwest programs are recent programs supported by the Access Rowing Committee. For details on each program, click on the program name.

Girl’s Row
Girl’s Row invites girls ages 11-14 from middle-schools throughout Seattle to participate in an introduction to rowing hosted by the University of Washington’s Women’s Rowing Team and Conibear Rowing Club. This 3.5 hour event includes time on-the-water in the UW training barge and mini sessions on fitness, nutrition, staying active, teamwork and water safety.

The event occurs on the University of Washington campus, offering the girls an opportunity to see the college in action. The event gives the participants an opportunity to meet ‘champions’ and athletic women from different generations and envision what might be possible for themselves. Each participant receives a healthy lunch, a t-shirt, gift bag and a stamped ‘passport’ on completion of all the sessions. Some of these young women may go on to independently participate in local rowing and other athletic opportunities. Resources about local rowing and other programs specifically for girls in middle-school are made available to each participant at the event.

Lakeside Education and Enrichment Program (LEEP)
LEEP is a program for young people as they transition from middle to high schools. Each summer, approximately 100 young people, identified by adults in their Seattle communities as having the potential to achieve more than they currently do, join a group of dedicated staff and mentors who prepare them for high school. The emphasis is on creating a positive peer community and safe space where these young people can begin to see their own academic and social potentials. LEEP follows these young people through high school, offering support and guidance toward their goals and college educations.

Orion Center's TREC Summer Rowing Program
The Orion Center is a "YouthCare" program that serves homeless and street dependent youth in Seattle. The Orion Center has a special program, TREC, which aims to use activities in the community to teach clients life skills. Rowing at the Pocock Rowing Center is one such activity. Through rowing, participants are able to experience and then reflect on how they deal with learning a new skill, working as member of a team, receiving feedback, and valuing their own successes and hard work.

Initially, this rowing program was made available to the Orion Center's clients, but later expanded to include young people from several of YouthCare's area shelters. YouthCare services include residential centers specializing in emergency, short-term, and transitional housing as well as adjunct facilities such as the Orion Center which serves these young people through a drop in center, GED and school programs, job skills training and counseling. The Orion Center also offers showers, laundry facilities, and hot meals for young people to age 22.

Due to a high turnover in their participants, summer rowing programs have been offered in a "camp format" where participants attend Monday-Friday for one or two-week camps supported by 1-2 coaches, experienced-rower-volunteers, and several program staff from YouthCare.

Seattle Parks Department’s (SPD) Special Populations Group

The SPD, in partnership with an area boathouse (formerly the Pocock Rowing Center, currently Lake Union Crew) offers rowing to adults with a range of moderate to severe developmental and physical disabilities. Participants attend other common groups and activities through the parks dept., so may arrive knowing one another. Participants transport themselves to the boathouse and wear PFDs while participating. SPD takes care of registration and paperwork, while the boathouse supplies coaches, equipment, and curriculum. These partners work together to recruit a significant number of volunteers and to organize occasional exhibition and competition opportunities.

Technology Access Foundation Rowing Camp

The 2007 Technology Access Foundation (TAF) team ran its first successful rowing program this summer at MBRC. Rowing twice a week, young teens enrolled in their IT Internship program learned to row all-eights and love it. TAF used rowing both as a technical tool for exploring the physics of movement as well as a reward, reflection, and transference opportunity for students who had worked hard in their internships all year.

Zion Preparatory Academy Rowing

Zion Prep is a grade school in Seattle’s South end with a mission “to ensure academic excellence in a supportive Afrocentric, Christian based environment”. In this program, 7th and 8th graders who often live near Seattle’s Lake Washington yet largely come from non-boating and non-swimming backgrounds learn about water comfort, boating safety, rowing, sailing, and kayaking as part of their PE program. The school provides funding and transportation while the boathouse provides safe coaches, equipment and curriculum.