In this special episode, co-hosts Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan take a look back at 2023. Go behind the scenes of Steady State Podcast to learn more about Rachel and Tara's rowing careers, listen to clips from some of their favorite season 4 episodes, consider their big takeaways from interviews with nearly 40 guests in the past 12 months, and get a peak at what's to come in Season 5 in 2024.

Gender Identity Policies series, part 4. The current USRowing gender inclusion policy leaves transgender, non-binary, and other gender nonconforming rowers with very few opportunities to race. Non-binary rower Dr. David Scherzer, and transgender rower/coach Bobbi Kizer, PhD explore their personal journeys with the sport and what policies and petitions mean for the future of rowing.

Gender Identity Policies series, part 3. Kevin Harris’s coaching career began in the early 1990s and culminated with 20+ years at the helm of the University of Tulsa women’s rowing program. Harris offers an in-depth and thought-provoking perspective on DEI, the importance of boathouses as welcoming spaces, the prevalence of transgender and non-binary rowers in the United States, and gender inclusion policies.

A former D1 volleyball player with an M.S. in Sports Administration, Jess Jackson joined USRowing in 2022 as a DEI associate. She hasn’t learned to row (yet), but swears by Orange Theory workouts which incorporate indoor rowing. She’s honest about her first impressions of rowing as exclusive and white, proud of the steps USRowing is taking around diversity and equity, and hopeful that today’s juniors are leading the way in inspiring change for the future of rowing.

Seattle has the Pococks. Philadelphia has the Kellys. And Boston has the Stones. We’re really excited to kick off season 4 with mother/daughter Olympians Lisa and Gevvie Stone. Lisa was a member of the first U.S. women’s Olympic rowing team in 1976 and went on to a 42-year coaching career. Gevvie was a natural when she took up rowing in high school and was a member of the 2012, 2016 and 2021 U.S. Olympic teams.

Like many women who grew up before Title IX, Kathy Frederick spent her young life studying ballet. When, at 42, she learned to row it felt like dancing with partners and she was immediately hooked. Just a few years later in 1993, the loss of a dear friend prompted Kathy to host a fundraising event on the Willamette River. From those modest beginnings Row for the Cure was born.

Concept2 oars and indoor rowing machines are nearly synonymous with rowing today. But it all started in the early 1970s with brothers Dick and Pete Dreissigacker messing around with carbon fiber and fiberglass in a kitchen hoping to develop a better oar - their “secret weapon” for finding more speed on the water.

When Susan Kinne cracked the bottom of a wooden hull, she never could have guessed that nearly 25 years later she’d be a master craftsman handling boat repairs of all sizes at Lake Washington Rowing Club. Just north of 70 years old, Susan handles everything from setting pitch to building Frankenstein 3x boats, is a powerhouse with tools and in a scull, and is a well of information about Pocock Racing Shells.

In the 1960s, Margie Elsberg was dismissed by a male coach at Boston University. Today she and husband Mickey proudly carrying the torch for I, J, and K category rowers.