Capital Juniors and Wisco alum Rebekah Armstrong talks about the (slowly) changing face of rowing in the United States, finding mentors and support, and her drive to help BIPOC athletes as a certified mental performance consultant.

In this second episode in a special series on gender identity policies in rowing, we talk with Ann Strayer, OLY, Varsity Women’s Coach at Oakland United Rowing. Together with fellow OUR coach and Olympian Erin Cafaro they have written a letter in support of USRowing’s gender identity policy, highlighting the importance of welcoming transgender and non-binary scholastic athletes into the boathouse, and allow them to row as the gender they identify with.

Dr. Mary O’Connor was a member of the influential 1976 Yale women’s rowing program that sparked big changes following the passage of Title IX. Today, she’s a member of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports – an advocacy group “seeking to elevate and empower female athletes by protecting safety, fairness, and opportunity for girls and women.”

Jalen Baldwin, Angelina Koch, and Faby Velazques – our third-annual class of Changemaker Scholars to attend the USRowing Annual Convention – are a young, diverse group, all in the early years of their coaching careers. We talk about the people and ideas that sparked them at the convention, and what they’re exited to put into practice this season.

Corin Wiggins, a recruited coxswain for the Hobart College men’s crew, established @TheBlackCoxswain Instagram account in 2020, in an effort to connect athletes of color in the rowing community. Two years later, she has forged a community of thousands online and on the water.

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.

When eight octogenarian rowers and a coxswain take on the Head of the Charles, the lessons are huge: about lifelong fitness, being relentlessly active, and those moments you can only find after shoving off the dock.

When Sophie Brown wanted to learn to row, a coach asked her “Why would you do this if you are disabled?” Her reply: “Why not?” More than a decade later, a drive to find the perfect stroke has brought her two Henley wins. She’ll be checking off a bucket list item when she crosses the pond to race a PR2 mixed double at the 2022 Head of the Charles.

New Zealand Olympic gold medalist Eric Murray is known for dominating in the men’s pair with partner Hamish Bond. From humble beginnings as an awkward teenage athlete, Eric quickly discovered that being 6’5” translated into impressive erg splits. Coaches noticed too, and it was a one way ticket to the national team, World Rowing Championships, and the Olympics.