Otsego Area Rowing Runs
Junior Training Camp

by Ed Ryan and Lang Keith

Maybe you’ve seen the rowing shells on our lake in the early morning “Glimmerglass” hours, or maybe you’ve been intrigued by John Kruzinkski rowing a racing shell in the opening credits of the Jack Ryan series. Regardless, how does anyone learn to row a very skinny boat, let alone steer it when facing backwards?

This past month, our rowing club, Otsego Area Rowing (OAR), based out of Brookwood Point, hosted two rowing camps for novice junior rowers, ages 8 to 15, and successfully taught 18 brave young souls the art of rowing. The young rowers came from schools around the region. The coaches were all experienced rowers, including one former U.S. Olympic rower, Andrea Theis, and Whitney Macdonald, as well as Laura Kilty, Joe Novitski, Ed Ryan and Lang Keith. During the second week coaching was augmented with graduates of OAR’s previous camps: Iz Dudek, Creighton Williams and Charlotte Feury.