Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors Christen New Boats

8/29/2008


TULSA OK – The Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors are proud to announce the christening of three new doubles racing shells, donated to the club by a family foundation. The ceremony took place on August 22, 2008 at the 21st Street boathouse amidst cheers, applause and splashes of champagne. The new boats were christened John T, Mary K and Sonata.

Of the recent donation, Head Coach Neil Bergenroth stated, “I’m confident that our new small boats program will sow seeds for future success and opportunity for all that use them.” I thank the foundation and appreciate their willingness to support our vision for adult and youth rowing in Tulsa. The foundation represents one of many supporters of the program who recognize the value that the program has in the lives of the community of Tulsa.”

The addition of the doubles boats is a significant step forward for the juniors rowing program. Now that the athletes can practice in the smaller, more responsive boats, they have the means to improve their skills significantly. In the larger boats with four or eight rowers, coaching individual performance can be difficult. In the smaller boats, athletes are more responsible for their technique and can better evaluate their movement and form. The rowers and coaches look forward to using the new doubles boats during this fall season.

The Tulsa Juniors Rowing program was formed 17 years ago and is one of two juniors programs in the state of Oklahoma. Coach Bergenroth is a former collegiate rower at Boston University and former member of Great Britain’s Junior National Rowing Team. Through Coach Bergenroth’s expertise, the girls varsity team took second place and the boys varsity team took third place at the Central District Youth Championships in Oklahoma City in May. The girls varsity earned a trip to the US Rowing Youth National Championship in Cincinnati in June.

When asked to comment on his experience with the Tulsa Juniors team, Bergenroth stated, “It’s great to manage an environment where there is great opportunity for all of our student athletes. More than ten athletes from our club have gone on to row at the collegiate level in programs such as Boston University, Yale, Wellesley, Gonzaga, TU, and OCU.”

The Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors Team will offer a Learn-To-Row week to recruit high school age athletes interested in learning how to row in racing shells. Learn-To-Row sessions run Tuesday, Sept. 2nd through Saturday, Sept. 6th from 4:15PM to 6:15PM. The fee for the week of coaching and equipment is $120, which will be pro-rated towards the rowing club membership fee if a participant decides to join for the season. Required forms and information about the Juniors program can be found at www.tulsajuniorsrowing.org