RowAmerica Rye (RAR) had its most successful run at the USRowing Youth National Championships since the club’s founding in 2013. The competition was held in Sarasota, Florida earlier this month.
Head Coach Marko Serafimovski said the club has come so far since its earliest days with four coaches and ten rowers. This early group was “instrumental in developing the system and structure, implementing the culture, and creating standards as well as raising those standards as the club’s performance grew.”
RAR qualified 19 boats and 134 athletes for youth nationals. Thirteen boats made an a final and 11 of those boats medaled. Across all 8+ events, the club became champions in five events: Men’s and Women’s 1V 8+, Women’s 2v8+, Women’s U17 8+ and Men’s U168+.
“This year’s success came through months and for some years of hard work that these young athletes have put in,” said Serafimovski when he describes the eleven and one half month’s work each athlete puts in to race three or four seven minutes pieces. “It was beautiful to see that all the hard work has paid off but most importantly, it is beautiful to see how this sport and the journey these young athletes go through positively impacts their lives and gets them ready for greater challenges down the road. This is the true success.”
He continued: “We also teach kids that we coaches provide you about 30% of the whole 100% equation, and we give you 100% of that 30%. The rest of it is on you. If we give you 100% we want 100% back from you.”
Maeve Sisk, Claire van Praagh.)
