High Point Rowing Club celebrated its first birthday this weekend with a morning row followed by a potluck brunch for rowers, families and friends at Oak Hollow Lake.
In contrast to a year ago when eight high school students launched the team’s first boat, today’s team boasts almost 40 athletes from public and private high schools across the Triad.
The poignancy of the occasion was captured in a stirring speech to the Crew by team co-captain Sarah Catto, a senior at Westchester Country Day School. “I was not here a year ago for the first row, but neither were most of us,” said Catto. “That is part of what makes this first year of the team such a remarkable story. Everyone here has had their own experience from their first day to today and for all of us here it has been a new love of this sport from the very first stroke.”
“We ask ourselves “WHY THE HECK DO WE DO THIS?”
“You are with a group of your best friends who are all in the same boat…literally…striving for the same goal of doing your best and succeeding! I mean I don’t think there is a better feeling of knowing that every single person you’re in the boat with is working towards the same goal! And I wish there was a better way to describe the feeling you get from crew. But there are really no words to describe the amazing bond between crew members. The definition of a team sport is crew because there are definitely no other sports out there where you literally are relying on everyone in the boat, and need every single person there to reach that goal. I know every single one of us have never felt more blessed to be able to not only find the sport of rowing but to have found each other on our home here on Oak Hollow Lake. High Point crew all the way!”
Team founder Gene Kininmonth says there is an extraordinary community building around the club. “This first year we have laid a cornerstone. There is no question that the sport of rowing is now here to stay in High Point. We are fortunate to have an incredible partner in the City of High Point’s Parks & Recreation department, which provides us with access to one of the most beautiful lakes in North Carolina in Oak Hollow Lake.”
Boys and girls attending any Triad area school (Yrs 9-12) are eligible to join the team. No experience necessary. Email contact@highpointrowing.com or see the Registration page for details.
