When John Cohn, NRC's Executive Director and Head Coach, told me he had an open position for a full-time rowing coach four years ago, I was at a turning point in my young career. I was unhappy with my current job and feeling stuck. Everyone around me was telling me to find another engineering job but something my head kept telling me that wasn't the right move. John and I met on a Monday, the job was posted on Tuesday, and I'd put in my 2 weeks notice at my engineering job less than a week later.
While this was one of the scariest moves I've ever made, I haven't regretted it for a minute. Coaching at NRC has taught me many things but most importantly, it's taught me the impact of bringing your best self to work.
Please bear with me while I toot our collective horns!
The staff at Newport Rowing Club is incredibly passionate. We genuinely love nerding out about rowing, leadership, nutrition, training methodology, and athletics. We are meticulous about our communications with athletes, parents, and our greater membership even spending days bouncing email drafts back and forth before sending them to make sure the wording is just right. We are constantly reading leadership books, attending webinars, and talking to other coaches to learn as much as we can about our field.
But the best part of all this is the way it impacts the club. Slowly over the past 5-10 years, NRC has become a team where all athletes feel welcome. As long as you try your best and have a good attitude, there's a place for you. If you have been in sports since you were 3 or if you have never done anything athletic before, there's a place for you at NRC. If you want to compete nationally or enjoy rowing daily with your peers, there's a place for you.
There are so many organizations that need our financial support these days. For those of us fortunate enough to have money to donate, it can be difficult to choose where that money should go. I urge you to think about the high school and middle schoolers who have been affected by this pandemic. Sports, social time, and school are not trivial things to them. For many of them, programs like ours are a lifeline, getting young people out of their shell, showing them their true capabilities, and helping them develop into productive, happy, healthy members of society.
Your support will keep our lights on, our staff paid, and our programs running virtually until we are able to return to in-person practices. Please contribute what you can so we can be ready to re-open as soon as it's safe to do so.
