On this International Wheelchair Day, I'd like to share my past weekend with you. On Sunday, I helped coach an adaptive rowing introduction for those with spinal cord injury at Bair Island Aquatic Center, where I am a part of the adaptive program as an athlete, outreach, and coach. I was the only coach that uses a wheelchair. Two weeks ago, when I went to USRowing's coach training, I was the first coach that uses a wheelchair to participate in the training (definitely their current virtual training, I'm not sure about in person).
The other coaches and the volunteers found it interesting that I knew most of the participants at our event. While I did directly invite some of my friends and past teammates, I knew so many people simply because the adaptive sports community is rather small, especially women. I've had mostly male coaches, teammates/peers, and mentors. I've had one female coach, a few female mentors, and more teammates/peers mostly because I sought them out and some groups have formed, but the number is still low.
Due to Covid, we had the event set up for 3 people at a time for each hour. After showing each group the boat and introducing them to the coaches, I assigned them to a coach and they were introduced to the erg (rowing machine) as this was an introduction to get people with spinal cord injury into rowing for exercise, recreation, or competition. And everything starts on land; with adaptive rowers having the added need to figure out seating and transferring.
I was assigned to roam.. pretty much so I could talk to everyone. Plus I'm still working on mentor hours for that coach training ;) I'm happy to say everyone had a great time. More importantly, everyone learned something and everyone taught something.
Afterwards, I was talking to my coach about the event and she pointed out that it was SO important/amazing that I was there as a coach. She wasn't one of the first female rowers, but she knew those ladies.. and it was years before there were female coaches and refs; even now and in every sport, adaptive and able-bodied, it's rare to have a female coach or see a female official (I pointed out the Super Bowl announcers talking about the first female ref every time the camera was on her). We're doing a bit of the same in adaptive rowing right now. The USRowing coach training had a whole section on inclusion and diversity, and I ended up talking/teaching more than I intended just because I could give first hand experience.
Representation matters. There's a moment of joy when you see a coach that looks like you, and I was happy to provide that moment on Sunday, to have some suggestions or answers the other coaches may not have had. I definitely prefer learning an adaptive sport from an adaptive coach, or at least knowing there's someone around to answer some questions that only another adaptive athlete can answer (luckily, I knew a couple awesome ladies in rowing before I got started). For the same reasons, I prefer learning from female coaches (the one I have is my favoriiiite!), or at least having female teammates. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but representation matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment