When the “Better Brockport” ticket canvassed residents prior to their win in last month’s Village election, the number one issue their supporters had with the new Boathouse was not that it costs them a lot of money (it doesn’t) or that it doesn’t benefit the community (it does), but that the sport of rowing is elitist.
What makes a sport “Elitist”?
Would Brockporters be shocked to learn that for decades their tax dollars have financed other “Elitist” sporting facilities?
I hear no outcry against the numerous “Elites” playing “The Sport of Kings” in Village-funded Corbett Park. Thankfully, you don’t need a palace in Versailles to play tennis, because We the Taxpayers pay to maintain public courts that many of us will never use.
The only thing that makes rowing – or any other sport, for that matter – “Elitist” is regular people’s inability to participate. Brockport Community Rowing takes what is otherwise a fun, healthy, team-building activity off its ivory pedestal, and offers it to everyone, regardless of their economic or social status. BCR is, in fact, anti-elitist.
Shutting down the Boathouse – as some Village Board members seem to think is the will of Brockport residents – would do far more to Keep Rowing Elitist by keeping it out of reach of the Brockport community.
Owning, maintaining, and operating rowboats (known in the lingo as “shells”) requires controlled conditions, specialized safety equipment, trained instructors, and expenses that are difficult to meet without institutional support. This is the primary reason rowing has historically remained in the realm of Ivy League universities and private schools.
Nowadays, more and more communities across America that are lucky enough to sit on a suitable body of water are investing in rowing. Public schools and state colleges are also launching rowing programs due to interest from students, parents, and faculty. New York State subsidizes these efforts because rowing clubs have proven beneficial to the fitness of residents and local economies of towns that host them.
Brockport is fortunate to fit that entire profile and was wise to capitalize on Albany’s support.
Brockport Community Rowing – a registered 501c3 nonprofit – is 100% funded with donations from community members, small businesses, and fellow rowing clubs in the area, who collectively contributed four free boats that we plan to fill with enthusiastic village residents at our Learn To Row Day on August 2.
Most of us will never drive a race car, sail a fancy yacht, or see the inside of Augusta Country Club’s bathroom, but through Brockport Community Rowing, anyone and everyone in Brockport can have at least this “Elite” experience.
For me, though, this is personal.
I spent two years bombing out of a private college (at great expense) where I joined the novice rowing team as a “coxswain,” whose job is to ride in the back of the boat and motivate the rowers through a combination of browbeating, self-humiliation, empty promises, and funny faces. Victory in a race could only be declared after a ceremonial “Tossing of the Coxswain” into the chilly deep, from which few returned.
Most of my teammates were anything but elite – one invariably blasted Tupac as we cruised in his beat-up Bronco to the boathouse; another tootled “Dixie” through the horn of his decked-out Suburban when he arrived. Many of us came from lower-middle-class backgrounds and got there through scholastic achievement rather than family wealth. In the boat, we were teammates, and all that mattered was how well you pulled the oar. I think there’s a lesson for society there.
One thing that separated the elites from the rest of us crab-catching newbies was that they had attended prep schools with rowing programs. Some of them secured freshman-year scholarships due to their experience. They were elite because they’d done it in high school and were our best rowers.
When I moved back here and joined BCR’s board, I saw Brockport Community Rowing as a chance to reconnect with the community and help counter my generation’s dismal lack of leadership in civic organizations. I also recognized an avenue for Brockport’s underprivileged youths to enter “Elite” college programs otherwise beyond their means. It is the goal of my tenure to see the first Brockport High School grad earn a rowing scholarship.
The members of Brockport Community Rowing are not “Elites.” We are your neighbors and friends, and we invite EVERYONE to join us on the canal for our Learn To Row Day on August 2 at the Village Boathouse. Please don’t throw me in the canal.
Ben DiMatteo, Board Member
Brockport Community Rowing
