CREATIVE THOUGHT AT WORK Pulling for local kids
“They pull the oars in and finish at their chins, but they’re out there,” says Bob Tarrant ’78, co-founder of the Saratoga Rowing Center. “We run sculling camps for 8- to 12-year-old kids—summer programs, after-school programs.” Tarrant continues, “At the novice level, kids that are 8 years old are easier to teach than novices that are 50. Adults have to kick the door to learning back open. But little kids, by and large, are fearless. If you put a 9-year-old in a racing single on the third day of camp, she’ll flip and not care. She’ll figure out what she did wrong and not flip again.” Neither Tarrant nor wife Jean Tierney
Tarrant ’79—known by many as Bean, he says—rowed at Skidmore, as the college had no varsity crew in their student days. They started Saratoga Rowing Center in 2003, after he decid- ed to leave his fami- ly’s manufacturing business.
He says, “We’ve
“PUTTING A 9-YEAR-OLD IN A BOAT, WITH THE EQUIPMENT SIZES WE HAVE, IT’S DEMANDING ON THEM. BUT THEY’RE LEARNING SO MUCH OUT THERE.”
had some cool successes with a couple of rowers who started at 8 or 9 and went on to the competitive rowing program” at Saratoga Rowing Association, a partner to the Tarrants’ rowing center. “It’s fun to watch them head off to row for Har- vard or Brown.” Started in 1996, SRA has grown into a vibrant hub of rowing in what its head coach Chris Chase calls a “rowing-crazy town. One in 12 kids in the high school here in Saratoga Springs is a rower.” Chase explains that
BOB ’78 AND JEAN TIERNEY TARRANT ’79 PREP FOR COACHING DUTIES AT THEIR SARATOGA ROWING CENTER.
26 SCOPE SPRING 2013
the Tarrants’ sculling program for youngsters makes his team stronger. He says, “Bob and Bean were both scullers. They taught their three daugh- ters to scull. And doing the program for 8- to 12-year-olds was a niche they wanted to fill.” Chase has 177 kids on the SRA team, “and every kid can row a sin- gle. They come to us al- ready knowing how to handle the boats.” When asked if he knows of other learn-to-row pro- grams that teach elemen- tary school kids, Tarrant replies, “I haven’t heard of any in the United States.” That’s partly why he adds, “Bean and I feel sculling in this
country could use a boost.” Sounds like he and his wife are doing that, but he counters, “It’s the kids that are doing it. They’re the stars.” Chase jumps in with a thought about Tarrant’s style. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s incredibly detail-oriented and methodical, as a coach
should be. He’s stern with the kids, but a lot of fun.” Tarrant’s program is usually full. He says, “Mostly we operate from waiting lists. Mom and Dad want to give their kids a taste of rowing.” But it’s not easy: “Listen, putting a 9-year-old in a boat, with the equipment sizes we have, it’s demanding on them. I don’t let them graduate to the next level until they can steer a single and navigate on a small river that may have 40 shells out during a varsity practice. It’s sometimes a lot to ask, but it’s important. We keep our camps small, no more than 10 kids with three coaches, because you can’t mess around with kids on the water. But they’re learning so much out there.” Tarrant smiles as he talks. “These kids are amazing. They’re learning to scull in equipment that’s oversized for them, which means they have to learn how to handle it. It would be like asking you to scull with sweep oars. You’d end up with a lot of control as a rower.”
Both coaches say they are operating at maximum capacity. “During practice we have 25 singles, 20 pairs, seven coxed quads, plus 10 boats with Bob’s kids in them,” says Chase. “We run two practice times a day. It’s the only way it can happen.”
Is “it” getting all the kids on the water or getting all the kids to become great rowers? Either way, in Saratoga Springs, with the Tarrants as youth coaches, row- ing starts early in life.
Adapted with permission from “Ahead of the Curve,” by Jen Whiting, in the Novem- ber 2012 Rowing magazine.
GARY GOLD
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