New Bedford Rowing Center Wants Every SouthCoast Kid in a Boat

New Bedford Rowing Center has a simple goal for local kids, and cost is not part of it.

The club works out of a big white Quonset hut on Pope's Island, tucked behind Noah's Place Playground, where the long, eight-plus person boats are stored. Vice Chair Sheila May said young rowers come from all over the region, not just New Bedford.

"There's no limitation in terms of what town you're coming from," May said. "We've got kids from Marion, Mattapoisett, Dartmouth, New Bedford, all around."

Scholarships for Every Session

Youth rowing is offered for ages 12 to 18 and runs session by session in spring, summer and fall, with indoor training on new Concept2 rowing machines in a Belleville Avenue mill space over the winter. The current fall juniors session runs into early November.

Families pay by session, but May said nobody gets turned away.

"We have scholarships available for everyone," she said. "Lack of money won't be the reason a local kid doesn't get a chance to row here."

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A Growing School Partnership

The center has worked with New Bedford Public Schools for years, hosting Sea Lab students for a week of rowing each summer. Last year, the two partnered to land a grant from a foundation in memory of the famed George Pocock, the late boat builder made famous by the book and movie Boys in the Boat. The Pocock Foundation delivered an Erg Ed program with 20 Concept2 rowing machines worth more than $20,000. The program was complete with an online curriculum for the schools. The rowing center then trained gym teachers how to use them, with the long term hope of building interest in middle school and putting those students on the water in high school.

Scholarship Opportunities

May said college scholarships are real, especially for young women, but they are not the whole story.

"It's just life skills," she said. "The confidence it gives them, the maturity, the resiliency, teamwork. For a lot of these kids, this is their second home."

More information and registration are at newbedfordrowing.org.