Laumann launches new program

September 27, 2001
Globe and Mail

TORONTO -- It had been a long time since Silken Laumann had put on a life jacket to sit in a scull. But yesterday, the Olympic rowing hero was back at the Don Rowing Club on the Credit River in Mississauga, sharing a quadruple scull with three unsteady novices at the place where she got her start in the sport two decades ago.They launched the tippy shell, and with it a national grassroots program aimed at children 10 to 18 who are considered "at risk."

Silken Laumann

The program, building off a four-year-old pilot project in Victoria, has 200 prospective rowers lined up to learn from experts and Olympians in seven cities across Canada, said Laumann, the national spokeswoman.

"There are many great sport programs reaching out to youth," the four-time Olympian said. "But the experience of rowing together is a little unique. You have to depend on each other so much. If you don't show up to practice, your boat doesn't go out. "It's a lesson about being dependable, being responsible to one another."

The national co-ordinator of the program is Colleen Miller, also an Olympian from the women's lightweight double in 1996. The name sponsor is Dynamic Mutual Funds, which has been the national rowing team's major sponsor for several years.

Other program sponsors include Rowing Canada; the Optimist Clubs of Canada, which provides transportation to and from rowing venues for the underprivileged kids; the Rock Solid Foundation, a group of law enforcement personnel who train the rowing instructors on how to deal with high-risk youth; and Foundation 2000 Plus, a non-profit amateur athletic association dedicated to sharing the benefits of rowing and paddling sports with Canadians of all ages and abilities.

Laumann said that though she wasn't a child in danger of getting into crime, she lacked direction and self-esteem as a youngster and rowing provided her with a set of life skills that were transferable to other areas, such as teamwork, discipline and communication.

"Rowing provided a place to go, a community where people cared about what I did and what I achieved," she said. The national centres are in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Mississauga and Fredericton. "When I see companies da, CAAWS, girls body image,where to play sports, girls self-esteem, girls soccer, girls cycling, girls and nutrition, nutrition for active girls, Canadian Association for women and sport, girls@play, snowboarding, skating, boarding, girl site, sports girl, extreme girl, mountain biking, skateboards, surfboards, X Games">

"Laryssa Biesenthal coached one kid she thought was the roughest, toughest, most swearing case," Laumann said. "And when the five-week program was done, she saw he went out for his school team. "She burst into tears. She'd reached him."

Candidates are recommended for the program by schools, social agencies and police groups, she said.

reprinted with permission