History
A Brief History of the Spackenkill Rowing Club
Established 1996
The Spackenkill Rowing Club (SRC) was started in the Spring of 1996 by Spackenkill Junior, Shoshana Clark, who wanted to bring her passion for rowing to her new high school. She joined with Josh Kaplan, who commuted every day from his job in NYC as Director of Student Services at Bun Gurion University of the Negev in order to coach. They gathered 35-40 very eager and energetic students and their parents and launched themselves into a huge developmental effort to offer rowing to the students of Spackenkill. In the course of a few of months, they successfully trained and practiced for two hours a day off and on the water, ran car washes and sold plants to pay operating expenses, borrowed and rented boats and equipment, and networked with other rowing high schools and colleges to find a storage and launch site. Parents could be seen strapping the 2 halves of the 60 foot boat on top of their cars to get to races and once there standing in the rain to cheer on the fledgling team and feed them bagels and cocoa.
They couldn't have done it alone. Vassar College helped by letting them use their training facilities. Marist College found them a place to store the boat. Arlington and Poughkeepsie High Schools shared their dock. Niskayuna High School loaned them a boat and Mid-Hudson Rowing Association loaned them oars. They persevered in the face of sizable obstacles, learned to row (usually in the rain), and had a wonderful first season - competing in three meets including the NYS championships.
They couldn't have done it alone. Vassar College helped by letting them use their training facilities. Marist College found them a place to store the boat. Arlington and Poughkeepsie High Schools shared their dock. Niskayuna High School loaned them a boat and Mid-Hudson Rowing Association loaned them oars. They persevered in the face of sizable obstacles, learned to row (usually in the rain), and had a wonderful first season - competing in three meets including the NYS championships.
