About

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About

Rainier Valley Rowing began in 2008 to create opportunities for South Seattle teens to overcome barriers they have to accessing their neighborhood swimming pools, boathouse, and blue spaces.

In addition to teaching participants to row, instructors provide strong mentorship, advocacy, and assistance for helping students to overcome some of the most common barriers to participation.

RVR offers:

In-school recruiting and parent/guardian informational sessions

Swimming instruction and water comfort and safety lessons

Healthy living guest speaker series where community leaders make presentations and answer questions on topics such as nutrition, sports medicine, yoga, positive visualization, etc.

Subsidized costs. Program fees are on a sliding scale $0 - $120 /season and no one is turned away for lack of funds

Healthy after-school snacks each day

Van shuttle to & from South Seattle community centers each practice

Opportunities to attend local and away competitions. All regatta fees and travel expenses are included

Intro camps with varsity coaches for those wishing to continue rowing

Assistance attaining financial aid  to cover on-going fees and expenses in future years or rowing for RVR graduates

Assistant coaching opportunities for qualified program graduates

Using rowing as a vehicle, RVR seeks to engage young people to learn healthy living skills, develop a healthy relationship with their maturing bodies, learn important life skills such as communication and perseverance, become an integral part of a team, and have fun with a diverse group of peers they otherwise would not likely interact with.

In its first year, RVR served 12 participants. During the fall, our participants not only passed their float tests but come together as a team to push themselves and to compete in two area regattas. During the spring, all 12 participants returned to see what they could accomplish. Four regattas (races) later and lots of hard work, every participant has all the skills necessary to continue on as a varsity rower throughout the remainder of high school and  beyond if they desire.

Watch the Year 1 Video to see for yourself!