Collective Regional Boathouse Power broadens audiences and introduces more young people to rowing.

Gretchen Steiger was a force of nature. 

Entering the sport of rowing as a high school athlete, she later became a coach, a mentor, and the parent of a rower. Like many of us, rowing meant an incredible amount to her: Gretchen felt that the connection and commitment to fellow rowers in the boat encouraged a reliance that embodies the values that rowing is all about. 

Those who were lucky enough to know Gretchen and row with her describe her as a fierce competitor who wanted to win but also deeply appreciated the camaraderie generated with others in the boat. She was known for her loyalty to her family, friends, and sports teams, her laughter, which could fill a room with happiness, and her ability to listen, which often transpired into diplomatic discussions at the boathouse.

Gretchen took her coaching role very seriously and wanted to create an experience for young athletes that would help them grow and lead a fulfilling life after they finished rowing. Many coaches she worked with aspire to emulate her dedication to being an advocate for everyone on the team. 

“She wanted to inspire young women, especially through sports to be strong and confident throughout their whole life,” Coach Ellie Bird reflects. “She told us to be fierce, to make space to take our spot on the team, and to make this a more diverse sport.”

Her legend lives on in the community of Olympia Area Rowing.

When Gretchen was diagnosed with cancer, she approached the disease in the same way she did in many areas of her life - as a scientist. She researched different approaches to beating the disease, determined what to eat for optimum recovery and fueling, and kept moving forward. She didn’t want to be seen as dying and continued to make plans for the future. One of these plans included setting up a gift to Olympia Area Rowing for a scholarship fund that would enable athletes to row if they didn’t have the means to do so. The Gretchen Steiger Fund was established in 2019 and while it wasn’t restricted to do so, the support has primarily served youth rowers.

Before the pandemic disrupted the George Pocock Rowing Foundation’s Athlete Support and Retention program, the organization was administering financial aid scholarships to youth athletes in the Seattle area. In fact, prior to 2020, the foundation was financially supporting more than 100 middle and high school students in King County at local boathouses on the Seattle waterways.

As the pandemic eased, additional requests for program and participant assistance came from boathouses outside of Seattle. The foundation began funding as many of those requests as possible.

In 2022, Richard Ramsey, Olympia Area Rowing’s president, and O.A.R’s Youth Parent Representative, Mike Bosco, approached Jenn Gibbons, GPRF’s Executive Director, with an idea. 

As Youth Parent Representative, Bosco was charged with overseeing the Gretchen Steiger Fund and while the GPRF was currently managing the scholarship administration process, Bosco recognized that without a long-term financial investment strategy, the Fund would eventually be depleted.

Bosco conveyed his vision to the GPRF: create a collaborative scholarship fund that can serve more kids throughout the entire Pacific Northwest region. 

The PNW is home to numerous rowing organizations and boathouses working towards the same goals of increasing access to the sport of rowing and providing life-changing experiences to those who participate.

Operating under the assumption that most individual rowing clubs have established an athlete scholarship fund but their current athletes aren’t always the ones that need help, Bosco had a realization.

“If every club is independently raising funds for scholarships, and I assume they are, then we should be doing this together. It seems to me that those who need help don’t always have the folks around to support them and vice versa. How do we get an entire region to support youth and distribute it to clubs who need it?“ Bosco pondered.

In an effort to solve this question, Bosco, Ramsey, Gretchen Steiger’s husband, John Calambokidis, and Gibbons came together to discuss the Gretchen Steiger Fund and its future. The result was a generous gift from O.A.R’s GS scholarship fund to the GPRF. The purpose of this gift is to create a regional scholarship fund to be supported by various groups and individuals in the future.

Would Gretchen have supported this fund? Wholeheartedly, yes. Historically, the sport of rowing has served a particular demographic. But Gretchen felt that there are incredible benefits to be gained by including a broader audience and they should be allowed the opportunity to participate as well. This new Fund will help to broaden the reach of rowing to better serve more young people in the region. The Fund will encourage a larger community of supporters, which promotes a more sustainable strategy. And by having the GPRF oversee a Fund that benefits the entire region’s young athletes, it enables institutional knowledge retention, which is a win for all, since turnover and short-term parent volunteer positions can lead to the loss of historical knowledge at regional boathouses.  

Bosco and Ramsey are enthusiastic that encouraging other boathouses to be philanthropic in this way, can demonstrate the entire rowing community’s collective power.

“Together we can make an incredibly positive impact, certainly more so than by going it alone.” Ramsey expressed.

That sounds like what rowing is all about.