How the GPRF helps kids FIND, START, and STAY rowing

The George Pocock Rowing Foundation was founded in 1984, so that makes us 40 years old this year. If you’ve been with us for the entire time or you’re just learning about the Pocock Foundation today, here’s a brief overview of the work we do, 40 years later.

George Pocock was a legendary boat builder and a rowing evangelist. He wanted everyone to row because he believed that rowing had the power to change lives. 

Everything we do at the George Pocock Rowing Foundation is aimed at helping young people access and experience the life-changing sport of rowing.

We want kids to find, start, and stay rowing. 

Let’s unpack this a bit.

When we say we want kids to find rowing, it means we want kids to understand rowing is not only an option for some people but a possibility FOR THEM. We introduce rowing in public schools through PE teachers, normalizing the sport and partnering with local boathouses so kids have the same opportunities to continue as any other sport they learn about in gym class.

Once they have found rowing, we want kids to start rowing.  Starting to row, for some young people, requires financial support. This could mean a scholarship to cover rowing fees, transportation to get to and from practice, or gear so they don’t miss out on being fully part of the team. And starting to row, for all young people, requires a positive, welcoming, and inclusive first experience with the sport. 

Once they have started rowing, we want kids to stay rowing. Staying in rowing requires that we create belonging in boathouses, where kids don’t just row, they contribute to the culture and envision a future where rowing is their thing, maybe even for life. This water, those boats, it all becomes my teammates, my community, my thing. Where I can try, I can fail, I can try again, and I can grow. As George said, “That is the legacy rowing can leave you.” I choose to surround myself with these people, in this place, so that I can get better every single day.

Isn’t that what we all want to be doing in life, even now?

And the more skills we can give young people early on the more opportunities they have to thrive for a lifetime. 

So that is why every dollar we raise during our fundraising efforts goes directly towards making rowing possible for a young person. 

That’s what’s behind our model when we say we want to help kids find, start, and stay rowing.

Here are some ways that we are helping young people, particularly those who have been consistently underrepresented from rowing, find their team and transform their lives through the sport.

• Our Athlete Support and Retention program aims to fund 145 comprehensive need-based scholarships this year so that youth who need financial support to row, can row at 13 different boathouses across the Pacific Northwest. The goal of this program is to remove the financial and social barriers that prevent youth, especially youth of color and those facing socioeconomic barriers, from accessing and continuing to participate in the sport of rowing.

• Camp Lucy, a free ten-day rowing camp that allows middle school girls to develop life-changing socio-emotional skills, aims to fund four sessions this year, introducing at least 50 young women to the sport. The goal of Camp Lucy is to use rowing to show young women how awesome they are, and to create sisterhood and autonomy in a boathouse setting. 

• Our ERG ED® program brings rowing into the classroom for over 55,000 kids across the country. This year, we will grant another two new sites thanks to a partnership with Concept2 Inc., increasing access to rowing for even more young people around the nation. The goal of ERG ED® is to introduce the sport of rowing to all young people and to create viable pathways for students to continue rowing.

• Our Regional Grants Program aims to fund boathouses throughout the region that are working to increase access for young people through projects that their annual operations cannot afford to support. In the 2023-2024 grant cycle, 8 boathouses around the Pacific Northwest were funded with $50,000 in support. The goal of this program is to empower boathouses in the PNW region to increase access and improve the rowing experience for those that have been historically excluded from the sport.

Our vision is to build and support an inclusive rowing community that is accessible for all young people because George believed that every kid deserves a team!