Hi,

My name is Kim.  My 13 year-old daughter, Molly, has become interested in rowing, particularly in becoming a coxswain.  Molly is pretty athletic, and recently trained with the US Olympic Luge Team in Lake Placid, NY.  She was offered another spot in next year’s screening camp, but the coach was frank with us and said that because she is not going to be even average height, she’ll never make the Olympic Development Team.  They reserve spots on the Olympic Development Team for promising athletes that are at least average, if not tall for their age. 

Molly was initially quite disappointed, but has moved on and is setting her sights on other things.  In the past, she toured with the National Tour of Annie and was on Broadway in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We’ve now had to relocate to the Los Angeles area.  After closely watching the Olympics this summer, she became fascinated in rowing after noticing that she was much like the coxswains, short and loud (which is probably what has brought her much success in professional musical theatre!), and she knows how to steer well, too, she believes, as evidenced by her success steering in luge down Mt. Van Hoevenburg in Lake Placid!

If anyone can give us advice on where to start with a girl that wants to be a coxswain, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Kim