steady state podcast

Reframing the popular, yet limited narrative about rowing culture.
Celebrating the expansive array of rowers, coaches, and coxswains.
Savoring real-life experience from launch to cox seat at every level.

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SPECIAL SERIES

heart health & Emergencies

Only a handful of rowing clubs around the world cater specifically to the lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, questioning and ally community. In Part 1 of our Pride month special, we introduce you to leaders at DC Strokes Rowing Club and the Melbourne Argonauts Queer Rowing Club who talk with us about rowing and the gay rights movement in the 1990s, safe spaces, and why this part of the diversity issue is still relevant today.
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Chicago Rowing Union (CRU) is the Midwest's only LGBTQ+ rowing organization, and one of just a few such clubs in the world. CRU member and social media manager Michael Toutloff talks with us about the importance of safe spaces and being yourself, finding community and competition on the water, and proudly flying the flag at regattas.
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GENDER INCLUSION POLICIES

Dr. Mary O’Connor was a member of the influential 1976 Yale women’s rowing program that sparked big changes following the passage of Title IX. Today, she’s a member of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports – an advocacy group “seeking to elevate and empower female athletes by protecting safety, fairness, and opportunity for girls and women.”
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In this second episode in a special series on gender identity policies in rowing, we talk with Ann Strayer, OLY, Varsity Women’s Coach at Oakland United Rowing. Together with fellow OUR coach and Olympian Erin Cafaro they have written a letter in support of USRowing’s gender identity policy, highlighting the importance of welcoming transgender and non-binary scholastic athletes into the boathouse, and allow them to row as the gender they identify with.
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Gender Identity Policies series, part 3. Kevin Harris’s coaching career began in the early 1990s and culminated with 20+ years at the helm of the University of Tulsa women’s rowing program. Harris offers an in-depth and thought-provoking perspective on DEI, the importance of boathouses as welcoming spaces, the prevalence of transgender and non-binary rowers in the United States, and gender inclusion policies.
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Gender Identity Policies series, part 4. The current USRowing gender inclusion policy leaves transgender, non-binary, and other gender nonconforming rowers with very few opportunities to race. Non-binary rower Dr. David Scherzer, and transgender rower/coach Bobbi Kizer, PhD explore their personal journeys with the sport and what policies and petitions mean for the future of rowing.
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pride

Willamette Rowing Club couple David Setter and Sarah Copeland are enthusiastic about having learned to row as adults and use the word "fun" to describe their rowing life way more than anyone else we've can think of. But one day in 2018, David had a heart attack. Together, David and Sarah recount that day and why he survived, and delve into recovery and returning to the boat. We also come to terms with erg splits going up as we get older and talk about learning to enjoy rowing for the sake of rowing.
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A member of the first U.S. women’s Olympic team and a longtime masters rower, Sue Hooten has a lifetime of rowing memories. She learned to row in California in the early 1970s, really appreciated the boathouse sock box in Philadelphia, and has raced around the world. In March 2018, her husband, former National Team and Vesper Boat Club coach John Hooten, had a medical emergency on the water while training in his 1x. He was out with his training partner, without a coach, and – like most rowers – was not wearing a PFD.
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Peter Kermond has been the face and voice of Burnham Boat Slings since purchasing the business in 1999. When he's not in the shop, or out rowing, he is probably manning a Burnham booth at a regatta. That’s where we met him – at Head of the Charles – in 2022, just a month after he survived a widow maker heart attack. Peter and his wife Carin Reynolds are both successful national team and masters rowers and high school coaches. They are a testament to teamwork, as they navigated Peter’s health emergency and rehabilitation, and his return to racing.
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Damion Winship had only been coaching for the Ancient Mariners Rowing Club for a short while the morning his coaching life changed. A masters rower new to his program had a heart attack on the water. Hear how Damion worked through his emergency checklist, how his CPR training kicked in, and how the crew worked together to try to save a life.
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Rachel Freedman 9/14/23 Rachel Freedman 9/14/23

Mitch King: Finding and Pushing Past Limits

“Physical limitations only exist if you’re willing to find them.” That’s the philosophy of Mitch King, coxswain for River City Rowing Club in Sacramento, CA. Every day he does countless things that doctors said were impossible when he was a kid diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Mitch doesn’t call himself a disability advocate, doesn’t want to be an inspiration, and would rather folks didn’t try to tiptoe around his disability. We talk balancing coxing with graduate school, developing a coxing style, team building, motivation on the erg, and shattering expectations.

Rachel Freedman 9/3/22 Rachel Freedman 9/3/22

[S3] Ep. 18 - Brothers Dick & Pete Dreissigaker: The Innovators Behind Concept2

Concept2 oars and indoor rowing machines are nearly synonymous with rowing today. But it all started in the early 1970s with brothers Dick and Pete Dreissigacker messing around with carbon fiber and fiberglass in a kitchen hoping to develop a better oar - their “secret weapon” for finding more speed on the water.

Rachel Freedman 9/15/21 Rachel Freedman 9/15/21

[S2] Ep. 11: Coach Rachel Le Mieux, Martha’s Moms

As a 5’1, 108lb college freshman, Rachel Le Mieux was literally picked up and placed in a coxswain seat. Today she’s the head coach of Martha’s Moms, a masters women’s team in Seattle, WA. She’s also a USRowing referee, FISA umpire, and Chair of the USRowing safety committee.

Rachel Freedman 11/18/20 Rachel Freedman 11/18/20

Episode 5: Science of Rowing Guys - Will, Blake, and Joe

Tara and Rachel ask the analytical guys behind Science of Rowing –Will Ruth, Blake Gourley, and Joe DeLeo – to reminisce about high school regattas, injuries, and finding direction in life outside the boat. They also tell us about their November initiative to support the A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund.

Plus the Best Part of Your Rowing Week calls from grey whale-spotting Rod Sternagle, South African club founder and rower Val Blacking, and masters rower Jen Huffman, granddaughter of Joe Rantz.

Rachel Freedman 11/2/20 Rachel Freedman 11/2/20

Episode 4: Kevin Goyena, icrew & jason oliver

Kevin Goyena and Jason Oliver are Seattle-based masters rowers, entrepreneurs, and rowing evangelists. We find out about their progression from being adult LTR students, to getting hooked on racing, to finding community through developing holistic rowers. Jason tells us his motivation behind bringing a GoPro in the boat and a drone to regattas; and we ask Kevin about creating iCrew, a team management app to make magnet board sign-ins a thing of the past.

Plus, the Best Part of My Rowing Week call-ins from masters rower Sarah Copeland, Coach Claudia Loeber, Team USA para-rower Pearl Outlaw, writer and trainer Will Ruth, and 2-time gold medalist coxswain Mary Whipple.

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