Junior Kailee Powell started rowing at Row New York last summer and since then has fallen in love with the sport. She sat down to talk to me about not only being a person of color in rowing, but being a person of color on a co-ed rowing team.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
I heard you do rowing. How did you manage to get into the sport?
My mother introduced it to me and I did it over the summer. From then on, I became interested in it.
Is it something you see yourself doing long term?
Yeah, definitely. I plan on getting recruited and rowing in college.
What made you so passionate about the sport?
I think it’s because of how competitive it is with my teammates and with other teams, it encourages me to keep going.
I know that competitiveness often fuels people to break boundaries in their sports, but it’s hard to have healthy competition when others don’t cooperate. How are the people you work with?
They’re really fun, even though they’re better than me. It’s a lot of fun to see our scores get better together.
Do you think rowing is underrated and deserves more attention in the world of sports, or do you think it’s not well known for a reason?
No, it’s really underrated. I especially want to see more people of color because I’m one of the only Black girls. There are three other Black girls on my team, so it’s a little bit sad.
Does the absence of diversity affect the quality of the sport or does that push you to do even better?
It pushes me to do even better but it can be a bit scary because I could push myself too far.
Do you think you get the recognition that you need in your team as a young woman of color?
Most definitely. I think that we all see each other as equals. There are more boys than girls but we are better than the boys.
Do you think there are any common misconceptions surrounding rowing?
There’s a joke that rowers only listen when they’re being yelled at. The yelling helps though, especially when they’re encouraging words.
How has rowing changed the course of your schedule? How do you balance school and the sport?
It’s really hard. I always get home at around ten because practice is usually really long so I would do my homework on the bus ride home.
Is there any sort of advice that you would give to someone who’s trying to get into rowing?
It’s a mental sport as much as it is physical. There are times when you want to stop in the middle but you can’t because you’ll slow everyone down so just keep going. It’s gonna suck for the first few months but the more you keep at it you’ll see the improvement.
