The 2017 Grant Winners and How they Won

Does your program refurbish and re-refurbish old equipment just to get on the water? Do you need a SpeedCoach to take your training to the next level, but can't afford one? Read about this year's winners to see how the NK Grant works and what you can do to increase your chances of winning one.

How the Athlete Grant works:

Note: The Athlete Grant has been replaced by the EmPower Oarlock Social Media Ambassador Program. All ambassadors have been chosen for 2018.

We select ten athletes directly from the pool of applicants to receive a SpeedCoach GPS 2. Decisions are made based on need and the strength of the application.

How the Program Grant works:

Every year ten organizations receive $500 to spend on NK equipment. Most programs put this money toward a new CoxBox, but it's good for anything NK makes, including coaching tools like the Interval watch and Blue Ocean Megaphone or replacement parts like wiring and speakers.

We read all the applications programs submitted to us by the deadline (usually April 1). From those applications we select 20 finalists to put on our Facebook page for public voting. These 20 finalists have two weeks to gather as much support as they can from friends, family, and other social media followers.

The five finalists who receive the most likes on Facebook automatically receive grants. Five more programs receive grants based on need and the strength of their application.

2017 Athlete Grant Winners

Note: The Athlete Grant has been replaced by the EmPower Oarlock Social Media Ambassador Program. All ambassadors have been chosen for 2018.

Sophia Vitas - USRowing Training Center

Annika Christensen - Three Rivers Rowing Association

Alex Pappas - Wyandotte Boat Club

Kerry Simmonds - NYAC

Meghan Wheeler - USRowing Training Center

Brendan Harrigan - Riverside Boat Club

Jacob Georgeson - Riverside Boat Club

Ryland Hart - Mira Costa High School

Madeline Goss - University of Texas at Austin

Richard Hansen - National High Performance Center

2017 Program Grant Winners:

Most Likes: Newburgh Free Academy Crew Team

"My team formerly shared equipment with another local rowing club. Last year when the entities separated all assets due to our former head coaches retirement. It was discovered that the rowing club, not the school team owned all of the megaphones, marine radios and cox boxes and all sculling equipment. Even though we are a school team, recognized by the school district, the parents group raises all of the funds so the the athletes do not need to pay a participation fee to compete on our team. Due to the immediate need and lack of equipment, the parents group purchased some used cox boxes from West Point Military Academy, but could not afford to purchase new equipment to outfit the team for the season."

McMaster University Rowing Club

"Our program is funded and run by the student athletes. Due to this we are significantly constrained when making equipment purchases. To date our funding has been directed at trying to increase the size of our fleet to help reduce our need to borrow/rent equipment. We need to prioritize maintaining enough cox boxes rather than purchasing new speed coaches, despite how much they would help with our competitive progress."

Denver University Club Rowing

"The University of Denver Club Rowing program has only been in existence for four years, but based upon the pride and dedication exhibited by our team, one might think our program had been reputable for years... In just the past year, our program has grown by an astounding 55%. The pride and success of our program is something we build together every day, even though we row in boats that are 22 years old (at the youngest), and make do with the equipment we are able to borrow from other rowing programs in the area. We plan to achieve everything we set our minds to."

Boston 1 Dragon Boat Team

"Our dragon boat team is a very modest team and has only been incorporated for the last four years. While our accomplishments have been rather impressive -- such as being ranked second in the Eastern Region Division and seventh in the USA -- we have consciously tried to offer a very competitive membership fee that covers our boat rentals and insurance so that we can recruit members from all of the Boston area regardless of ability to pay."

Marine Science Magnet High School Crew

"We are small school that serves a very diverse population of students. Our goal is to build a program and give opportunities to all students regardless of their socioeconomic background. We fund-raised enough money to buy two used 8+ shells and will be teaching an all novice crew the sport of rowing. Our main goal for this season is to teach the sport to as many students as possible and to build traditions that will last for decades to come."

Also Selected: Reach High Rowing

"We are hoping to take either a quad or double to youth nationals along with continuing to expand our program. We hope to have a strong summer camp to allow us to recruit new rowers and create opportunities through rowing for underprivileged youth... Unfortunately this past year was tougher on us financially. One of our large grants we expected did not end up going through. Along with this we had a more boat damage we had to deal with due to the fact that storms over the winter season left a lot of unmovable debris in our basin."

North Star Community Rowing

"North Star Community Rowing’s mission is to empower individuals, transform lives and build community through rowing. Our programs currently serve inner city youth; and adults and adolescents with physical disability. As a new organization, our most practical goals for the season are 1) to finish outfitting our fleet to allow us to continue to grow and serve a larger population, and 2) effective and safe training for our youth and adaptive teams."

Sportable Rowing

"Sportable's rowing program is working to develop both novice and experienced scullers and sweep rowers in all adaptive rowing classification categories. Our training is focused primarily toward success at the annual Virginia Boat Club Sprints Regatta in June and the Capital Sprints Regatta in July. This year, we are also increasing our focus on the development of our competitive athletes with Paralympic potential."

Huntsville-Madison County Rowing and Water Sports

Goals for this year are "development and growth of competitive youth rowing programs and adding adult and middle school programming. [We would like to ] qualify and compete in multiple boats at Youth Nationals and Club Nationals. [Other goals include] serving our community with summer LTR and disadvantaged youth programs as well as community free row days."

Eastern Shore Community Rowers

"As a passionate and growing group of enthusiasts, we hit the floor running last fall, formed a Board, wrote 13 pages of by-laws, formed a 501c3, raised enough $ to buy two very old 4+ Vespolis off the Naval Academy, and hit the river with determination in less than 8 weeks. This winter, we have acquired a Pocock 8+, and spent the winter in a warehouse sanding, patching and painting every last inch of these three boats, oars and rigging. We have modest dues as we have no boathouse, and are trying very hard to raise funds for PFDs (now required in Maryland), headlights, dock lights, a shed, more oars, slings, and of course cox boxes! At this point, we don't even own a megaphone."

What do we look for?

Student-run clubs at colleges and universities are so impressive. They operate with constant turnover and impossible budgets and somehow manage to get their team coached, outfitted, transported, rigged and to the start line on time. You know who you are. Way to go.

We also appreciate programs that serve low-income and diverse communities, especially the ones that prioritize keeping participation fees low in order to make the sport truly available to everyone. Rowing and other water sports should not just be for the wealthy.

We love to see organizations that get as creative with fundraising as they do with stretching the dollars they raise. Erg-a-thons, car washes, spandex sales, (grant writing), leaf raking and snow shoveling all matter. We want want to see our grant money go as far as possible, and we're confident that programs that work this hard for funding will make good use of it.