Becoming a Para Coxswain

August 14, 2023 Ruth Marr Comments

Johanna Knight has an ambition. Actually, she has several, but the one that stands out is being selected to be the para coxswain for the US national team. As one of the first recipients of the revised NK Sports Grant Program, Johanna used her $500 grant to purchase a CoxBox GPS amplifier with a pink bumper. She has the dream to use that CoxBox® in the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles. In the meantime, Johanna has put it to good use. The NK Sports team rushed delivery so that Johanna could have it for the Windermere Cup Opening Day Regatta in Seattle in May. Johanna did an Instagram takeover for NK Sports for 24 hours during the regatta. The Coxbox was there!

Johanna Knight, NK Sports Grant Winner

A quick para primer

Earning a coxswain seat on a national team is hard, as Kristin Kit from the Tokyo Olympics gold medal women's eight will tell you. Becoming a coxswain for elite para-rowing is even harder. There are coxed fours and eights for men and for women in elite rowing, but there is only one coxed para-rowing boat: PR3 Mixed Coxed Four or PR3Mix4+.

Para rowing used to be called adaptive rowing. In 2017 the distance raced changed from 1000m to 2000m for all para events. The classes of boats changed from descriptions such as "legs, trunks, arms" or LTA to PR1, PR2 and PR3. The International Paralympic Committee describes the classes as follows:

PR1 are rowers with minimal or no trunk function which primarily propel the boat through arm and shoulder function. These rowers have poor sitting balance, which requires them to be strapped to the boat/seat.
PR2 are rowers that have functional use of arms and trunk but have weakness/absence of leg function to slide the seat.
PR3 are rowers with residual function in the legs, allowing them to slide the seat. This class also includes athletes with vision impairment.

World Rowing defines nine boat classes:

PR3 : mixed coxed four, mixed double sculls, men's pair, women's pair
PR2 : mixed double sculls, men's single sculls, women's single sculls
PR1 : men's single sculls, women's single sculls

Able-bodied athletes are not precluded from competing as coxswains in the PR3Mix4+ boat in recognition of their role in safety. And while the Paralympics are still held separately from the Olympics, para events are now incorporated into World Rowing Cup events and the World Rowing Championships.

A stellar roster of PR3Mix4+ Coxswains

USRowing recently announced its 2023 PR3Mix4+ crew with Emelie Eldracher as coxswain. In early July, the crew won gold at the Para-Rowing Regatta to Paris event hosted at the Olympic rowing venue. They will head to the World Rowing Championships in Serbia in September 2023, one of the first Olympic qualifying events. Emelie started coxing this boat in 2022. As she explained to Charlotte Pierce of Ready, Row! USA, in 2019 she was at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta with the USRowing U23 team. A coxswain was needed for the PR3Mix 4+ race, and Emelie hopped in the boat. After two practices, they raced against international competitors, and that experience converted her into a para coxswain.

Emelie's predecessor was Karen Petrik who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, and before her Jenny Sichel. Jenny coxed the boat for many years, retiring with a lot of hardware. Multiple gold medals were won in the PR3Mix4+ at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and the Head of the Charles Regatta but Paralympic or World Championship gold eluded her. Her nemesis was Erin Kennedy of Great Britain, whose crews have dominated the competition for years.

Johana is a big fan of Erin Kennedy, not just for her para coxswain success. In 2022 Erin was diagnosed with a difficult to treat form of breast cancer at age 29. She has been very open with sharing not only her journey through treatment but especially in encouraging early detection for all forms of cancer. Her message is to "know your normal" and get checked if something is not right. Another one of Johanna's ambitions as part of her path to becoming a para coxswain is building connections amongst coxswains and athletes with disabilities and finding ways to be supportive of each other, and she has been encouraged by Erin.

Turns out that British Rowing has a depth of para coxswains. Morgan Baynham-Williams coxed the GB PR3Mix4+ to World Championship gold in September 2022, before taking gold in the Women's 8+ at the Head of the Charles Regatta the next month. Erin is definitely back in her coxswain seat, with a convincing victory at the World Rowing Cup II on Lake Varese in June 2023.

Becoming a Para Coxswain

Johanna has a plan to fulfill her dream of coxing the US PR3Mix4+ crew. Her approach is a little different than the traditional and demonstrates her commitment. She started by emailing Ellen Minzner, the USRowing Director of Para High Performance. Ellen is known as someone very dedicated to para rowing and succeeding in making change to build the sport. From her Johanna learnt how the selection system works. Two para rowing coaches, Beth Noll and Andrea Thies, both advised Johanna to move from Seattle to Boston. "Moving to the east coast is huge," says Johanna, "and being on this side of the States gives coxswains opportunities and exposure they normally wouldn't have on the west coast."

Community Rowing Inc. in Boston is recognized as a leader in para rowing and this is where most national para athletes train. Johanna has begun coaching there. As she explains, "Coaching para also helps, as you get to know the different classifications and gain more knowledge, and show that you truly care about the athletes and are invested." She is also volunteering at the USRowing Para & Adaptive Mini-Camp being held at Temple University this summer as another way to get to understand para athletes.

One thing that is different for Johanna is that she has a disability. She had scoliosis surgery and heart surgery at the beginning of her coxing career in the early 2000s. Over the years she developed essential tremor and still has it mildly. Significantly she lacks upper body range of motion from her fused spine and the steel rod in her back. This gives her a different outlook on life and unique insights into para rowing and athletes.

Not just para, also coastal

While becoming a para coxswain remains Johanna's main ambition, since moving to the east coast, she has fallen in love with coastal rowing and now also dreams of coxing coastal quads in the endurance races. When asked for a favorite coxing or rowing memory, Johanna turned to a recent coastal rowing experience:

"I had been at trials for beach sprints with Next Level rowing. I was attending to get more exposure to coastal rowing. I had never seen a trial event in person before. The athletes had finished trialing. It was an emotional time for everyone. People were coming down from stress from the last few days of competing. Before leaving the course, someone on the team asked us all to form a huddle and put our hands in the middle of the circle to cheer Next Level. We chose our left hand because it was closest to our hearts, but little did the athlete that said that know my left hand is my strongest hand regarding my essential tremor and range of motion issues due to my scoliosis surgery. Little did they know how kind that gesture was to me, without knowing that my hand wouldn't be shaking in the huddle."

When Johanna becomes a para coxswain, she will surely be passing on similar gestures to her crews.

Revised NK Sports Grant

Have you seen the new NK Sports Grant Program? Now winning grants towards the NK Sports equipment you need is even easier.

Apply year-round.
Winners announced four times a year: $500 for individuals or $1000 for an organization.

Get the details and apply today.

The NK Sports Grant Program is now better serving the rowing community and helping athletes and organizations achieve their goals.

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Ruth Marr