By Kim J. Harmon

N

ORWALK – You know, if a guy will voluntarily repeat a year of high school in order to pursue another sport and take his life in another direction, then there must be something pretty special about that sport.

Oh, there is.

For those who participate in rowing, it is the ultimate blend of individual and team abilities and Cameron Law, 17, has been a believer ever since he attended a rowing camp at the Naval Academy two years ago.

He can thank his buddy, Drew Narcum, and the Lux family of Newtown for getting him involved in the sport.

“The whole physical aspect was so intense,” said Cameron, “and not a lot of people row.”

Now Cameron, who had played both football and lacrosse at Newtown High School, has transferred to The Kent School so he could compete in rowing. Because it is the policy of the school not to accept incoming senior transfers, Cameron will have to repeat his junior year.

And he is fine with that.

“After talking with some kids in Norwalk, and talking about all the colleges they want to go to,” said Cameron, “it showed me the opportunities that rowing could open up and, I figured, why not take those opportunities?”

After attending the Naval Academy camp, Cameron tried in for the Norwalk River Rowing Association program and made the varsity team. Practices are every night of the week, three hours a night, down off the dock behind the Ischoda Yacht Club.

“It’s a pretty simple concept,” Cameron explained. “Just follow the guy in front of you.”

The NRRA was founded in 1986 by a couple of local residents and is maintained as a 501-C-3 charitable organization. More than 200 people a year, from age 12 to age 70, participate in the different programs – from youth and adult programs to summer and Outreach programs.

The youth programs feature different classes – Novice Crew, Recreational Rowing, Junior Varsity Racing, and Varsity Racing. In fact, the NRRA will be having a Varsity and Junior Varsity Open House on Tuesday, August 28, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, for the purpose of providing strength conditioning to those athletes looking to try out for one of those programs.

The NRRA boasts a number of top flight coaches such Greg Barringer (also the Executive Director), who has rowed competitively with Boston University, the University of London, Riverside Boat Club, Boston Rowing Center and the US National Lightweight Men’s Team; Renee Jones (Outreach Program Director), who rowed for four years at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Pete Fox (Youth Program Director), who coached for three years at Notre Dame Academy; John Brisson, who has rowed since 1973 and still rows/coaches at the New York Athletic Club; Jim Cooper, a gold medal competitor; Mark Carroll, who rowed at Loyola Academy, Boston University and Fairfield University; and Edward Feldheim, who rowed at Loyola Academy at Boston and Fairfield University.

Tyler Law, 13, is rowing in the Novice Crew program. That group practices in the morning in Norwalk Harbor. The Novices are still learning the stroke, still learning how to maintain rhythm with the stroke seat, still learning how to work with the commands being barked out by the coxswain.

Jordan Baker, who will be a junior rower at Tufts University and helps instruct the Novice group from her own boat, said, “Learning the stroke can be easy – some kids are naturals – or it can be difficult. You want to teach the kids individually, but then you have to get all eight to work together.”

Last week, the Novice boys group was on the water for about 90 minutes – including warm ups, treks through a choppy harbor (and avoiding some heavy boat traffic), some work on the all-important start ups, and a friendly race with the Novice girls (which the girls won for the second time that week).

It’s like that pretty much every day.

And now Heather, Cameron and Tyler’s mom, is looking to drum up some local interest in the sport of rowing. Sure, there are recreational rowing programs elsewhere – such as the Eastern National Development Camp in New London and the Saugatuck Rowing Association in Westport – but NRRA is, perhaps, more accessible to the average rower.

So for Cameron – who has been working this summer in maintenance at the Connecticut Golf Club in Easton – The Kent School rows in the spring (it has its own boat house on the Housatonic River) and in the fall he will be running cross country to maintain his fitness level.

And he doesn’t regret his decision at all.

“I’m very comfortable with it,” he said.

So, maybe after two years at The Kent School he will be able to take advantage of those opportunities he seeks and maybe in a couple of years Cameron Law will indeed be rowing with some high-level programs such as Cornell or Colgate University.

“Pull thy oar, all hands, pull thy oar, till thou be stiff and red and sore . . . ”

– Dr. Sydney Dangell