From the Charles, rowing with Iraq

A pair of evangelists in the growing sport of rowing, including the executive director of Community Rowing, Inc., the largest private rowing organization in the world, traveled to Iraq this month to train the Iraqi Olympic rowing coaches and rowers and to contribute to the mission of harmony in Iraq.

Bruce Harold Smith, who runs a growing set of Community Rowing programs from CRI’s new boathouse on the Charles River in Brighton, MA, joined Bill Engeman of Ohio, a longtime crew builder and booster of the sport of rowing, for a five-day trip to Erbil and Lake Dokan for the exercise. They returned to the United States early this week.

“Rowing on Lake Dokan, surrounded by military installations and checkpoints, the young men at the Iraqi Training Camp demonstrated with every stroke that there is hope for everyone in Iraq to work together,” said Smith.
 
After being delayed a week because of volcanic ash over Europe, Smith and Engeman flew via Vienna to Erbil last week. A the lake, 45 minutes from Erbil, they conducted a training camp for 25 youths from all over Iraq and from all three major populations, Shia, Sunni, and Kurd.

Smith was the first international rowing coach to visit Iraq to train athletes. Having only five single, Chinese-made sculls – no “fours” or “eights” – Smith and Engeman oversaw fitness testing last Friday, practices on Saturday, and two-kilometer races on Sunday on Lake Dokan, a vast lake in the Kurdistan north rimmed by mountain peaks.

The participants were on the lake or using training equipment, called ergometers, for eight hours a day. Including rowers and nine coaches, they were all men, but, “They have plans to include women,” Smith said.
 
“The hope is we can continue to share expertise with them and they can visit here this summer,” Smith, after returning to Boston, said of the rowers and coaches.

The U.S. team was met and assisted by Abdul Salam Dawood, director of the rowing and Canoeing Federation of Iraq, and by a member of the Iraqi Olympics committee.

The U.S. State Department provided visas for Smith and Engeman and approved the trip, but they were not allowed to train in Baghdad for security reasons.

At the end of the trip, the Americans went to the home of their driver, an Army officer, had dinner with his family, and watched local television coverage of their activities.

“They talked a lot about the future of Iraq, and how it’s going to be better than Europe,” said Smith. “They’re very excited about the future.”

The idea for the trip originated with Engeman, who had watched the move “Invictus,” about a rugby team in South Africa that helps pull the population together, and decided to try to use rowing to reach out to the divided ethnic group in Iraq and bring them together.

Engeman and Smith knew each other because Smith was a national rowing team coach, winning a silver medal last year for the men’s lightweight 8 team.

Engeman also knew about the extensive outreach efforts of Community Rowing under Smith’s leadership.

Engeman’s early plan to travel with Harvard University’s freshman coach,Bill Manning, at Christmastime didn’t work out because they were denied visas.

The trip got put off, and the Manning couldn’t go because it was the racing season on the Charles. Manning could not travel later because rowing season was beginning.

Smith and Engeman also were assisted by the International Olympic Committee
and the international rowing federation FISA and its office in Iraq. They also had help from Anita DeFrantz, a 1976 Olympic bronze medal winner in rowing, who is on the International Olympic Committee.

Upon returning, Smith said the Iraqi rowers general had good habits but were not in good enough physical condition.

The Iraqi rowers are hoping to participate in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, in November, and the compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

Smith said the Iraqis told him there are 18 rowing clubs involving 300 rowers. Both the International Olympic Committee and FISA have donated money to buy new boats and conditioning equipment.

“Abdul Salam told me the young people from Iraq are excited about the prospect of coming to the U.S., and that’s all they’re talking about,” Engeman said today. “We’re working with the National Rowing Foundation to get support for their visit here, and U.S. Rowing has been very supportive.”

U.S. Rowing is the national governing body of rowing, based in Princeton, N.J., and the National Rowing Foundation supports the U.S. rowing team and was formed in part to assist its travel abroad.