Championship Rowing On The Newport Harbor
SEA BASE NEWPORT AND THE BOY SCOUTS ORANGE COUNTY COUNSEL RUN A NATIONALLY RESPECTED ROWING PROGRAM DEVELOPING OLYMPIC BOUND ATHLETES
BY RANDY YOUNGMAN
It is not well known that competitive rowing , sometimes called crew in the United States , was one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games . Male rowers have competed in the Olympics since the 1900 Summer Games in Paris , where the competition was held on the River Seine .
You might also be able to win a bar bet with the knowledge that rowing was the first intercollegiate sport contested in the U . S .— a race between Harvard and Yale in 1852 — or that “ The Boat Race ” between University of Oxford and Cambridge University was first contested in 1829 on the River Thames in London .
The roots of the sport , however , go back centuries before that . Some believe rowing contests date to ancient Egypt ; others say Venetian festivals in 13th century Italy featured boat races in a “ regatta .” Whatever the true origins of the sport , there are now 14 boat classes in the Olympics , the World Rowing Championships feature 22 boat classes , and 150 countries across six continents now have their own rowing federations .
So it should not come as a surprise that Orange County — or Newport Beach , in particular — has become a hotbed of competitive rowing and training .
And Newport Sea Base , located next to Balboa Bay Resort , features one of the most successful rowing programs in Southern California — one component of a modern teaching and aquatics center that has served tens of thousands of youth since 1937 by providing maritime education and boating courses .
Newport Sea Base , located on 400 feet of picturesque waterfront on Newport Harbor , is a publicly accessible facility owned and operated by the Orange County Council , Boy Scouts of America , funded through program delivery and internal fund development .
NSB Rowing , a program that was launched in 2014 with about a dozen athletes , has grown each year and established itself as a force to be reckoned with in local and national competitions under the tutelage of James Long-Lerno , executive director of NSB and current head coach of the Under-19 men ’ s rowing team .
“ Rowing has been our shining star since we started ,” said Long-Lerno , a former world class rower who came to NSBR after coaching the USC crew team from 2011- 13 . “ We take a different approach than ( the bigger clubs ), and it shows in our results . We prioritize the development of individual athletes over time to produce the best overall athlete we can .
“ Larger clubs take , by necessity , a ‘ throw the carton of eggs at the wall and see which doesn ’ t break ’ approach to select top athletes . By design , Newport Sea Base intentionally will never grow to a club of that size so that we can move athletes up through the ranks year by year and oversee their growth and development .”
With 10 coaches on staff , the NSB Rowing program currently trains more than 30 middle school athletes and approximately 50 juniors ( high school age ). Long-Lerno coaches the U19 Men ; Lacey Shelton coaches the U17 / 16 Men ; Ian Simpson coaches the U19 Women and So Cal Scullers Elite ; and Peter Vescovi coaches the U17 / 16 Women .
Long-Lerno said NSB accepts students of all ages and all skill levels , from beginners to advanced . He also believes anyone can be successful with proper training and a
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