At a quiet Craftsbury pond, rowers become Olympians

CRAFTSBURY — Hidden in the backroads of the Northeast Kingdom, rowers seem to effortlessly glide across Great Hosmer Pond as they slice through streams of cool wind, beams of blinding morning sun, and ripples of wakes left by other boats.

But for all the grace and power visible on the surface, thousands of calculations tumble in athletes’ minds at Craftsbury’s Green Racing Project rowing program, said Assistant Coach Hillary Saeger. Every muscle, joint and movement must be intricately coordinated for rowers to get the perfect stroke.

As she moves her boat to check in with each student in the water, she never leads with critiques — how elbows could be angled differently, how wrists could snap faster, how core muscles could be held tighter. Instead, her first question is always, “How did that feel to you?”

Because one of the most important skills a rower can have, Saeger said, is self-reflection.

That kind of awareness is what has propelled the program’s top athletes to move from their quiet Craftsbury pond to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris without skipping a beat.

Six current rowers and scullers of the Green Racing Project, or GRP, are set to compete in the Olympic Games this week — a first in the program’s history.

Coaches interviewed by VTDigger said they’re more proud of the people their rowers have become than the technique and skill they have perfected over years of training.

“Here, we’re not just trying to create a good athlete. We want to build good people, who will go out in this world feeling confident in themselves even after they leave this career,” said Saeger.

The accomplishment of qualifying for the Olympics won’t distract the team from that mission, Lead Coach Steve Hap Whelpley wrote in an email to VTDigger from Paris.

“I hope the success of GRP Row creates more meaning and ambition in the hearts of individuals rather than any ambition for the program,” he wrote. “Craftsbury Green Racing Project finds success thanks to its support, thanks to its environment, and thanks to its community. This (Olympic) success doesn’t change that.”

Of the five U.S. boats racing Saturday — the opening day of the Olympic rowing heats — two will contain Craftsbury athletes, according to a U.S. Rowing press release. Emily Delleman and Grace Joyce will join the women’s quadruple sculls crew to take on Switzerland, Germany and defending world champion Great Britain, while Jacob Plihal will race against scullers from Brazil to Monaco in men’s single sculler heats.

As heats continue on Sunday and Monday, Daisy Mazzio-Manson will row in the women’s four, and Emily Froehlich and Alexander Hedge will stand by as alternates.

The six GRP Row team members will join three Vermont athletes — Montgomery runner Elle Purrier St. Pierre, Burlington rugby player Ilona Maher and Norwich rower William Bender — to represent the Green Mountain State at the Olympics .

The “sprigs” — as GRP athletes call themselves — hail from across the country, but all train in Vermont now as part of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s Green Racing Project . Founded in 2009, the program provides professional training in outdoor endurance sports for athletes who’ve graduated from college and are trying to qualify for international competitions such as the Olympics.

But the racing project hosts a variety of other training opportunities, including a U23 experience that brings about 15 collegiate rowers from across the country to Craftsbury each summer to prepare them for international competitions. With rowers of all skills and ages training on Great Hosmer Pond — including a full-time senior team of 12 athletes — there’s encouragement around every corner, said current U23 team member Paige Wheeler.

“Everyone is so humble and supportive. There’s this understanding that we’re all sprigs here, no matter how much experience we have,” she said.

Wheeler and other GRP Row members told VTDigger they’d be cheering on their fellow sprigs from afar — from the first heat to the final medal races on Aug. 3.

Saeger said that community — formed through shared meals, group hikes, team workouts and more — “could be the difference between making it and not making it” in the competitive and high-stress world of professional rowing.

“If you have a community, it’s so much easier to stay with the sport longer and motivate yourself,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s so easy to forget your ‘why.’”

For GRP Row’s senior athletes, training largely consists of “high-volume, high-intensity” individualized training to improve technique, Saeger said. Athletes also regularly meet with a strength coach and nutritionist.

But mental health is just as important as physical strength and skill, she said, and is something that is emphasized in practice and competition settings alike.

“The athletes put so much pressure on themselves,” she said. “So our job, as coaches, is to teach them that you can have both things: you can have high aspirations, and you can still have a low-stress, healthy environment.”

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Whelpley is helping his team maintain that headspace.

“My hope for you is one deep breath,” he wrote in a note to the sprigs on July 25, provided to VTDigger. “One big breath of oxygen, not for the sake of turning out an effort, but just for the sake of taking a breath in a special moment.”

Saeger said GRP Row is “truly unique” — not just because it prioritizes community and mental well-being, but also because it is accessible to athletes of all backgrounds.

Rowing is an expensive sport, Saeger said: Boats can cost up to $10,000, and other equipment, boat club memberships, and training programs add up fast. While athletes may escape some of those costs with college scholarships, the sport becomes “financially exclusive” after graduation for many, she said.

But at GRP Row, Saeger said, athletes are fully supported with housing, food, coaching, rowing equipment, health insurance and more, free of charge, due to funding from sponsors including the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. In exchange, GRP rowers are asked to work at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for 500 hours per year. Work can range from cleaning up trails to coaching young athletes at rowing camps.

It offers an accessible path forward for athletes who would otherwise have to balance working a full-time job with training for the Olympics just to make ends meet, Saeger said.

“GRP really makes taking the next step possible,” said Wheeler, who already has her eyes set on joining the U.S. Olympic team in Los Angeles in 2028.

There are many paths to qualifying for the Olympics, Saeger said, but it all comes down to getting racing times that meet international standards and performing well in the competitions that “feed into the pecking order” of the U.S. national team. That means athletes train year-round to stay in shape and shave milliseconds off their times. When the lake is frozen over on Vermont’s coldest winter days, athletes hit the rowing machines instead.

Year-round repetition improves athletes’ focus and decision-making skills too, she said. Because temperature, wind and other factors change how rowers interact with their boats and the water, knowing how to instantaneously adjust technique is just as important as having the muscles to do it.

“I want these rowers to be self-sufficient — to make decisions on their own and feel fulfilled in that,” she said. “If they feel out of control, they’ll leave this career having regrets.”

Whelpley said one of his favorite aspects of rowing is observing that power of practice. “The relation between working hard and improvement is more tangible (in rowing) than most sports,” he said.

After rowing for nearly three decades, representing the U.S. in international competitions, and coaching at GRP Row for seven years, he said he’s learned to trust the process — and he hopes he’s encouraged his team to do the same.

“I hope that I’ve taught them that hard work is their best currency. If you believe in the work that you’ve done, you can have confidence in implementing it the best you can. There’s not a worry of if you’re good enough, you just put your work to work,” he said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: At a quiet Craftsbury pond, rowers become Olympians .