Making Waves

Logan Smith and Ronin Jones rowing in the 2024 SE Regionals.

The North Palm Beach Rowing Club is living up to its reputation for dedication, teamwork and fierce competition. And the team’s young members will get to prove it at the Youth National Championships in Sarasota.

Five boats qualified at the regional level, allowing them to compete at nationals. “That’s a huge number for any small club like ours,” says Jock Merriam, who founded the North Palm Beach Rowing Club along with his daughter Jessica in 2007. “Trust me. Just to get to nationals is huge.”

This year’s national competition in Sarasota is the largest in the Youth National Championships Series. Last year, more than 4,000 athletes from 225 clubs across the country participated, and the event was named “Best Amateur Sporting Event” by SportsTravel.

The North Palm Beach Rowing Club girls’ and boys’ youth teams are primed for the competition, coming off a string of successes, including gold, silver, and bronze medals in the recent state and U.S. regional championships.

Jock Merriam founded the North Palm Beach Rowing Club in 2007.

Two team members earning the right to compete in the 2024 nationals are 17-year-old Ronin Jones and 18-year-old Logan Smith.

Smith, who lives in Jupiter, says he used to work out a lot and decided to try rowing to see if it was something he could be successful at. “It always hurts a lot (from the effort), but you don’t even think about it. You can pretty much do anything if you put your mind to it.”

Jones, who lives in Boca Raton, has a father who rowed in college, so he decided to give it a chance. “One thing is you’re on the water instead of in the water,” he says. “Whatever you put into the sport, you get out of it. It definitely gives you something to be proud of.”

The North Palm Beach Rowing Club has both a youth program and a master’s program for adults. “Everybody from 8 to 80, I guess,” Jock says. “One of our goals is to become better known throughout the community at large and that we’re here for everyone.”

ABOVE: The North Palm Beach Rowing Club celebrating at the 2024 Sculling State competition. NORTH PALM BEACH ROWING CLUB / COURTESY PHOTOS

Jock says the mission is also to have members develop a sense of civic responsibility, healthy lifestyle habits, good character and respect for the environment so they can reach their full potential.

“Our informal motto, the core of our mission, is to have a transformational impact on kids that resonates through the entirety of their athletic life,” Jessica says. “And so we really like to emphasize the fact that we are a multigenerational sport and organization. We work very hard to make sure that, as a club, we don’t only focus on youth programs; we don’t only focus on adult programs. We see the two as very, very complementary.”

“I think what’s different about this year is we’re starting to build a culture,” Jessica says. “We’re seeing the very good and experienced girls mentoring and developing the younger ones and the younger ones realizing that they too can walk that same path. It’s happening on the boys’ team as well.”

ABOVE :Teams from the North Palm Beach rowing Club qualify for this year’s Youth National Championships in Sarasota.

Head Coach Scott McKee, who has previously run large college programs and been a national team athlete, says building confidence and camaraderie is a big part of it. “They come to challenge themselves and get rewarded for that effort.”

Coach McKee also believes it’s important for the kids to be well-rounded and to have a good balance between rowing, academics and family.

“We get a lot of kids who just haven’t found their niche in other traditional sports,” Jessica says. “I guess they’re looking for something that has that team dimension that they can really thrive in. I would say they’re getting really lifetime or lifelong bonds with their teammates. It’s a connection between boat mates that is very deep and enduring. I still keep in touch with people I rowed with in high school. And I know these kids will be in touch over many years.”

The 2024 US Rowing Youth National Championships will be held at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota from June 6-9.

Jock and Jessica Merriam at the 2022 World Masters Championship.

For more information on the North Palm Beach Rowing Club, visit npbrc.com .

The post Making Waves first appeared on Palm Beach Florida Weekly .