While the calendar says summer vacation for most students, a group of young athletes spent a few hours each evening this week preparing for a unique opportunity.
Dallas Rowing Club is located at Bachman Lake Park at the southwest edge of the body of water fliers often see out their windows seconds before touching down at Love Field, and where a high school rowing team gets most of its training in.
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Cruz Sanchez and his brother Cortez Sanchez, are two of the nine athletes who qualified recently to compete in the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida.
The twins, who are rising seniors at Uplift North Hills Preparatory, a public charter school in Irving, said neither had heard of the sport until their grandmother dropped them off for a lesson two years ago.
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“None of my friends at school do this,” Cruz Sanchez said. “I never really thought I’d fit in like fully with the kids here, but like everyone here is like super cool.”
The brothers, already cross-country athletes, quickly took to the sport.
“It challenges your mentality,” Cortez Sanchez added. “A lot of it’s kind of like, how well can you fight the pain? How well can you go against what you think you can do?”
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Pretty well, according to head coach Wolffe Bonewell, a former DRC athlete himself.
“I don’t think you’ll find a team out there that really just has as much grit to them as we do,” Bonewell said.
That only happens if you can actually find the athletes, which has historically been a barrier for a sport associated with economic privilege.
Dallas Rowing Club says it’s actively worked to make the sport more accessible to more kids at younger ages.
DRC says about $15,000 supported athletes in 2024, with another $8,500 so far this year. It’s enough to provide scholarships to 8 of the 25 athletes this season, including 4 of the 9 who will compete at nationals, according to DRC.
“It’s a tough sport, expensive sport, and be able to open those doors to kids and give them some, you know, insight into just different fields of life, it’s a great opportunity for them,” Bonewell said.
The effort has translated to success for a team made up of students from private and public schools from around North Texas.
A lot of the other crews, they might not have the same, you know, diversity, but I think I appreciate that about this team,” Cortez Sanchez said. “Not everyone’s the same here and it kind of gives you a chance.”
DRC begins offering opportunities to students in sixth grade, with scholarships and assistance available.
