Get Going...Get Rowing!
On Tuesday May 18th, fourteen young people aged from 13-19 from both Rosmini Secondary School and St. Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Impaired came to Dublin Municipal Rowing Centre for a try it out! afternoon. All those participating were visually impaired; from the extent of being completely without sight to some with partial sight. A number of the group had a visual impairment with a learning difficulty. For the group, with the exception of one student from Rosmini, this was their first experience of rowing. The aim of the afternoon was to introduce them to indoor rowing as well as rowing on the water and to show the participants as well as their teachers and carers that rowing is an activity that caters for those with visual impairments. Rosmini student Aron O’Dowd, who won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Rowing Championships, is the perfect illustration of this and he spent the afternoon teaching his peers the skills he has learned.
Mark Pollock came along to launch the day’s activities by addressing the group. There was a really great response to having Mark there, especially when he took the time to speak to everyone individually. He spoke about his enjoyment of the sport and of the plans he has for the future. Another big plus to the day was that even Mark learned something new...
Mark had told me that he hasn’t been using the ergometer for some time now as he has no way of knowing what scores he is pulling. Could there be a solution to this....?
ErgChatter is a free download from Concept2 which allows the data on the performance monitor (PM3 or PM4) to be spoken aloud through a laptop or PC. It is very simple to use as all it requires is a printer cable that connects performance monitor to one’s laptop or computer. ErgChatter allows the user to choose what data they want to have read out, and at what intervals. It also allows users to set up specific training sessions. This download is hugely useful to anyone who has a visual impairment and is very simple to install and use. It is certainly worth testing out, even if you do not require it permanently.
All those who took part in the day thoroughly enjoyed it, and even the four teachers and carers who came along got out on the water for their first time! With the amount of interest from the day there is great potential for Rosmini and St. Joseph’s to develop a link with the sport, whether that be taking up a regular slot at Municipal Rowing Centre or entering teams in the adaptive events at the 2010 Irish Indoor Rowing Championships.
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