This is What's the Deal, Grosse Ile, the podcast that explores the people, places history and events that make proceeding unique. I'm your host Ben Folds.
When we move to grisaille, I hadn't lived near a large body of water. I wanted to sail a little bit on a lake in Hillsdale county when I ran camp, but never anything like the Great Lakes, the Detroit River. It shouldn't have been surprised that grisel high school had a rowing team and a sailing team. But that's another show. And it shouldn't have been a surprise to see rowers out on the water with jet skis and the Raiders. And yet it was, well, I thought you would all enjoy learning more about grocery aisle crew, especially with their kid and bottle drive coming up on October 16. It's a program that deserves all the support we can get. To borrow backer phrase that was exported to Minnesota. Let's grow the boat. So Scott seadek is the head rowing coach for Brazil High School will have that right? Yes, sir. Yep. And then you also have Is it the same role with the one in that book club?
Yeah, I've been the head coach at Brazil. I started as an assistant in
a few short years after that, I became the head coach of the program. And I've also served as the head coach at Wanda for the last couple of years as well. Your leadership and enthusiasm for the sport and the kids I have to add is inspiring. Thanks for joining me to talk crew. Scott. My pleasure. My pleasure. I always appreciate an opportunity to talk about our sport, especially within our community. Well, I want to start with some gratitude. My boys right now we're 11 and 13. And last year that so 20 2020, they participated in the Get to know rowing was like a one day thing. And then I think it was the next weekend was the indoor regatta that gets hosted on Grosse Ile at the middle school. I think that's an is that an annual thing? Yep. And then right after that was when COVID hit our community hard and everything shut down. And so that was really, really interesting. But when they participated, so they'd never rode before, they'd never been on an erg, and they were in the very first heat and they came in dead last both of them. And so that meant they spent a minute or so rowing by themselves with I don't know 150 people or something, cheering them on, and it was really the most amazing thing. Everybody was sharing them people from all over it seemed like it was all over the state and even some folks from Canada cheering them on what what is it about crew that makes everybody so supportive of everybody else? I think there's a pretty big team and an individual aspect that that a lot of our kids and well I mean, all age groups tend to embrace I mean, you you mentioned their experience in their race, you know, you're with this group of people, you know, and everyone's going at it as hard as they can you know, when you're you're part of that pack for a while, there's always going to be somebody that finishes first and there's always going to be somebody that finishes last but you know, especially on that rowing machine where you have numbers staring at you in the face every time you take a stroke, there's there's a strong sense of accountability that comes along with it that I think that a lot of our athletes appreciate and when you you talk about the crowd and the other athletes that cheer them on, you know, we've all been part of it. We all know what we all know what it feels like, you know, to, to finish at various phases of the race, and we know what that feels like. So you know, there's going to be a lot of support there. Whether you're crossing the finish line first or last. Yeah. And now that that meter regatta was organized by gristle crew, how big is that is the program and how long has it been part of high school athletics here? Yeah, we've we've held that particular event. We took it over, probably back in the late 90s, early 2000s. But the rowing program in general, has been a varsity sport at roseola. Since 1989. We started as a summer recreational program, just to get kids interested in rowing out of the ecourse Rowing Club, and a couple summers prior to that a gentleman by the name of Richard Weiss longtime grow zeal resident considered the grandfather of our program, got his son Matt involved, who's currently a collegiate coach. He was the longtime head coach at Michigan State. So yeah, Dick Weiss was was instrumental in getting us established and, you know, organizing our initial agreement with ecourse. And he stuck around and helped us out, you know, with fundraisers and trailers and boats to regard as well. Well, after his son was involved, you know, we've just tried to you've tried to build upon what he established ever since. There's a lot of
I think there's a big understanding of paying forward and appreciation within our within our program, and he was the one that that we have to thank for it.
And then of course, grisaille isn't the only downriver school with a rowing program. You mentioned the ecourse club. But a lot of schools use the windup Book Club, which is where Grosse Ile is what other schools are training at wind
up. Yeah, currently, we have seven schools rolling out of wind.in addition to grow zeal, wind at Roosevelt, Walter Carlson, Riverview, Southgate Anderson press. foot from Dearborn heights and Trenton transfers seven schools and all under one roof.
Wow it's amazing that that building is just crowded with boats looking at that looking in the bay doors just seeing all the I don't even know what to call everything but just the the racks of wars. I know what words are at least sir
Sure, yeah, we they are boats sometimes they're called shells or skulls but we're definitely proud of the facility as a training resource even even simply as a storage resource there are you know, a number of clubs at all levels of rowing throughout the country that you know, have to store their stuff outside on racks or trailers. So you know, we work very hard to raise the funds to purchase that equipment. We've we've had important donors throughout the history of our programs, and just the general you know, hard work that goes into fundraising, you know, makes us really appreciate what we have. And we're fortunate that the club gives us the place to store them to take care of them, you know, and then ultimately to train out of as well.
Yeah, and in the building. Probably a lot of people haven't seen the building because it's set off of set off of Biddle just just enough and covered by some buildings. But so it's between Portofino and the golf course right and
be part of BASF Park and you know is as long as I've been involved the number of people that I've spoken to that really aren't aware of that that Rowling's part of our downriver communities and you know I've talked to people that have had dinner at Portofino dozens of times or play golf you know at wind at shores that didn't even really realize it was there so you know, we've definitely been working a little bit harder lately to you know, to help promote what our kids are doing a little bit more to bring more attention to our sport.
So the building that was created was at 89 that it was built 9898 and so if i if i remember what I've heard about it, at least that Heinz prechter and BASF contributed to that that construction
Yeah, Mr. Proctor was a donor to the original the effort you know BASF was instrumental in securing the property as well as helping with the construction and then through the efforts of the club in good old fashioned mortgage to we're chipping away at making it our own forever so
so the the club so why that book club is a is an actual book club that regular people can join crap right? And it seems different than say the grocery aisle Yacht Club or Ford Yacht Club or album or Boat Club How would you describe the club itself
most of the members at the club are largely social you know there is a difference between our rolling members which we consider to be a members and then our be our be social members but social members they have you know, access to the lounge upstairs you know, they have the opportunity to attend various events throughout the year it's one of the best views on the Detroit River you know that's another thing that we try to we try to educate people on you know, we have we have two decks outside and you know, especially when when the weather's nice it's a great great place to go enjoy a few hours on the river
and so then you can so you can become a member and in a row out of out of the club as an adult then
correct Yeah, we have you know, various levels of growing opportunities for our kids and our adults as well. We have a really successful adult learner row and recreational programs you know, a number of those a number of those adults have you know, within a few short years have gone from taking the first couple strokes to becoming what we call competitive masters rowers as well that take the sport a little more seriously and race as well.
And are there regardless held at wind up book club on normal years?
Yeah, yeah. No normal years. Yeah. We host to high school regattas, the empty cup, which is the oldest High School regatta in the state, which is typically the last weekend in April. And then his thoughts really, that's got to be cold. Sometimes it's cold, but it's that's a high school rowing in the Midwest, we're all used to it. Yeah, I'm used to it. And then we hold the why high or the wind at high school. Raghad is typically the first weekend in May,
okay. And then adult wise are there ever adult regard as up on their two masters or
We've had a few smaller events over the years, nothing dedicated primarily to the adults. There were a number of years where we did hold a fall regatta. That's actually something we've been. We've been kicking around about trying to reboot here. Hopefully in the next couple of years, we can make that a reality. But throughout the Midwest, you know, throughout the country in general, there are a lot of racing opportunities for kids and adults.
For those who haven't been down to the park. Starting at Portofino you can walk south along the river all the way to the golf course. And they're wet for stands with with benches where you can sit out and watch. And so when when kids are out rowing or adults are out rowing, you can you can actually sit on a bench and watch and it's it's pretty, pretty nice, but it's a nice place to walk on a regular day to so
It is it is every once in a while I'll look up from a practice and i'll i'll see people just kind of stop watching our kids work and it's uh even me I need a nice reminder every once in a while of what we're doing and just kind of how special and unique it is. So it's it's cool to see that other downriver community members are taking the time to appreciate what our kids are doing.
Yeah, there's probably a lot more boat traffic right now than normal with pleasure boats
with it's been a great fall and everybody's trying to get in there last couple of days. I don't blame them. Yeah, so yeah, everyone's getting in there. Their last little run of the fall and usually you know, when things start to warm up in the spring, and you know, again, this kind of the last hurrah, the Fall is when we get you know, most of our our pleasure boat traffic, but, you know, late spring throughout the summer, it's a pretty good place to row you've
dedicated a lot of yourself to ruin. So what's made it so important to you,
my father's still rose competitively. He's 69 he started rowing in high school for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the school is no longer open and their rowing team had unfortunately, ended a few years before the school closed due to to enrollment. I had two uncles that rode they made a couple Junior national teams. I grew up around it you know, family vacations were were often planned around my dad's regattas and it kind of kind of sounds overly simple but that's kind of kind of all I knew like that's that's what you did and yeah you know and as a kid like that's fun right? Like no matter what your you know, mom and dad do they plan the vacation rounded and like hey, this is fun and you're right it is I ended up rolling for girl zeal in high school you know had the chance to roll with with some of my best friends you know guys that I'm still regularly in touch with today and my wife and I met through the sport I've had the chance to coach all my siblings it's it's it's just kind of always been there and it's always made sense you know, something that I always just kind of feel natural around and feel really good about. But then since coaching started coaching and pretty young age, I've just been fortunate I've had the chance to see what it does for kids you know, the impact that it's had you know, socially and emotionally and athletically physically kids make some pretty you know, significant you know, transitions in their lives or you know, the good things they're doing become that much better. I feel fortunate that we've been able to play even just a small part in that so I think in in do a lot of great things for a lot of great kids I I jokingly told the young man a couple years ago you know, he was sort of on the fence he'd come come to a couple practices wasn't quite sure if he was going to stick it out and I told him like hey, it's gonna change your life for the better forever and I don't know if that's a phrase that's kind of stuck and I've been using it ever since and I really do
believe it. Yeah, yeah, the reason I wanted to get get our talking this week in particular is that Saturday is the bottle drive. We haven't had a normal bottle drive in a while. I'm not sure if this one's gonna be the normal type either but I think we'll get there eventually. So So the main the main fundraiser that people know about at least for for grisaille rowing is collecting bottle deposits
Yeah, this is a fundraiser that one of our our rowing parents way back in 1994 recommended and I mean the program started in 89 so you know, we were still pretty young and it's interesting looking back on it now. I started rowing in high school and in the spring of 93 and you know, we had a little bit of success and you know, from the perspective of a high school kid like we were doing a pretty good job you know, looking back on it now, you know, I kind of realized just how young of a program we were. So you know, fundraising buying our own equipment, trying to you know, keep out of pocket costs for our families as low as possible. You know, has always been a priority of ours so you know, we've tried You know, we've tried a lot of the the stereotypical fundraisers we've tried to sell stuff we've done raffles we've you know, done different events but bottle can dries both in the fall in the spring have become great for us. You know, now they're established I think, you know, people look for us they expect it. We get phone calls regularly throughout the year for you know, additional pickups at their garages fill up a little bit more than they're comfortable with. You know, when he will do special pickups for people we can talk about that in a minute but but yeah, they've become a really, really important and regular part of what we do to fund the program.
And the women's coming up this week. So is it the last one that was done was at the Kroger parking lot, you dropped him off there? Is that how it's gonna be this time?
It is it is Kroger has been great to us. We've been there obviously since we started the history. Door ugly, we've gone door to door. We've accepted drop offs music, we've accepted donations at Kroger but you know, pre COVID we've you know, you know our kids have put their comfy shoes on and, and we've gone door to door and we are pretty good at canvassing just about the entire island. But we've had two canned drives we ended up we cancelled during the COVID spring of 2020 for obvious reasons. But we were fortunate enough that we were able to reboot it last fall, you know, and then we had the our spring drive during the season in 21. And we are not going door to door currently, that's something we're still going to hold off on until, you know we're a little bit more more comfortable sending our kids out. And obviously we don't want to put anybody at risk. But the drop off has worked well too. We, you know, encourage everybody to, you know, to come visit us we'll be there starting around 9am on Saturday, you know, feel feel free to drop off, if you do need to pick up can contact us at any time that day or the week leading up to it or even the week after or whenever you need something and we'll we'll send somebody over to help you out.
And that's in that little alleyway between say Kroger and inhumane right the place yeah. So just drive through there and they'll unload Yeah, and I'll syndrome will
will thank you with a smile and we definitely appreciate everyone's support.
So what are other ways that we can support things I've noticed that the boats have names on them. So Can somebody sponsor a boat?
Certainly, yeah, certainly we we've had a couple of generous donors you know, in the past as a program we've had the opportunity to to honor a lot of people that have been instrumental and helping our group program grow by by naming votes after them but you know, certainly if anybody's interested you know, to honor a friend a loved one a community member, you know, we'd be happy to have that you know, conversation to to discuss the kind of funding that that would require to see if we can make it happen.
And I think you said that there was an annual dance dinner dance that that has happened is that probably something that will happen maybe next year the year after
it is yeah, we're optimistic that we can get that back on track as well i know i know we have the event approved through the school district you know Fingers crossed we you know we stay safe and healthy up to that point but typically late March early April you know, historically we've called it the dinner dance it's an auction and fundraiser event. We've held it at four Yacht Club we've held it in the country club but it's a great night to come together to celebrate our team everything we've done and you know help fund the current and future programs so it's it's a fun night usually get some great items that are available includes dinner a couple drinks but a great night to celebrate koroseal rolling
and if someone wants to keep in touch and learn about those things, what are the best ways to find out
you can find out at our website gi rowing calm and you can follow us on our social media accounts as well grows eurowings on Facebook Instagram and Twitter
excellent excellent and great photos. Even wind up book club has a great feed with photos so if you're an adult that wants to get into rowing watch watch some of the program videos and see see them anytime somebody goes rowing by the power plant is is pretty uninspiring I think it does it does photograph pretty well. Well each episode of What's the Deal Grosse Ile seal ends with a wish so if you can have a wish granted for grow seal or the other communities around around downriver that are rowing, what would that be?
I thought about this one? And I think I think it's an awesome question. And, you know, obviously your your guests are, you know, important and relevant to our community and surrounding communities. My wish is for the greater downriver community in for grow zeal to, to really get a better understanding of the impact that our sport has on kids, what it can provide for kids, the opportunities that come with the sport of rowing, we have some really, really great young men and women that are involved some really hard working coaching coaches, in boosters. And, and yeah, the wish would, would be for a little more a little more visibility a little more love little more understanding and what we're trying to do our I think our kids deserve that.
Absolutely. Well, thanks so much, Scott. And I know I'm not the only person that appreciates you and the teams and how you've made it really accessible to the greater community beyond rosio. So thank you so much for
that. My pleasure. Thanks for the chance to talk about our sport.
I really can't overstate the positive influence that why end up book clubs Middle School rowing program is having on our family. I can't recommend it or thanks Scott and his crew coaching crew enough. Don't forget that cannon bottle drives start Saturday at 9am next week, that's October 16 2021. I've put lots of links in the episode notes so you can stay connected to the program. What's The Deal? Grosse Ile is a production of fruit media productions LLC and it's edited and everything else by me Ben fote. Find the ways to connect with the show in the episode notes or at What's the Deal Grosse ile.com. Thank you for listening to What's the Deal. Grosse Ile
