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Lifestyle

Have you heard about Chicago Rowing Union? The rowing club created by LGBTQ+ community members is all about increasing diversity, accessibility in the sport.

“Pivot, slide, slow on recovery … we’re pulling all the way into our rib cage. We don’t want to pull into our hipbones or our stomachs. We want it nice and high.”More than a dozen people listened to the instructions from Chicago Rowing Union’s (CRU) head coach Mollie Halvorsen while sitting on Concept 2 ERG Rowers during a learn to row class at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. Sequencing is important to learn, she reiterates.Advertisement“When you pivot over or bend at the waist, we do not want our hands to dive down. We want them to be nice and flat. Arms away first, then body over,” she said.The mantra becomes “arms, body, body, arms … arms up, body over, body back, arms in” while the hum of the ERGs try to turn in unison. Repetitive, yes, but this crash course is supposed to help everyone learn the rudimentary lessons of rowing crew and what to expect when on the water in the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River with seven of their classmates.AdvertisementChicago Rowing Union members lean a shell into the water at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)One crew of Chicago Rowing Union rowers waits for another before a session at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)What started as a group created by members of the LGBTQ+ community in 2005 to row in the Gay Games in 2006, is now an inclusive competitive and recreational rowing club focused on promoting diversity in the sport of rowing, according to CRU’s President Simone Azure. The sport is historically pricey and known to be a predominately white one, per Azure — one of CRU’s eight-person boats cost $13,000, and that was used.“It’s just like a Mercedes to a Toyota to a Fiat,” Azure said. “Resolutes are more expensive boats, but they have a tendency to last longer.”Newer boats cost more and equipment prices, regatta fees and transportation costs also add up, making the sport less accessible. Halvorsen said recognizing the accessibility and diversity gap is why CRU partnered with the Skokie Park District to hold its learn-to-row camps.“We are trying very hard to create an inclusive community within sports rowing and give access to members of the community that haven’t had exposure to the sport in the past,” she said.Azure recalls rowing for another ream and paying annual dues in the $4,500 range. The Skokie Park District charges $200 for people to learn sweep rowing with CRU. Sweep rowing is where each rower uses one oar in boats of four or eight people. For a rowing season of seven months, CRU’s recreation rowing team rows twice a week and charges $108/month; CRU’s competitive team rows three times a week for $148/month. CRU also holds fundraisers, has a scholarship program and has reduced rates in the past for individuals to attract all sorts of people to the sport. The pandemic impacted CRU’s membership numbers, but Azure’s recruiting has membership back in the double digits.“Our learn-to-row program, that’s how we build our program,” said the Edgebrook resident. “Now, there’s more spaces for gay people and the LGBTQ+ community, my big push is targeting diverse as possible. It’s not just a gay team. I want to stress the inclusivity on our team because we focus in on that. We have lots of allies and we’re happy as hell to have all of those guys, too.”Azure and Halvorsen pride themselves on making sure camaraderie and friendly competition is a part of CRU. The rowing community is a tight one. Azure, a member of the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe tribe who identifies as Two-Spirit, competed and medaled in a recent regatta in Washington, D.C., to support the DC Strokes Rowing Club, an LGBTQ+ rowing club. They are protesting the U.S. Rowing’s decision to hold its Masters National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, in August. DC Strokes is boycotting the event as long as the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law remains in effect. CRU, a master’s group of adults 27 years and older, signed their petition in support.“We try to be really supportive of one another,” Azure said. “The point is to have a place where people of all genders, colors and whatever feel included and they feel safe within this organization.”AdvertisementAt the learn-to-row class held June 11, a mother joined her daughter, a student at St. Ignatius who is considering joining the school’s crew team. A young man participated in the same class because he is thinking about trying out for Loyola’s crew team. CRU members helped participants through the hourslong session that began with rowing machines, transitioned to indoor sweep rowing tanks and ended with rowing an eight-person boat on the North Channel complete with a coxswain, person in charge of the boat’s navigation and steering. The coxswain gives directions of when and how to move the equipment, including the 200-pound boat, and when to board the boat. Assignments on where everyone will sit is given before launch, so you know if you’ll be port or starboard while on the boat.Things to remember:Don’t step just anywhere on the boat. You can poke a hole in it. Step on the strongest part of the boat to get in.Boarding and disembarking the boat is done in unison with others, not as a single person, so the boat doesn’t tip.And the shoes that you put your feet in, are anchored to the boat itself. In case of emergency, pull the release cord to free your feet to swim out.Also, try not to catch a crab — aka do a faulty stroke where the oar is under water too long becoming jammed.“A big part of the stroke is timing,” Halvorsen said. “When we’re in the boat, we’re tied to seven other people. We need to make sure that we are putting the blades in the water together, out of the water together. We want to make sure that we’re touching at the same time and that we’re finishing at the same time. It seems like a super easy thing, but it trips people up when they’re learning because of the sequencing. The tendency is to want to bring the knees up before our hands get out. On the ERG, it’s easier to lift the hands over the knees, but when you’re on the water, you cannot lift your hands over the knees with the oar in front of you.”An exercise in team building, Azure says rowing crew is a sport where you can tell who’s doing the work, who’s not, and who is distracted. While on the launch boat — one that trails the boats with the coxswains — Azure jokes, encourages and inspires those rowing making the experience engaging while learning. The hard part is remembering all the steps taught in the classroom and translating them to the water in real time.“I’ve met many people through rowing here in Chicago and around the world really, that have helped me advance and have been very generous with their time and energy while teaching me a new sport,” she said. One can tell she tries to do the same for those in each learn-to-row class.Members of CRU all have their own stories as to how they came to rowing. Some picked it up at college when their friends were doing it and picked it back up with CRU. Azure was walking in Andersonville when she was approached by a gentleman who is now one of her really good friends. He handed her a card and said come and try to learn to row. She said OK. And Halvorsen went to her first learn-to-row camp in middle school. She was hooked after her first time, she’s never looked back. This year marks 21 years in the sport for her. CRU member Fiona Nolan says the act of rowing crew as the closest thing to heaven on Earth that they have found when everyone is rowing at the same time.AdvertisementCoxswain Merri Furlong said a person new to rowing crew can be good within a year and within two years be great — something she’s seen.Chicago Rowing Union members Joseph Edmonds and Fiona Nolan walk to a shed to retrieve a coach’s boat at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)Morton Grove resident Jamie Edwards attended the June 11 class. Upon its completion, she said she was excited to come back for the second part on Sunday. A lover of water sports, she said her uncle is a competitive rower and she was curious about what the sport entailed.“I was looking for where I could get involved and came across Chicago Rowing Union,” she said. “It was tougher than I expected having worked on a stationary exercise rower before, although that kind of makes me want to do it even more, like a challenge.”Edwards left knowing that getting better takes practice — something she’s willing to do with CRU.“I’m sure it gets easier once you get more in sync,” she said. “I really want to get better.”With a smile on her face, Edwards left wondering about what her aura app on her Apple watch says post rowing.Advertisement“The thing I love about rowing is it’s a low impact, full body workout, which is really nice,” Edwards said. “There was this moment being on the water where you’re just connected and it just feels really good … there’s something about being on the water.”Chicago Rowing Union’s next Learn to Row session is slated for July 19. The group will also be at the 42nd Annual Chicago Sprints at the Lincoln Park Lagoon July 8-10.drockett@chicagotribune.com

Sports

Have you heard about Chicago Rowing Union? The rowing club created by LGBTQ+ community members is all about increasing diversity and accessibility in the sport.

“Pivot, slide, slow on recovery … we’re pulling all the way into our rib cage. We don’t want to pull into our hipbones or our stomachs. We want it nice and high.”More than a dozen people listened to the instructions from Chicago Rowing Union’s (CRU) head coach Mollie Halvorsen while sitting on Concept 2 ERG Rowers during a learn to row class at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. Sequencing is important to learn, she reiterates.Advertisement“When you pivot over or bend at the waist, we do not want our hands to dive down. We want them to be nice and flat. Arms away first, then body over,” she said.The mantra becomes “arms, body, body, arms … arms up, body over, body back, arms in” while the hum of the ERGs try to turn in unison. Repetitive, yes, but this crash course is supposed to help everyone learn the rudimentary lessons of rowing crew and what to expect when on the water in the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River with seven of their classmates.AdvertisementChicago Rowing Union members lean a shell into the water at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)One crew of Chicago Rowing Union rowers waits for another before a session at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)What started as a group created by members of the LGBTQ+ community in 2005 to row in the Gay Games in 2006, is now an inclusive competitive and recreational rowing club focused on promoting diversity in the sport of rowing, according to CRU’s President Simone Azure. The sport is historically pricey and known to be a predominately white one, per Azure — one of CRU’s eight-person boats cost $13,000, and that was used.“It’s just like a Mercedes to a Toyota to a Fiat,” Azure said. “Resolutes are more expensive boats, but they have a tendency to last longer.”Newer boats cost more and equipment prices, regatta fees and transportation costs also add up, making the sport less accessible. Halvorsen said recognizing the accessibility and diversity gap is why CRU partnered with the Skokie Park District to hold its learn-to-row camps.“We are trying very hard to create an inclusive community within sports rowing and give access to members of the community that haven’t had exposure to the sport in the past,” she said.Azure recalls rowing for another ream and paying annual dues in the $4,500 range. The Skokie Park District charges $200 for people to learn sweep rowing with CRU. Sweep rowing is where each rower uses one oar in boats of four or eight people. For a rowing season of seven months, CRU’s recreation rowing team rows twice a week and charges $108/month; CRU’s competitive team rows three times a week for $148/month. CRU also holds fundraisers, has a scholarship program and has reduced rates in the past for individuals to attract all sorts of people to the sport. The pandemic impacted CRU’s membership numbers, but Azure’s recruiting has membership back in the double digits.“Our learn-to-row program, that’s how we build our program,” said the Edgebrook resident. “Now, there’s more spaces for gay people and the LGBTQ+ community, my big push is targeting diverse as possible. It’s not just a gay team. I want to stress the inclusivity on our team because we focus in on that. We have lots of allies and we’re happy as hell to have all of those guys, too.”Azure and Halvorsen pride themselves on making sure camaraderie and friendly competition is a part of CRU. The rowing community is a tight one. Azure, a member of the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe tribe who identifies as Two-Spirit, competed and medaled in a recent regatta in Washington, D.C., to support the DC Strokes Rowing Club, an LGBTQ+ rowing club. They are protesting the U.S. Rowing’s decision to hold its Masters National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, in August. DC Strokes is boycotting the event as long as the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law remains in effect. CRU, a master’s group of adults 27 years and older, signed their petition in support.“We try to be really supportive of one another,” Azure said. “The point is to have a place where people of all genders, colors and whatever feel included and they feel safe within this organization.”AdvertisementAt the learn-to-row class held June 11, a mother joined her daughter, a student at St. Ignatius who is considering joining the school’s crew team. A young man participated in the same class because he is thinking about trying out for Loyola’s crew team. CRU members helped participants through the hourslong session that began with rowing machines, transitioned to indoor sweep rowing tanks and ended with rowing an eight-person boat on the North Channel complete with a coxswain, person in charge of the boat’s navigation and steering. The coxswain gives directions of when and how to move the equipment, including the 200-pound boat, and when to board the boat. Assignments on where everyone will sit is given before launch, so you know if you’ll be port or starboard while on the boat.Things to remember:Don’t step just anywhere on the boat. You can poke a hole in it. Step on the strongest part of the boat to get in.Boarding and disembarking the boat is done in unison with others, not as a single person, so the boat doesn’t tip.And the shoes that you put your feet in, are anchored to the boat itself. In case of emergency, pull the release cord to free your feet to swim out.Also, try not to catch a crab — aka do a faulty stroke where the oar is under water too long becoming jammed.“A big part of the stroke is timing,” Halvorsen said. “When we’re in the boat, we’re tied to seven other people. We need to make sure that we are putting the blades in the water together, out of the water together. We want to make sure that we’re touching at the same time and that we’re finishing at the same time. It seems like a super easy thing, but it trips people up when they’re learning because of the sequencing. The tendency is to want to bring the knees up before our hands get out. On the ERG, it’s easier to lift the hands over the knees, but when you’re on the water, you cannot lift your hands over the knees with the oar in front of you.”An exercise in team building, Azure says rowing crew is a sport where you can tell who’s doing the work, who’s not, and who is distracted. While on the launch boat — one that trails the boats with the coxswains — Azure jokes, encourages and inspires those rowing making the experience engaging while learning. The hard part is remembering all the steps taught in the classroom and translating them to the water in real time.“I’ve met many people through rowing here in Chicago and around the world really, that have helped me advance and have been very generous with their time and energy while teaching me a new sport,” she said. One can tell she tries to do the same for those in each learn-to-row class.Members of CRU all have their own stories as to how they came to rowing. Some picked it up at college when their friends were doing it and picked it back up with CRU. Azure was walking in Andersonville when she was approached by a gentleman who is now one of her really good friends. He handed her a card and said come and try to learn to row. She said OK. And Halvorsen went to her first learn-to-row camp in middle school. She was hooked after her first time, she’s never looked back. This year marks 21 years in the sport for her. CRU member Fiona Nolan says the act of rowing crew as the closest thing to heaven on Earth that they have found when everyone is rowing at the same time.AdvertisementCoxswain Merri Furlong said a person new to rowing crew can be good within a year and within two years be great — something she’s seen.Chicago Rowing Union members Joseph Edmonds and Fiona Nolan walk to a shed to retrieve a coach’s boat at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)Morton Grove resident Jamie Edwards attended the June 11 class. Upon its completion, she said she was excited to come back for the second part on Sunday. A lover of water sports, she said her uncle is a competitive rower and she was curious about what the sport entailed.“I was looking for where I could get involved and came across Chicago Rowing Union,” she said. “It was tougher than I expected having worked on a stationary exercise rower before, although that kind of makes me want to do it even more, like a challenge.”Edwards left knowing that getting better takes practice — something she’s willing to do with CRU.“I’m sure it gets easier once you get more in sync,” she said. “I really want to get better.”With a smile on her face, Edwards left wondering about what her aura app on her Apple watch says post rowing.Advertisement“The thing I love about rowing is it’s a low impact, full body workout, which is really nice,” Edwards said. “There was this moment being on the water where you’re just connected and it just feels really good … there’s something about being on the water.”Chicago Rowing Union’s next Learn to Row session is slated for July 19. The group will also be at the 42nd Annual Chicago Sprints at the Lincoln Park Lagoon July 8-10.drockett@chicagotribune.com

Sports

Chicago White Sox reinstate Yoán Moncada from the injured list and option infielder Lenyn Sosa to Triple A

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Yoán Moncada was just starting to heat up before he landed on the injured list.The Chicago White Sox reinstated the third baseman from the 10-day IL Tuesday and optioned infielder Lenyn Sosa to Triple-A Charlotte.AdvertisementMoncada was placed on the IL retroactive to June 18 with a strained right hamstring after he left in the third inning of a June 17 game in Houston. He talked with the training staff in the dugout after grounding out in the second, then remained in the game for the bottom of the second. Josh Harrison replaced him in the third.Moncada is slashing .179/.230/.292 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 29 games while dealing with a variety of injuries for much of this season.AdvertisementHe began the season on the IL with a right oblique strain and played his first game May 9. He experienced quadriceps discomfort that limited his playing time in late May.[ [Don’t miss] Lucas Giolito’s strong start goes to waste in the White Sox’s 4-3 loss ]Moncada had a career-high five hits in a 13-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers on June 15 at Comerica Park. He suffered the hamstring injury in the team’s next game.Sosa joined the Sox from Double-A Birmingham on Thursday and went 1-for-12 (.083) with a double in four games. He collected his first major-league hit in Sunday’s 4-3 victory against the Baltimore Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field.He led the Southern League in several offensive categories — including hits (85) and batting average (.331) — at the time of his promotion.

Sports

3 Chicago Sky players chosen as All-Star reserves — joining starter Candace Parker — for the July 10 game at Wintrust Arena

NEW YORK — Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper and Emma Meesseman will get a chance to play in front of their home fans as the trio was selected as reserves for the WNBA All-Star Game on July 10 at Wintrust Arena.The Chicago Sky stars will join Candace Parker, who was voted in as a starter last week.AdvertisementOther reserve guards picked Tuesday included the Washington Mystics’ Ariel Atkins, Phoenix Mercury’s Skylar Diggins-Smith, Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale and Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd, a Niles West alumna. Atlanta Dream rookie Rhyne Howard also was picked by the league’s 12 coaches, who voted for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference.Coaches were not able to vote for their own players.AdvertisementThe Las Vegas Aces’ Dearica Hamby, New York Liberty’s Natasha Howard and Connecticut Sun’s Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas also were chosen in the frontcourt. Jones is the only player to make the All-Star Game this season while coming off the bench.[ [Don’t miss] ‘We’re doing a disservice to an entire generation’: How Chicago athletes and teams reacted to Roe being overturned ]The Sky’s James Wade will coach one team while the Aces’ Becky Hammon will lead the other. The league announced last week Breanna Stewart and Sylvia Fowles will co-captain one squad and Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson will draft for the other. All four were chosen as starters. Fowles and Bird announced earlier this year they will retire after the season.The All-Star teams will be drafted Saturday.Howard, who played with Bird and Stewart in Seattle before coming over to the Liberty, put in a pitch to play with her former guard.“I would love to play with Sue one more time,” she said after practice Tuesday. “It’s her last All-Star Game.”[ [Don’t miss] As Brittney Griner’s detention nears 130 days, WNBA fans and activists want action ]The other starters announced last week were the Los Angeles Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike, the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, the Sun’s Jonquel Jones and the Aces’ Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.The Indiana Fever is the only team without an All-Star.