18 minute read
Building on History
History Building on
BY REBECCA A. BINDER
The school plans to build a new boathouse that will honor and build on the crew program’s history, traditions and near-century as a foundational experience for so many Brooksians. This look forward is exciting, and it is possible because of the program’s DIRECTOR OF ROWING Tote Smith knows where to bring strong past. Here, the prospective rowers when they visit the Brooks campus. “As soon Bulletin explores the as you crack the door into the upstairs of Lyman,” Smith says, referring to the school’s Lyman Boathouse, “you are immedimeaningful collection ately overcome by what we always talk about, which is that we of tangible objects stand on the shoulders of those who come before us.” That sense of history, of accomplishment, of support stretchthat memorialize the ing across generations of rowers: That’s special, Smith says, in program’s history, and part because it often steers Brooks students into the highest pinnacles of the sport. “One of the things that I love is that for why that tradition will be so many of our athletes, rowing at Brooks is just the beginning,” honored and replicated he says. “People create these things, and they come back. This was just the beginning of a trajectory in their life.” in the new space. The Lyman Boathouse, and Holcombe Boathouse next to it, have housed the Brooks crew program through the school’s first century. They’ve witnessed New England champions, national ← champions, and even Olympic champions find their footholds “The first thing you see when you walk into Holcombe Boathouse is in the sport, and they’ve been the hub of generations of dedicathis banner,” says girls crew captain tion, determination and belonging for Brooksians. That presAshley Brzezenski ’22. “We have a tradition: As we come into the ence is felt through the buildings, but also through the items boathouse before a race, everyone that reside inside the buildings: The artifacts of a program jumps up and hits that banner.” dedicated to greatness, to community and to growing students and athletes for the next stage of their lives. Here, we reflect on the importance of place, of home, of history to the crew program, and we reveal initial plans to honor that foundation as the school looks to the future.
The Captain’s Logs
The Brooks crew captains steward and add to the program’s “captain’s logs.” When faculty emeritus Ox Kingsbury P’59, GP’87 founded the crew program at Brooks, he began the tradition, which has been in practice ever since. The captain’s logs are a series of bound journals that serve as a diary for the program’s captains: They take notes on daily practices, use the pages as a scrapbook to document major events and write their thoughts on the program’s day-to-day feel. The logs are kept by the school, and captains, when they take up their captaincy, are invited to read the previous logs as they begin their own.
Boys captain Luke Desmaison ’22 read through the previous captain’s logs when he received his own. He calls the logs a “very, very important piece of writing” that changed his sense of what it means to captain the Brooks crew.
“I don’t think I realized the extent of the history of Brooks School rowing,” Desmaison says. “I know Brooks has been around forever and so has rowing at Brooks, but I didn’t know that everything was so well-documented and that you could actually see what it was to be a Brooks rower. There are records of every single practice in past years, and everything that happened at practice, the conditions, and every single boat lineup of every practice. It helped me realize the weight of what I’m carrying as captain. This means a lot to me, and now we’re trying to teach younger rowers that they’re part of a tradition that’s stretched on for almost 100 years now. We don’t take that lightly.”
Girls captain Ashley Brzezenski ’22 paged through her captain’s log the day she received it last spring. “I was excited to read it,” she says. “I’m in the same position as all these people I’ve heard about. It feels as though I’m the equivalent of them. There’s such an extensive tradition in this program; I want future captains to understand the way I feel about it, and I want this to translate to the younger kids. I’m doing this now for everyone who has preceded me and has worked so hard to keep this tradition going.” “There are records of every single practice in past years, and everything that happened at practice, the conditions, and every single boat lineup of every practice. It helped me realize the weight of what I’m carrying as captain.”
Luke Desmaison ’22
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Girls crew captain Ashley Brzezenski’s captain’s log. The tradition of keeping captain’s logs has stretched for the entirety of the crew program’s existence.
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The first page of the first Brooks crew captain’s log. This foreword was drafted by program founder Ox Kingsbury. The text recounts the founding of the program and the construction of Lyman Boathouse, and then describes “the really great day” on which the first Brooks crew began its work on the “machines” in the school’s gym. The foreword concludes: “This book will be an attempt to keep an accurate record of crew, day by day, in the hope that someday it will be a source of enjoyment and interest to those whose names are ‘gilded’ in its pages and those who aspired to have their names enrolled.”
COACHES’ ROUNDTABLE
Sally Morris and Ed Kloman
The Bulletin hosted a conversation between former crew coaches Sally Morris and Ed Kloman, and current Director of Rowing Tote Smith, via Zoom. Morris and Kloman shared stories of their time at Brooks and the ways in which the program helped them come into their own as coaches.
What do you see as your contribution to the Brooks crew program? How did it evolve under your leadership?
Sally Morris: I showed up in 1985, which was really pivotal for my life. I mean really and truly. I answered a job description for somebody who could teach Greek and coach crew, and I was right out of college. Liz O’Leary was the head coach at the time, and it was just a fantastic opportunity for me because she’s an Olympian and a great athlete herself and a huge role model. I don’t think I could have had a better introduction to being a coach than having Liz O’Leary be there.
Ed Kloman: I was a beneficiary of people who came before me who just set up a pattern. What I remember most is coming back early for spring breaks. And it was a tradition that the boys would sleep in the wrestling room, literally on the wrestling mats. We would travel down to Harvard because I knew Harry well enough, and so we’d jump in and we’d row in the Harvard rowing tanks. I stuck by the traditions that were already there. The culture was also being surrounded by really excellent people, and it’s just more to me about the people who collected there, both past and present and now future.
Sally Morris: I’m most proud of rowing next to Ed in “Henley Hall,” in the mornings or early afternoons before practice [laughs]. We used to do an hour-long erg workout down there. In terms of the culture, I think that grungy, really hardcore, wild-man sort of place to be was a very good way to see the intensity of what Brooks School crew wanted to be. Some of the potential national team kids and Olympians would go down in the morning on their own and work out before school.
Ed Kloman: It was really important to think that it wasn’t boys rowing or girls rowing, that it was really about Brooks rowing. And I think to me, that’s always been really important to sort of knit the two together as opposed to being one or the other.
Sally Morris: There was a lot going on in just keeping that space, like you said, Ed, very inclusive of both so that there was representation everywhere. And then when I went back for that single ceremony a couple years ago, I was amazed at how much more they’ve done up there. It’s even more inviting.
What particular moment stands out as your proudest as a coach of the Brooks crew?
Sally Morris: Something I’m really proud of is the challenge of the erg tests we held right there at the boathouse. Our rowers improved a lot right there while working together and looking over our own lake and racecourse. It was pretty inspiring to get in shape right on your own course.
Ed Kloman: The Brooks rowers were always willing to be led; they were willing to listen. They were willing to open their minds to different kinds of training techniques and how to approach it, whether it’s visualization to just how to prepare for a regatta, what you need to do for sleep. They’re incredibly absorbent. They ask a ton of questions. We persevered through a lot of just crummy weather and we just got over to the far shore without sinking and then we’d do our work. I keep coming back to that theme. It was never about the bricks and mortar: We didn’t have the best boats and all of that, but we did have each other. And that was enough to really set Brooks rowing to continue the tradition that was established for me, and then carry the torch to the next person keeping it going.
Why is it important to have tangible reminders of those who have rowed for Brooks before you?
Ed Kloman: It’s always good to have that mentor, and also, to know that people before you have lived to tell about it. When you’re in the middle of an erg and your hands are being shredded, it’s just nice to know that, well, Doug Burden was once a knucklehead 15-year-old like
→ Oars stand at the ready in Holcombe Boathouse.
Please visit www.brooksschool.org/alumni/ bulletin to read a coaches’ roundtable between Henry Fox, Booth Kyle ’89 and David Swift.
me. Just when you think you’re at that breaking point, to have those references of other folks who are like you shows your potential. They took great pride in wearing that green; the green shirt meant something to them. When we put it on for a race day, it was a powerful symbol of commitment and responsibility to those who were in the past. So it was great for me as a coach to say, “Look, these folks have done it. You can do it too. You’ve just got to put the work in.”
Sally Morris: I was just so humbled to be a part of that long tradition that I was somehow going to be in any way shaping people that had this past behind them. And so many of those guys were Harvard and Yale rowers and there I was, my little self. And it inspired me to really study the sport instead of just do the sport. And so there was always somebody there. Ed showed up; you had coached at Princeton too. So, coaches with all this experience, they were just there, and I wanted to be like them and I wanted to be as good as they were. So it inspired me to work harder, as hard at being a crew coach, certainly, as I did at being a Latin and Greek teacher. And the boathouse embodies that, from the plaques on the wall to the oars, to the trophies, to the posters. “One of the biggest goals of a high school is to get boys and girls to understand that they are part of something bigger … What they do is important, how they carry themselves, the work ethic that they apply on a regular basis, those are all important things. Sometimes, they need to be inspired by others. By having that history on the walls, being surrounded by great stories, that’s one of the best ways to inspire greatness. When you hear the stories or when you see those achievements, you can start saying, ‘Well, if someone else did it, then I could do that too.’”
FORMER BROOKS CREW COACH BRIAN PALM
A Tour With the Captains
Sixth-formers Ashley Brzezenski and Luke Desmaison, two of this year’s crew captains, toured the boathouses with the Bulletin in February 2022 to highlight the tangible objects they find most meaningful.
↑ The second floor of Lyman Boathouse at Brooks. This room is full of intentional memories — for example, photos of past crews and oars marking championships. It also brims with incidental memories — for example, benches crews meet on before races. “Every time I walk into this room, there’s a unique, very noticeable smell of old wood,” captain Desmaison says. “I remember waiting in this room to race as a third-former and what it smelled like.” ↑ The benches that populate the upstairs room of Lyman Boathouse have long been a gathering place for crews before races. Rowers and their coxswain meet on a bench to center themselves and visualize the race ahead. “Caitlyn Ingram ’21, our coxswain last year, had us sitting back in that corner, visualizing, getting ready and gathering ourselves before our race,” Brzezenski says. “These benches really remind me of the ways in which our program is unified.” Director of Rowing Tote Smith agrees, and recounts program alumni from the 1970s describing a similar, time-tested ritual. “When alums talk about their experience, I guarantee they talk about this room and the importance of this room,” Smith says.
← “For me, the big thing is the oars,” Desmaison says. “That’s what we’re chasing: Winning New Englands or Nationals and hanging up an oar listing your name, your year, your boat, your seat, your time.” Included in the large collection of oars memorializing Brooksian victories are two oars documenting Ox Kingsbury’s time as a rower at Yale University.
↑ The program’s shells are named for vaunted Brooks faculty, coaches, rowers and other people who are important to the program. Desmaison says that’s important. “I christened the Ox Kingsbury,” he says. “You get to hear the stories of the people the shells are named for. We row in a shell named after an Olympian.” Brzezenski agrees. “We remember them,” she says. “We can see our history growing as we commemorate it and as we create it ourselves.” ← In 2017, the program implemented a practical method of assigning crew to shells: Each athlete has their name written on a popsicle stick, and as the boats are set the popsicle sticks are hung on a board to indicate in which shell and seat a rower or coxswain sits. Those popsicle sticks have led to a meaningful newer tradition: On the night before the NEIRA regatta, the program hosts a formal dinner in the upstairs room of the Lyman Boathouse. Each graduating sixth-former is presented with their popsicle stick, which they “retire” by hanging it on the wall of the boathouse. “Every sixth-former I’ve known in this program is up there,” Brzezenski says. “They’re remembered forever here. I think it’s really cool for people to leave this program knowing that they’ll always have their mark on it.”
← Oars that are no longer in use (far left). “When we have a championship crew, their names will go on one of these oars and it will go up in the rafters,” Desmaison says. ← The lineup board, which, pictured here, contains the final lineups from the 2021 season, minus the graduating sixthformers who retired their popsicle sticks last spring.
← This ship’s clock, long dormant, came back to life when John Barker ’87, P’21, P’23 found the winder needed to operate it. Now, the program uses it for its intended purpose as a timepiece. Bells connected to the clock ring every four hours. ← The upstairs room in Lyman Boathouse is lined with photos of past Brooks crews. “It’s really cool, from time to time, to just walk around the room and look at the different crews,” Brzezenski says. “We take similar photos every year.” Pictured in the background this photo are the retired sixth-form popsicle sticks, which also reside on the boathouse wall.
↑ Bow numbers from previous entries in the Head of the Charles Regatta. The number is the place the crew finished in the previous year; the program takes pride in the number getting lower each year.
→ “These oars are trophies from our Amsterdam Cup, which is a fun tradition we have,” Brzezenski says. “It changes each year, but it’s essentially an intra-team competition. It really helps bring our team and community together.”
↑ “Before practices and during races, we all hang out at these benches outside Holcombe Boathouse,” Brzezenski says. “This area is a gathering place for our program — before practice, after practice, and other times. This space is special.”
Forward Looking
Here, we share a preliminary rendering of the planned new boathouse, along with details on how it will benefit the crew program, the school and the ecology of Lake Cochichewick.
Lyman Boathouse and Holcombe Boathouse have stood sentry on Lake Cochichewick and been home to the Brooks rowing program since its inception. The crew program at Brooks has grown due, in part, to the permanence and space that those structures provided. Lyman Boathouse was built for a school of less than 200 boys. Now, Brooks enrolls more than 350 students, and the crew program alone has more than 80 students on its roster. The current facility does not serve the full needs of the program or the school. Today, the Brooks crew program is at a crossroads: In order to remain strong, it would benefit from a new building that is better equipped and intentionally designed to serve its needs and support our student-athletes into the school’s second century.
Beginning this summer and pending approval from the Town of North Andover, the school will replace the two current boathouses with a new boathouse that will serve and support the program’s needs and growth well. The new boathouse seeks to provide the current and future crew — and the school community as a whole — with the training facilities, meeting spaces and storage and team rooms it needs. It balances that look toward the future with an intentional and thoughtful embrace of the past, and of the traditions, tangible objects and people that are such a seminal part of the current crew’s success.
We look forward to sharing more news and details on the new boathouse as construction gets underway.
→ A spring 2022 draft rendering of the planned new Brooks boathouse.
STEWARDING THE LAKEFRONT
The new Brooks boathouse will provide a number of environmental improvements to Lake Cochichewick, which provides drinking water to North Andover. Most importantly, the new boathouse will be located outside of the tributary wetland and the flood plain. A vegetated buffer and a fieldstone wall will further separate the boathouse and its traffic from the wetlands that feed water to the lake. These are considerations that were not taken into account when Lyman Boathouse was built. The new boathouse will also be solar-oriented to help with temperature regulation.
SUPPORTING STUDENTS
The new boathouse will be built in a way that is mindful of the regatta experience at Brooks. The construction aspires to provide a beautiful, intentional and functional lakefront location for both the Brooks crew and visiting crews to use as a base. We also intend the new boathouse construction to provide a better experience for fans of all rowers as they cheer their teams.
THOUGHTS FROM ALUMNI
“Lake Cochichewick is a great place to row. Having this beautiful body of water on campus, where you can just walk down to the boathouse, is so special. I was very lucky to have that experience. I think the reason I love to row is because of my early experiences at Brooks.”
ELLIE LOGAN ’06, three-time Olympic gold medal winner, as told to the Bulletin in 2016
“In terms of the program today versus back in the early 1990s, many things are the same while there are some differences. Success in the sport still comes from hard work. The lake has not changed much, so the kids experience much of the natural environment we experienced 30 years ago. There are two notable differences. The first, which is a great change, is how the girls and boys programs are [now] run as one. I think the full team culture [the program has] built is great. The other difference, which you can see across all sports, is that the kids train more in the offseason. I think during my entire three-year Brooks career I sat on an erg less than 10 times. Some kids do that in a single week these days.”
