Who needs a ball to be an athlete? Bearden High siblings find their sport in rowing

The boats of rowers might zip across the water horizontally, but for avid Bearden High participants Dalton and Lauren Peters, the emotions the sport brings out are quite uplifting.

“I enjoy it,” said Dalton, a rising 11th grader. “It’s like a great, full-body workout, and I like the team atmosphere. And it makes me a better and stronger person.”

Lauren, a freshman, said she likes the competitive aspect of it, not to mention the camaraderie. “I’ve made a lot of friends through rowing, a lot of my closest friends.”

While the two are slight anomalies in a city heavily focused on ball sports, and Dalton said he is often asked about the sport from curious schoolmates, they are actually part of a larger local rowing community.

They are among about 60 junior rowers from throughout Knox and surrounding counties who are part of the Atomic Rowing program that trains on Melton Hill Lake and is under the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

There is also TriStar Rowing based in Louisville in Blount County, and L&N STEM Academy has an affiliated rowing program. In addition, about 40 adults are involved with ORRA.

Atomic head coach John Davis calls rowing a great sport. In fact, he hinted that while some people have trouble finding rowing, rowing often finds them.

“I like to call rowing the land of lost and broken toys,” he said. “It’s a sport that catches athletes who haven’t really found their sport.”

Davis, a former Stanford head rowing coach and husband of Tennessee Lady Vols rowing assistant and former Minnesota head coach Wendy Davis, echoed Dalton Peters’ thoughts of how the hard work is rewarding individually and team wise.

“The camaraderie is really special, and being out on the water is fun,” he said. “And you are responsible for your own success. Rowing becomes a microcosm for life, and that sort of thing brings value to the sport.”

While a number of junior sports have shut down, the Atomic Rowing program has been busy practicing and training this summer, although competitions have been canceled since the spring. The group has been practicing safety protocols in light of the pandemic, Davis said, and they have tried to have the same small groups together in boats or other areas where they might work closely together.

The summer training ended in late July, but the fall program will start back in late August, and Davis said anyone interested in becoming involved can find more information at the association’s website (orra.org).

Lauren Peters said they became involved because their grandfather Richard Eppard had rowed at Purdue, and they were looking for a new sport after moving back to Knoxville. Dalton became involved in 2016 after participating in such sports as basketball and cross country, while she started a year or so later.

“We just thought it was cool,” she said, adding that fellow Bearden student Maggie Miller is also involved.

Being a smaller size, Lauren is a coxswain, or steersman. But to hear her describe her role, she is much more than someone just hitching a ride with the rowers and shouting a few commands. The person has to be in sync personally, and not just making sure the rowers are.

“I am like a coach within the boat,” she said. “You have to steer a straight course, and I manage the team. You have to be loud and confident and know the aspects of the techniques and be motivational.”

Both Lauren and Dalton, a regular rower, have already made U.S. Rowing Olympic Development Teams for juniors on certain levels, and they both would like to join some of the past Atomic Rowing participants by competing on a college team.

For Dalton, that would be great, even though he is already having a lot of fun, despite the three- to four-hour practices and training that take place many days.

“They make me tired, but I never get tired of it,” he said.