Holly Hatton, program director of Bare Hill Rowing. (Courtesy photo)
Holly Hatton, program director of Bare Hill Rowing Association and girls varsity coach of the Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough (BAB) Rowing team, has won the national title of USRowing’s Fans Choice 2013 Junior Coach of the Year.
The award, announced this month, is sponsored by USRowing, the most highly regarded rowing organization in the nation, and is an important part of their long-standing tradition of bestowing awards for superior contributions to the sport of rowing by outstanding coaches.
Each year, USRowing, partnering with Row2k, creates a poll for Fan Choice Awards in seven different categories, including Junior Athlete of the Year, Collegiate Athlete of the Year, Masters Athlete of the Year, National Team Athlete of the Year, Junior Coach of the Year, Collegiate Coach of the Year and Masters Coach of the Year. The criterion for Hatton’s nomination was: a rowing coach who has achieved extraordinary success in 2013. Success may be defined as outstanding performance, having a breakout year, making a significant impact on an individual athlete or team performance, perseverance in spite of difficult odds, consistent strong performance, or a combination of the above or other worthy measures.
USRowing selected Hatton and four other talented coaches from around the nation as finalists for the award. Hatton was the only woman chosen. Fans Choice Awards are nominated and voted on by the rowing community. Nearly 6,000 votes for Junior Coach of the Year were cast this year; Hatton garnered over 2,500, winning by more than a 5 percent margin. Hatton, along with other award winners, will be honored at the gala USRowing and National Rowing Foundation “Golden Oars Awards Dinner” in November in New York City.
A well-deserved award
This victory, members of the program agree, is well deserved. In addition to her personal achievements as a coxswain and coach on the U.S. National Teams and 1980 Olympic team, Hatton’s impact and achievement as a junior (high school) rowing coach is unmatched. Since joining the BAB organization in 2009, Hatton has, along with other team coaches, brought the Bromfield-Acton-Boxborough program to new levels. In the past three years, Hatton has led the girls varsity 8+ team to two state championships and the girls double to a silver medal at the USRowing National Championship.
At the 2012 Head of the Charles regatta, the girls junior 4+ finished with the fastest time on the water out of more than 85 crews, but unfortunately placed 19th due to a penalty. The girls 8+, which was entered by lottery, placed 38th, guaranteeing an entry in the event for the 2013 regatta.
National and international success
This year the BAB varsity girls qualified two boats for the USRowing National Championship in Oakridge, Tenn. The girls lightweight 4+ finished 12th in the nation and the girls 4+ won championship gold. One member of the girls 4+ received an invitation to join the Junior World Team, where she stroked the girls 4+ on to win gold for the United States in Trakai, Lithuania. Two members of Hatton’s team were invited to U.S. Junior Selection Camp. This past summer, Hatton took four rowers overseas to compete in Women’s Henley Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames River in England. The Women’s Quad placed in the top eight out of 21 crews racing in the oldest regatta in the world.
Beyond team records and medals
Yet Hatton’s success as a junior coach goes far beyond team records and the medals. Members of the girls crews will tell you that Hatton is an inspiration, encouraging them to take pride in themselves as young women, encouraging them to dream without limits, and aspire to greatness. Hatton has achieved all of this with limited resources: a team with no school or town funding, an atypically small base of students and a disputed 2,000-meter pond. Panna Rasania, a Bromfield junior and active varsity athlete, reflected recently, “Hatton pushes me to be productive and doesn’t let me be anything less than my best. She has changed my life.”
The award recognizes and honors not only Hatton but a program and a team.
Emily Erdos is a junior at the Bromfield School and a member
of the Bromfield-Acton-Boxboro rowing team.
