After almost a year of silence, I believe it is time a rower shared her side of the story.
Personally, I would like to thank everyone who has helped Bare Hill Rowing Association with this battle. It breaks my heart that in my own town, I, as an athlete, was forbidden from the sport that I love. I never fully understood why my own team was faced with such harsh animosity in such a short period of time. As a captain of the team, I can say with certainty that all rowers truly want to do is row. In this struggle, I believe that simple idea was lost in the shuffle. I hope that in the future my own hometown will not exile me to Methuen or Boston or Wayland or Lowell. I hope that my team doesn’t feel unwelcome or misjudged, as we have for so long. Like I said, we just want to row. From the bottom of my heart I thank everyone who has fought with us: parents, rowers, friends, and townspeople. My team has received so much support from people I’ve never even had the pleasure of meeting. You are the ones I appreciate the most.
And to those of you we fought, I hope you now understand that no athlete has it in them to sit still and be denied a right to their sport. But I can even thank you, because you have indirectly united my team in ways I’ve never seen in all my 12 seasons. In the end, I think this conflict did not need to be as difficult as it was, and I hope we can restore a peaceful relationship.
Emily Mitchell
White Lane
