My name is Olga Benjamin, and I am an Adaptive Assistant Coach at Row New York. I currently attend Lehman college where I am majoring in Psychology and Speech Pathology and Audiology, with a minor in Women‘s Studies. One of my life goals is to pursue a career with children and young adults with disabilities. I volunteer every summer as a counselor at a week-long camp, called PALS Programs. This program has several different locations all around the United States. At camp, counselors are paired one-on-one with a camper who has Down Syndrome. The age varies by location, but overall the experience is indescribable. In just a week, you come out a totally new person with such a different perspective on life.
I attended East Side Community High school. East Side is very big on reading and having authors come in and speak with us. One day Arshay Cooper came in to discuss his amazing book Suga Water. After talking with us, Arshay felt that we had great potential, so he started the first-ever rowing team in our school. Arshay did a wonderful job showing how passionate he was about the sport. Although I was hesitant at first and completely clueless about rowing, I soon came to learn that it could be life-changing. I started rowing my junior year, and through his teachings, Arshay showed that he was passionate about helping us find our purpose through the sport.
During my time on the team, I developed such a love/hate relationship with the sport. There were so many times when I wanted to quit, so many times where I constantly doubted my ability to succeed within the sport. But of course, Arshay was right there in my corner, cheering me on and giving me the motivation I needed to keep going.
I remember our first indoor race. We had been rowing for only about 4 months and were up against people who had been rowing for years. Let me just say, even though we didn’t come in on top of the charts, it felt so good knowing that there was such great sportsmanship. I remember being one of the last ones to complete a 2k and just being surrounded by everyone as they cheered me on to the finish line. I was beyond exhausted but felt so good. Rowing has truly become my escape. While our team trained predominantly indoors, I can never forget the day that we first got on the water. We were in Rochester and we rowed out to the middle of the lake, all I could hear was the soothing sound of the oars against the water. It was then that the world stopped and nothing but my team mattered. It was there that I knew, rowing was something that would always be a part of me.
I will forever be grateful that I had the opportunity to be coached by such an amazing human being as Arshay Cooper. He truly changed my life. Not only did he allow me the chance to find myself through the sport, but he also allowed me the opportunity to become an assistant coach. To top it all off, he allowed me the opportunity to work with people who inspire me. As stated previously, my life long goal is to work with kids and young adults with disabilities. Becoming an assistant adaptive coach has been nothing but incredible.
Coaching was something that I had never done before, but I am so grateful that did. My favorite part about coaching is the idea that I’m able to help and teach someone else. Not only do I get to coach the athletes, but I also get the chance to learn from and with them. Becoming a coach has taught me a lot about myself. It has challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and explore things I would have never thought of doing before. So far, I’ve been able to create different bonds with the athletes and better understand each individual, as a way to better assist them. Being introduced to all of the adaptive equipment was one of the moments where I was filled with joy because it further supported the fact that people with disabilities are capable of doing much more than what many assume. Coming into work every day and being greeted by bright smiles and laughter makes my two-hour-plus commute worth it all. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the athletes having fun and saying they want to come back and do it all over again. I believe that we all have a purpose in life, and my purpose is to uplift and help others.
