Girls’ Varsity Crew welcomes two new coaches this year: Eve Goldenberg and Casey Kelsey, who will join Miriam Singer on the coaching staff. Despite being new to Deerfield, both are experienced and talented rowers eager to share their passion and knowledge with the team.
English Teacher Eve Goldenberg has the frame of a coxswain, but after joining crew during her first year at Barnard College, she “just kept rowing and it worked for me.” She appreciated her coaches’ focus on technique over raw strength. This gave her the chance to become a leader on the team, and by senior year she was coaching at Fordham University in the mornings before her own 7 AM practices.
After graduating, Ms. Goldenberg trained novices at Columbia Univeristy, then spent two years at the University of New Hampshire coaching alongside world-class rowers, including Olympian Jennie Marshall.
While Ms. Goldenberg brings the knowledge and perspective of a coaching veteran to Deerfield, Science Teacher Casey Kelsey is a first-time coach but an accomplished rower. After beginning her rowing career as a high school freshman, she went on to row competitively at Division I school Brown University. At Brown, she rowed under the instruction
of John and Phoebe Murphy, a couple entering their 29th year as coaches. She raved about her four years, saying, “the success and competition was fun and exciting, even though we never had an opportunity to rest on our laurels.”
Despite their different rowing histories, both coaches are excited to unite and work with the Deerfield squad, constituted primarily of young athletes. This year the team will graduate only one senior, Captain Casey Butler ‘13.
Ms. Kelsey hopes to learn a lot from Ms. Goldenberg’s expertise, especially “how to put myself back in a novice rower’s shoes.” She also seeks to bring home the Points trophy at the NEIRAS, the regional end-of-season rowing competition.
The coaches have been thoroughly impressed by the dedication and commitment of their rowers. On their “freezing” spring training trip, “We [the team] briefly considered a lacrosse switch, but everyone was still positive and tenacious,” Ms. Goldeberg reflected. She appreciates the opportunity to work with “dedicated and talented girls, from Junior National Team members to novices.”
The program this year will have more integration of the novice and varsity levels. “ All coaches will train all boats,” Ms. Goldenberg said, “in an effort to build a program where the same techniques and strengths are worked on at every level, where we value every rower.”