Asheville Rowing Club, USA
“IT’S SO OBVIOUS ONCE YOU KNOW ABOUT IT. THE CONCEPT WAS DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN TO SOME PEOPLE AT FIRST BUT ONCE WE HAD INSTALLED THE BAT LOGIC QUICKRELEASE SYSTEM AND PEOPLE COULD SEE HOW IT WORKED THE APPRECIATION HAS BEEN GREAT”
Asheville Rowing Club Captain, Thomas Stender
An Asheville Rowing Club member who is also a coach heard about the BAT Logic click-in-click-out system and passed the information on to Asheville Club Captain Thomas Stender as an idea. “I thought it was so obvious, and that is a strongly positive word for me. I had to convince the Board of Directors we should switch to the system.”
Asheville Rowing Club is a non-profit athletic and social organization dedicated to promoting health, fitness and fun through the sport of rowing. With 50 competitive racers, the club wins medals frequently at regional and national regattas. Alongside this, Asheville also hosts a learn to row program.
“Being a non-profit club, we keep boats a long time and rarely buy new ones. In the past, adjustable shoes have been purchased to put in the boats to allow for the variation in foot sizes. Selling the concept to the Board was difficult. Money is tight and the concept was difficult to explain to some people and there was push-back to something new.
“We are under constant pressure to not increase dues. So, we asked for a small donation from each member as a contribution towards the BAT Logic system. The volume pricing meant the cost would be around $50 per set and a large number of our rowers contributed that.”
“One of the drivers was just being able to row in shoes that fit. Women were rowing in shoes way too big and for me as a coach, if I jumped in with the women’s team my feet were bent in half.”
“Once we installed the BAT Logic system and people were able to use their own shoes everyone was excited and understood the value of it. People who bought their own shoes are very happy with that decision. Plus, as part of the fit-out, although we threw away some old shoes, we’ve kept most club shoes hanging up to be available to rowers.”
“Our learn to row athletes, for whom we run two or three programs a year, just accept the system as the norm as they don’t know any different. If they decide to take up rowing seriously, they’ll buy their own shoes.”