Coming Home to Crew

New Canaan resident Janette Kuhn hadn’t heard of crew until she received a flyer in the mail her freshman year at . Always athletic, what caught her attention was the risk factor.

“I thought it was really cool that there was a liability form!” Kuhn laughed. “I had played other sports, but I wanted to do something completely different.”

Kuhn rowed at New Canaan High School from 2004-2008, becoming captain in her senior year. Last fall, she returned to her old stomping grounds and began coaching the middle school team at the Norwalk boathouse.

“We always referred to the boathouse as our second home, then at some point, it became our first home and our actual houses were our second homes,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn started rowing her freshman year and quickly discovered a passion for the sport.

“When I started, I was a 5’2’’ 100 pound kid, everyone said, “You’ll be the coxswain.” I didn’t want to be the coxswain, I wanted to row! I told my dad that and he said, “Then you’ll row.""

Although her height topped out at 5’4’’, Kuhn pushed herself and quickly put on twenty-five pounds of muscle. Racing against opponents who tend to be much larger — Kuhn prides herself on keeping up and often beating them.

Her junior year, Kuhn and partner Rebecca Gould placed third in their division at the Head of the Charles — one of the most prestigious races in the country.

“It was an underdog race, these two five foot nothing girls, and we placed third,” Kuhn said. “It’s a windy, long race.”

Her senior year, they placed third at Nationals.

Kuhn’s coaches — Yan and Olga Vengerovskiy — continue to inspire her and it was Olga who offered her a job coaching this past fall.

“My coaches not only taught me to row well, they reinforced a lot of the morals my dad had taught me: that strong work ethic and never giving up,” Kuhn said. “Being a coach is a chance to be another adult in their lives that can help them.”

Kuhn’s father — Jon Kuhn — raised Janette and her sisters alone, instilling in them a fierce work ethic and love of sports.

“One time, we had a race and it was my dad's birthday,” Kuhn said.  “He had Mets-Yankees tickets, but he came to my race instead. I said, “We have to win!” and we did.”

The middle school program has grown substantially — from just a few participants when Kuhn was in high school to 150 today.

“It's the first time I’d coached and I was so nervous,” Kuhn said. "It's still hard to verbalize some things, I keep thinking of them as high schoolers. They're all so intelligent, but they're middle schoolers. I want them to know how much I want them to succeed."

Already in college for social work, Kuhn recently decided to add a second major in exercise science in the hopes that she can continue to coach.

“I didn’t row in college and every time I started talking about it, I’d light up,” Kuhn said. “There’s nothing like being back on the water.”