Young athletes training at Amadeusz Rowing Academy (ARA) at Diamond Fitness in Oyster Bay have won or placed in every competition in which they’ve competed this summer—regional, state and national events, all sanctioned by USRowing, the nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States.
And last spring, Andrew Marsh broke his personal best—and possibly a national record—rowing the 2,000-meter in five minutes, 59.6 seconds. No other American rower on record in the junior men’s heavyweight category has ever broken six minutes.
The new rowing academy’s results this season have been phenomenal. At the USRowing Club National Championships in Bethel, OH, from July 15 to 19, ARA made the best showing of any team in Long Island’s history, with Marsh taking second and James Poll taking third in the junior men’s heavyweight race. As a team, ARA came in 17th out of 100 teams with its 15 participating members, competing again with teams of 50 to 80 rowers.
Tad Chabowsky and John Karen took second in the under 17 category; the team’s quad squad (Karen, Addison Dolido, Adam Makara, Chabowsky) took fourth and Karen also placed fifth in the single competition.
At the Stotesbury Cup Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, May 15-16, ARA’s freshman double, Chabowsky and Karen, won first place—the first time in the event’s 76-year history that a freshman team competed against varsity teams, winning over the Canadian National Team. Also in May, Amadeusz Rowers walked away from the 2015 Long Island Junior Rowing Championships Regatta with multiple medals.
At the C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints international indoor regatta at Boston University’s Agganis Arena on March 1, Marsh went on record as the second fastest junior heavyweight rower in the world, coming in second at 6:04 with teammate James Poll right behind him in third place. Back in February, the ARA team medaled in every race in which it competed at the Strong Island Sprints indoor regatta at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington. Remarkably, in the men’s high school freshmen race at this event, Amadeusz rowers took first, second, third and fourth places in a field of 20 rowers.
ARA Team Member Julia Vascotto, who will be a junior in high school this fall, was recently named to the Ireland National Rowing Team. March will be going to Boston University on full scholarship this fall and ARA rower Bel Evans has been signed by Harvard University.
Rowing coach Amadeusz Pietrzak is a native of Bydgoszcz, Poland, who is a graduate of Dowling College in Oakdale. Pietrzak is widely respected for his success in training and mentoring highly successful young athlete scholars. His student athletes have been recruited to many Ivy League schools and Division 1 universities including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia and Boston universities.
