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06/30/2016 12:00 AMValley Regional crew coach John Laundon has experienced a long and successful career as both a competitive rower and an instructor. John started coaching crew at Old Lyme High School in 2000 and, seven years later, he helped create the team at Valley. John then coached at both schools for the next eight years before exclusively working with the Warriors this spring.
Crew is open to both boys and girls and only girls came out for Valley’s team in the recent season, although they came out in droves as the Warriors had their biggest turnout in program history with 25 rowers on the squad.
“Rowing is the ultimate sport. There is commitment, teamwork and great competition. And physically, it is one of the best sports a person can do for your body,” says John, an Essex resident. “You work every muscle group, it is a low-impact workout, and you don’t have to worry about the serious injuries that come up in other sports. Crew has no issues.”
John began rowing in 1985 and quickly came to love it. Not only did John have a passion for crew, he also became a champion both individually and on the team level. John has medaled in Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts 25 times, winning the event on four occasions. In the USRowing Masters National Championships, John’s won six times in the single competition and also took home top honors in the double and the quad. John is a five-time single winner in the World Rowing Masters Regatta, while finishing in first in the double and the quad, as well.
The sport has taken John all around the world, including England, where he participated in the Diamond Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. Now, John takes his vast amount of rowing experience and shares it with the athletes on the Valley crew team.
“We are very lucky to have John as our coach. Many of our athletes are completely new to the sport this year and he has endeavored, along with his assistant coach Caroline Muhsin, to bring along the team at a fantastic rate,” says Tracy LeMay, the Valley Crew Booster Club president. “His enthusiasm for the sport is very infectious and this translates down to our athletes and, in turn, their dedication to their team. Many people do not realize what a grueling sport crew is and, under his leadership, the girls turn out for practice day after day. This alone is a testament to his leadership and passion for the sport. He is a legend in the rowing field and internationally recognized in his rowing career.”
One of John’s big missions at Valley is to build the crew program into a perennial contender. However, John knows that some changes need to be made in order for that goal to come to fruition.
“The present arrangement is that we use Old Lyme’s equipment and practice in their river after they are through. We are very grateful to them for all of their help, but in order to take the next step, we need our own equipment and we need our own location to practice at,” John says. “We are setting up fundraising to get our own equipment and we would like that for next spring. In order to make the next transition from a run-of-the-mill team, this is mandatory.”
The Warriors competed in the New England Independent Rowing Association and the Connecticut Public Schools Rowing Association this season. Eighty percent of the Warriors were in the novice category and so Valley finished in the middle of the pack for most races, but John feels that his athletes brought first-place enthusiasm to every meet.
“The girls did a tremendous job and, in the offseason with the changes we’d like to make, they can be even better. It would provide us with better training both on and off the water,” John says. “We can do rowing camps and I’d love for the girls to play another sport in the fall and winter that will sustain their heart rates to keep them ready for the spring season.”
With a record number of rowers in his program and the fundraising set in place, John has had an immense impact on Valley crew, according to LeMay.
“As well as being a superb coach, John is an all-around nice guy who is very dedicated to the sport. He eats, sleeps, and breathes rowing and that’s why we love and are very fortunate having him coach our athletes,” LeMay says. “This year, due to a very large intake of girls and with John’s help, we decided to form a booster club for fundraising. The main directive of the [Valley Regional High School] Crew Booster Club is to fundraise, so that we can put our athletes in their own boats, so that we can work towards being a competitive force in high school rowing.”
No matter what happens through the next few years, there’s one thing that Valley Regional sports fans can count on: John is going to do everything he can to promote the sport of crew, while working hard to help out the people who compete for his team.
“I feel it is such a great sport and exercise, which is why I got into it in the first place,” John says. “Rowing has helped me to be in great shape, travel the world, make incredible friendships, and one other thing not many realize is that crew is the best sport for young women to participate in to get a scholarship for college, which is great.”