Coxswain/Launch Driver Appreciation
New Crew's Mission/Purpose
We are Sarasota’s collegiate and inclusive/adaptive rowing club that practices at the world class rowing facility of Nathan Benderson Park. Athletes on the team come from all the institutions within the Cross-College-Alliance including New College of Florida, Ringling College of Art and Design, State College of Florida, and University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee Campus. Staff, faculty, and alumni are welcome to come row as well! The team is based off the partnership between New College of Florida and Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates (SANCA) at Nathan Benderson Park. New Crew also serves as an inclusive space for paraplegic, amputee, blind, deaf, and any other kind of adaptive athlete.
Our Story
The team did not start off with everything, it actually started from absolute scratch. Collegiate rowing in Sarasota was non-existent until New College students Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt and Isaac Mingus decided that they wanted to co-found a rowing team as their independent study project. The team originated as Mingus liked to state: a “Trash Panda Rowing Club”. New Crew began by using old, used, and previously damaged (and then refurbished) oars and rowing machines from other teams. In the fall of 2019, Ginsberg-Klemmt (known by most as “Coach Toni”) started a GoFundMe, which the amount was then matched by her parents to afford the purchase of the three used boats from Space Coast Crew in Melbourne Florida. The boats are Vespoli coxed “fours” (also known as a 4+, which means 5 people total, 4 rowers and 1 coxswain). Along with the guidance and help from her father Achim, Toni made boat racks A-frames, welded, epoxied, sanded, painted, and refurbished the boats for the team to make them fully functional again. Dr. Amy Reid, New College of Florida Professor, is the club’s faculty sponsor.
Our Location at Nathan Benderson Park
Nathan Benderson Park has hosted the rowing Olympic trials, master’s world championships, national championships, regional and state competitions, and more! The New Crew team has access to the facility, training, and coaching equipment that has been used by the US National team. Colleges from all over the country come to our home course to row, which is only a 15-minute drive from the Sarasota Colleges/Universities.
To get to where we row on water days at the park, you must drive down the palm tree road that leads to a field and park in the grass on the opposite side of the boat rack. There are two entrances to "regatta island" where we practice. I highlighted in yellow the route and circled the parking area in red. On days where the weather is not safe to row on the water, we train on the rowing machines in the Finish Tower.
New Crew in the press
New College of Florida, SANCA announce rowing partnership
Student Launches Sarasota's First Intercollegiate Rowing Team
Student Launches Sarasota's First Intercollegiate Rowing Team
Student Launches Sarasota's First Intercollegiate Rowing Team
Student Launches Sarasota's First Intercollegiate Rowing Team
Student Launches Sarasota's First Intercollegiate Rowing Team
New College, SANCA Form Intercollegiate Rowing Club
Student Launches Sarasota's First Intercollegiate Rowing Team
Student Founds Rowing Team and Makes History on Suncoast
Student Founds Rowing Team and Makes History on Suncoast
New Faculty of Florida, SANCA Pronounces New Crew SRQ Rowing Membership
Student Founds Rowing Team and Makes History on Suncoast
Partners form first multi-collegiate rowing club on the Suncoast
New Faculty of Florida, SANCA Pronounces New Crew SRQ Rowing Membership
New Faculty of Florida, SANCA Pronounces New Crew SRQ Rowing Membership
New Faculty of Florida, SANCA Pronounces New Crew SRQ Rowing Membership
New Faculty of Florida, SANCA Pronounces New Crew SRQ Rowing Membership
New Faculty of Florida, SANCA Pronounces New Crew SRQ Rowing Membership
New College-Founded Rowing Team Makes History
Rowers from New College place first and second in multiple races at the “Head of the 941” regatta
Rowers from New College place first and second in multiple races at the “Head of the 941” regatta
Rowers from New College place first and second in multiple races at the “Head of the 941” regatta
Rowers from New College place first and second in multiple races at the “Head of the 941” regatta
Rowers from New College place first and second in multiple races at the “Head of the 941” regatta
New Crew brings rowing to New College
Rowers from New College place first and second in multiple races at the “Head of the 941” regatta
New Crew brings rowing to New College
Fixing/Refurbishing Equipment
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt | Founder and Head Coach
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt | Founder and Head Coach
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt | Founder and Head Coach
Antonia is a Sarasota local who went to Pine View School in Osprey Florida. She first started rowing in 2012 for Sarasota Scullers where she first met her friend Isaac Mingus. Little did they know that they would be starting a rowing club together 7 years later. She moved over to Sarasota Crew in 2014 where she stayed for the remainder
Antonia is a Sarasota local who went to Pine View School in Osprey Florida. She first started rowing in 2012 for Sarasota Scullers where she first met her friend Isaac Mingus. Little did they know that they would be starting a rowing club together 7 years later. She moved over to Sarasota Crew in 2014 where she stayed for the remainder of her high school rowing career. In the spring of her senior year of high school, she represented Sarasota Crew in the women's lightweight 8+ at the 2018 USRowing Youth National Championships on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, California. Her boat placed first in the C final, making her and her teammates 13th in the nation. After graduating from Pine View and Sarasota Crew and before starting and coaching New Crew, Antonia was a middle and elementary school coach as well as a volunteer coxswain for the masters at Sarasota Crew. Antonia was absolutely determined to row in college. “The only reason why I almost didn’t go here [New College] was because there was no collegiate rowing! This is the rowing capital of the world! It made absolutely no sense that there is no residing collegiate rowing club team here. I knew from the day that I made the decision to become a Novo that I would change that.” As a thesising fourth year with areas of concentration in physics and environmental studies, Antonia is a firm believer that the existence of New Crew will increase enrollment and retention at New College of Florida. “I have several first-year students on the team right now who told me personally that one of the main reasons why they decided to go to New College in the first place was because they saw that we have a rowing team! Imagine how many more student athletes we’d get if more people knew about us!”
Isaac Mingus | Co-Founder
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt | Founder and Head Coach
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt | Founder and Head Coach
Isaac is a transplant to the Sarasota area from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Attending Pine View School from a young age through his senior year, he began rowing in middle school with the Sarasota Scullers Youth Rowing Program. Over his youth rowing career, Isaac came to specialize in small boats and the nuanced technique associated with the
Isaac is a transplant to the Sarasota area from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Attending Pine View School from a young age through his senior year, he began rowing in middle school with the Sarasota Scullers Youth Rowing Program. Over his youth rowing career, Isaac came to specialize in small boats and the nuanced technique associated with them, especially favoring the single scull. Several summers spent rowing single sculls at the Craftsbury High Performance Training Center in Craftsbury, Vermont, allowed Isaac to develop in a solo setting and craft a philosophical approach to technical progression that translated into team rowing. As such, he brings to his coaching a knack for examining more discrete aspects of rowers’ stroke such that “free speed” can be picked up with minor or major modulation of technique. As a community member, Isaac is a performing and educating musician, coaching the Pine View Jazz Band and serving as Interim Music Director of the Siesta Key Chapel. He is a thesising fourth-year student at New College of Florida, with areas of concentration in neuroscience and psychology with a minor in music.
Dr. Amy Reid | Faculty Sponsor and Coach
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt | Founder and Head Coach
Dr. Amy Reid | Faculty Sponsor and Coach
Dr. Amy Reid, Professor of French and Gender Studies, has been a member of the New College faculty since 1995, but she began rowing years before, in 1983, for the Colgate University Crew. As a graduate student she raced with the New Haven Rowing Club (1988-1994) and also with the Athletic Club of Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris (1990-19
Dr. Amy Reid, Professor of French and Gender Studies, has been a member of the New College faculty since 1995, but she began rowing years before, in 1983, for the Colgate University Crew. As a graduate student she raced with the New Haven Rowing Club (1988-1994) and also with the Athletic Club of Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris (1990-1991). She is so happy to be back on the water and helping Toni and Isaac build New Crew SRQ. You’ll see her coaching and driving a launch at practices and occasionally out in a scull at dawn.
Rowing in the Sarasota Bay (before the partnership with benderson)
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