Black Rower, Author Shares His Passion For The Sport With Riversport OKC

Arshay Cooper said Riversport invited him to OKC to help promote diversity in watersport programs. He visited several schools and spoke to students about the different doors rowing opened him up to in his life. 

“I had to tell stories that meant something to them. I had to demonstrate how tough it was for me growing up and how I broke through that,” Cooper said. 

Cooper said rowing was a sport he never pictured himself doing as a kid. He said he went to school one day and there was a boat in his cafeteria with a sign-up list for the rowing team.

“I had no idea what rowing is. I don't even swim. It's not for Black people, you know, and the next day they were giving out pizza and I said I can check it out for pizza,” Cooper said. 

With a slice of deep-dish pizza in one hand and a pen in the other, Cooper signed up and opened himself to a new world filled with opportunities. 

“We were the first all-Black rowing team in the nineties and we made history. The rowing program came with entrepreneurship courses, so we took entrepreneurship classes. There was extra academic support. There was a strong college success program,” Cooper said. 

Cooper said it gave him a brotherhood and he wanted others to experience it, so he started several rowing programs for low-income youth across the country. He also wrote a book that was adapted into a movie encouraging kids of all backgrounds to be part of the watersport community. 

CLICK HERE to find out how you can find a copy of the book or to watch the film. 

“It's a lot of barriers when it comes to rowing right, the cost. The boat is the same price as a Mercedes, some boats. Historically, in our communities, there's not a lot of access to swimming and pools because of a lot of structural limitations, so swimming is a huge barrier. I would say transportation, (too). The water is not near our communities,” Cooper said. 

Cooper encourages students to break through those barriers. He said they'd be shocked to see what's waiting on the other side.