This was on the front page of yesterday's Sport Section of the St.Paul Pioneer Press.
It's a good article by Andy Greder on how, as the sub-head describes "Fleck's 'Row the Boat" mantra is helping a couple of Minnesota families through challenges".
"“When I kind of unveiled it, everybody made fun of it, and people still do,” Fleck said. “But at the end of the day, that’s always going to happen when you sit there and say, ‘Here I am’ as a person, and you share yourself with other people instead of closing yourself off.”..
Behind the scenes, there’s another U community that has embraced “Row The Boat” and the never-give-up credo it represents.
When the Gophers called for fans to donate personalized oars at the past two spring games, about 250 in different shapes, sizes and designs were donated to the program. Those oars hang along the message “RoWINg with us” in the tunnel from the team’s locker room down to the field at TCF Bank Stadium.
Several families of fans have brought the phrase into their homes, from Andover to Detroit Lakes. It has helped them keep a positive attitude when life has dealt them challenges such as the pain of losing a child, or battling serious health issues. Some of those stories have reached Fleck, and he has written letters back to the families.
“It’s inspiring,” Fleck said. “It’s very real, for whatever anybody says about it. It’s making a huge impact on our state, and the community and the nation in terms of people who are struggling with different things. We can always be that beacon and that guiding light and be a sense of hope for them.”
Here are two of those stories:
CHLOE’S WILL
Detroit Lakes native Jerod Conn has been a lifelong Gophers fan, and his daughter Chloe joined him during the U’s 2016 football season. Mother Stacy said Chloe’s new hobby fit her “defy-the-odds” personality.
“She felt like she needed to know everything about football because it wasn’t natural for a 13-, 14-year-old girl to know everything about it,” Stacy said.
When Fleck was hired in 2017, the Conns, including older son Christian, made an oar for the spring game. They painted it maroon and wrote “Conn” on it in gold, with an outline of the state of Minnesota and the Gophers’ block “M” logo. They gave it to the football program.
It turned out to be one of the last things they did as a full family. About a month later, on a road trip to the Emerald Bay area of Lake Tahoe in California, Chloe slipped while on a hike and fell about 50 feet. She died at the hospital.
As the family grieved, the oar became symbolic.
Without knowledge of Chloe’s passing, the Gophers placed the Conns’ oar as one of the last ones the players see in the tunnel before taking the field. Coming out of a commercial break in the Gophers’ home game against Maryland last year, a FS1 cameraman panned the wall of oars and paused on the Conns’ for a few seconds.
“It feels like a piece of Chloe is there and will always be there in a way,” Stacy said last weekend, her voice quivering.
The message behind “Row The Boat” has become therapeutic for the Conns.
“I get down a lot and I try to think that (Fleck is) still pushing forward,” Jerod said. “He’s a very positive person, and I think it’s a good thing to be. Sometimes I wonder how he can be that way and stuff. It’s just something that you use to motivate you...
‘SAM STRONG’
Sam Grant was born three weeks premature on June 30, 2016. His mother, Jamie, fed him within minutes, and he started choking and coughing....
https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/...s-row-the-boat-is-helping-minnesota-families/
It's a good article by Andy Greder on how, as the sub-head describes "Fleck's 'Row the Boat" mantra is helping a couple of Minnesota families through challenges".
"“When I kind of unveiled it, everybody made fun of it, and people still do,” Fleck said. “But at the end of the day, that’s always going to happen when you sit there and say, ‘Here I am’ as a person, and you share yourself with other people instead of closing yourself off.”..
Behind the scenes, there’s another U community that has embraced “Row The Boat” and the never-give-up credo it represents.
When the Gophers called for fans to donate personalized oars at the past two spring games, about 250 in different shapes, sizes and designs were donated to the program. Those oars hang along the message “RoWINg with us” in the tunnel from the team’s locker room down to the field at TCF Bank Stadium.
Several families of fans have brought the phrase into their homes, from Andover to Detroit Lakes. It has helped them keep a positive attitude when life has dealt them challenges such as the pain of losing a child, or battling serious health issues. Some of those stories have reached Fleck, and he has written letters back to the families.
“It’s inspiring,” Fleck said. “It’s very real, for whatever anybody says about it. It’s making a huge impact on our state, and the community and the nation in terms of people who are struggling with different things. We can always be that beacon and that guiding light and be a sense of hope for them.”
Here are two of those stories:
CHLOE’S WILL
Detroit Lakes native Jerod Conn has been a lifelong Gophers fan, and his daughter Chloe joined him during the U’s 2016 football season. Mother Stacy said Chloe’s new hobby fit her “defy-the-odds” personality.
“She felt like she needed to know everything about football because it wasn’t natural for a 13-, 14-year-old girl to know everything about it,” Stacy said.
When Fleck was hired in 2017, the Conns, including older son Christian, made an oar for the spring game. They painted it maroon and wrote “Conn” on it in gold, with an outline of the state of Minnesota and the Gophers’ block “M” logo. They gave it to the football program.
It turned out to be one of the last things they did as a full family. About a month later, on a road trip to the Emerald Bay area of Lake Tahoe in California, Chloe slipped while on a hike and fell about 50 feet. She died at the hospital.
As the family grieved, the oar became symbolic.
Without knowledge of Chloe’s passing, the Gophers placed the Conns’ oar as one of the last ones the players see in the tunnel before taking the field. Coming out of a commercial break in the Gophers’ home game against Maryland last year, a FS1 cameraman panned the wall of oars and paused on the Conns’ for a few seconds.
“It feels like a piece of Chloe is there and will always be there in a way,” Stacy said last weekend, her voice quivering.
The message behind “Row The Boat” has become therapeutic for the Conns.
“I get down a lot and I try to think that (Fleck is) still pushing forward,” Jerod said. “He’s a very positive person, and I think it’s a good thing to be. Sometimes I wonder how he can be that way and stuff. It’s just something that you use to motivate you...
‘SAM STRONG’
Sam Grant was born three weeks premature on June 30, 2016. His mother, Jamie, fed him within minutes, and he started choking and coughing....
https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/...s-row-the-boat-is-helping-minnesota-families/
