Following the rowing death of Mohammed Ramzan at Northwestern University in April, 2017, USRowing must again confront the single most significant problem with its safety guidelines. They can be ignored with impunity.
In this case the official report of the Illinois State Police makes it clear that Northwestern University ignored even the most fundamental guideline, that “rowers must be able to pass a swim test.” Mohammed Ramzan was allowed to row with the university team despite the fact he was never administered a swim test and didn’t know how to swim. And he was allowed to row as a novice on cold water without a PFD. Yet none of this violated USRowing’s safety requirements: because it refuses to establish any.
For many years, USRowing has maintained a position of willful blindness towards these violations of its guidelines and their potentially lethal consequences. They maintain that “statistically, rowing is very, very safe;” yet they neither collect nor analyze accident data and maintain no statistical safety records. They publish extensive safety guidelines; but have no minimum standards. They acknowledge that “coaches and administrators are ethically and legally responsible for the safe operation of the rowing program… and athletes have been unnecessarily killed and injured… due to lax standards and or enforcement of rules;” yet make no attempt to monitor or enforce safety rules and require a waiver of liability to protect coaches and administrators from responsibility for accidents, injuries, or deaths. They recognize that sudden submersion in cold water can be lethal within minutes; yet refuse to recommend the use of PFDs for rowers of any age under any conditions. They maintain that they have no authority to establish rules for safety — like those established for other scholastic sports — yet they have established and enforce detailed rules for racing.
Under the blind eye of USRowing, there are no minimum safety standards in place to protect young rowers thrown into cold water by a mishap, a misjudgment, a squall, or motorboat’s wake; but USRowing — along with the club, its administrators, directors, agents, officers, volunteers and employees — would all be protected from liability by the waiver required of all rowers.
USRowing can and should do better. It should require minimum safety standards including educational training for administrators and coaches, safety certifications for coaches, and the requirement that young rowers wear PFDs on water temperatures below fifty degrees.
As the de facto governing body for US rowing it is time for USRowing to assume the responsibility for the consequences of lax safety standards.