Teen rows for U.S. team

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Dibran Ambari
Dibran Ambari

BEACON FALLS — A Beacon Falls teen took to the water to represent America.

Dibran Ambari, 16, was part of the 15-person United States rowing team in the Atlantic Challenge.

The challenge, which took place from July 19-27 in France, featured teams from 13 different countries in a variety of rowing, sailing, knot tying and navigating events.
The United States team featured 15 rowers, three of which were from Canada.

Being chosen to represent the United States was an honor for Ambari, especially since he just recently took up the sport.

Ambari, a junior at The Sound School in New Haven, began his rowing career his freshman year.

“I thought it sounded interesting, so I decided to try it out and it was a lot of fun. It’s something I’ve stayed involved with for the past couple of years now,” Ambari said.

When Ambari heard about the competition he sent in his application. In early spring he received a letter back saying he had been accepted onto the team.

“It’s crazy because I didn’t think I’d be representing the United States in anything at all. If you told me when I started rowing, ‘Hey, within the next year and a half you’ll be in France rowing for the U.S. team,’ I would think you were lying,” Ambari said.

Once the school year wrapped up Ambari and his 14 teammates headed to Greens Island, just off the coast of Rockland, Maine, to begin training for the competition.

“Typically every morning we’d get up at 6:30 a.m., do some stretches and a tiny bit of exercise, and then we’d go out and row for an hour. Then we’d have to go for a swim in the freezing cold water. And then we we’re able to eat breakfast. After breakfast we’d do something a bit more specific like training for particular events,” Ambari said.

The training would continue through the afternoon with a focus on the different events the team would participate in during the competition.

The training continued for approximately two weeks on an island that featured only a well, an outhouse and a cooking shelter.

Once the training was complete the crew flew into Paris, France and took a train up to Vannes, France, where the competition was held.

Events would begin around 10 a.m. each day, Ambari said. The teams would break for lunch and then do another event in the afternoon. Each country competed in every event
While the team placed 12th overall according to the challenge’s website, it ranked very well in certain events.

The team came in first in the slalom event, beating Russia by two seconds. It also took third in both the rowing and Captain’s Gig events.

Ambari said the point of the Captain’s Gig “is to act presentable, show good rowing form, and do something interesting to get the attention of the crowd.”

In addition to competing for the United States Ambari also had the opportunity to get to know his fellow teammates and rivals from around the world.

“I got two weeks to know all the people on the U.S. team. I hung around with them pretty often, but I also talked with some people from other countries and got to know a bit about them as well,” Ambari said.

Ambari said he plans to continue rowing at The Sound School and would like to take part in the biannual competition again if he can.

“I would do it again, but it’s a question of whether or not I will be able to at that time. It’s too far away to know,” Ambari said.