ICYMI: Thorold rowing coach has the home advantage at World Championships

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A version of article was originally published by ThoroldToday on August 21.

While he has travelled the globe with the elite of Canadian rowing, it’s a special moment for Mike Petrychanko that the World Rowing Championships are being held a stone’s throw from where he grew up.

Petrychanko has been on Henley Island for countless Henley and Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association regattas but this time it different, the Thorold native said.

“When you're wearing the Maple Leaf, there's a difference,” he said. “It’s a responsibility.”

Unlike other countries, whose crews display their country’s flag on their oars for all international competitions, Canada only does that for two events – the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

“We do a Maple Leaf ceremony where I present the athletes with their Maple Leafs that they put on their oar, and then when they're done racing, they’re removed,” Petrychanko said.

He recalled the first time he witnessed the ceremony at a world championship regatta in Italy.

“I get goosebumps thinking about it, and with the rowing community being so small around here, you talk to people who have done it and they'll tell you it's special.”

Petrychanko is at the worlds as a coach for Canada’s under-23 men’s lightweight doubles crew consisting of Giancarlo DiPompeo from Thorold, and Owen Kudreikis of St. Catharines.

Petrychanko had coached Kudreikis briefly at Eden High School prior to the COVID-19 pandemic so he knew what he was capable of.

“In May, I got a text from Owen, that said: ‘Hey, we're going put together a light double to trial for worlds,’” Petrychanko said. “(He) finished racing collegiately in the U.S. on June 3 (for the University of Pennsylvania), drove back to Canada on June 4, and then we trialled on June 5.”

As for DiPompeo, Petrychanko said he was unfamiliar with his skills but soon learned that he was a top-flight athlete in his own right.

“Giancarlo could have trialled in a single or he could have got a different double partner to trial in, but he knew that him and Owen had something that could be really good.”

Becoming a coach wasn’t necessarily on Petrychanko’s radar at first.

“I wish I could tell you I had this grand plan that I really wanted to coach and stay involved,” he said with a laugh. “I didn't. I finished rowing in Grade 12 and said, 'Hey, I had a great experience.'”

While attending Brock University, Petrychanko ran into the principal of Thorold Secondary while the former was refereeing a minor hockey game.

“I asked, though, if anyone had taken over the rowing program because Dan and Joe (Court and Cosby, who were Petrychanko’s coaches when he was at TSS) weren't doing it anymore.”

As it turned out a new coach had been brought in, Petrychanko met him and just like that, rowing had pulled him back in. Although, It wasn’t easy at first.

“I did that for a while and floundered as a coach, because partly, I was trying to emulate what my coaches did, and it didn't work for me. I just didn't know enough about the sport.”

So, instead he found his own way of doing things and gradually worked his way up through the ranks in the national program. He also had some help along the way.

“I also had a guy named Larry Kuziak who worked with me at the (St. Catharines) rowing club. He just worked with me,” Petrychanko said. “He was just so patient and explaining things to me. He had a better understanding of the physiology and the technical sides of the sport.”

Kuziak has since passed away, so when Petrychanko was named to the national team, it was bittersweet.

“When I first got selected to coach the junior national team, Larry had just passed away, and he was the first person I wanted to call.”

In addition to his duties with the national team, Petrychanko is the rowing coach and a history teacher at Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catharines. And he’s found a way to combine his love for rowing with his work as a history teacher.

He combed through the SCCRA’s website looking for articles on past event. Finding little, he widened his search.

“I started going back to the library, going through the microfilm there,” Petrychanko said. "I've got every (St. Catharines) Standard article from 1939 up until today. I created a database with all the results and winning times.”

More information on the results of the World Rowing Championships can be found at www.worldrowing.com.