Janit Gorka is hired as first ever women’s rowing head coach

By Renee Oliver
January 28, 2016

Cabrini athletics announced last November the addition of the school’s 18th collegiate sport, women’s rowing.

On Wednesday, Jan. 13, the athletics department hired Janit Gorka as the first head coach of the women’s rowing program.

“The coach and the team will have an impact on Divi- sion III Women’s Rowing as well as the Cavalier athletic department and campus,” Gorka, Haverford, Pa. resident, said. “To implement a program from the ground-up is a welcoming challenge.”

Gorka brings an adequate amount of rowing experience with her to Cabrini. Her experience comes from different sides of the spectrum. She has coaching and administrative history at the Division I, II and III levels. She also has worked as a reporter and photographer for the world’s most densely trafficked rowing website.

janit gorka
Gorka was a rower at Villanova University and graduated in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in English. Cabrini Athletics

When asked what her expectations are for the newly instated rowing program, Gorka sees the addition as a great opportunity for all of those who choose to get involved.

“I am getting a lot of positive feedback from other collegiate teams (and colleagues here at Cabrini) how well the school is positioned to be successful with rowing,” Gorka said.

“From the facilities at Hines Rowing Center in Conshohocken to the academic programs that offer so much to an incoming freshman, to the supportive Philadelphia rowing community—there is tremendous opportunity,” Gorka said.

The team will begin competing in fall 2016 but the inaugural season is set to start in spring 2017.

The recruitment process for a brand new program at the collegiate level can sometimes be difficult. How does a coach or recruiter get a prospective student-athlete to trust a program that is starting form the ground-up?

Gorka’s connections within the rowing community will play a hand in the hefty task.

“Recruitment is just beginning, and of course it will have more of an impact after our inaugural year,” Gorka said. “I have many contacts within scholastic rowing and I am reaching out to coaches, club programs and individual athletes.”

For those who are not familiar with the sport, Gorka explained about the way it works.

“A simple explanation of rowing in a standard size shell is: propelling a 60-foot long 8-person rowing shell (which includes a forward- facing seat for a coxswain) with 12-foot oars while sitting on a sliding seat, as fast as possible, mostly on a 2000m race course on a river or lake,” Gorka said.

The addition of women’s rowing seems to be a good one. Head coach Gorka already has expectations set and is ready to meet them.

“In the coming year, my goal is to fill boats with a blend of new (novice) athletes as well as seasoned incoming high school rowers,” Gorka said. “I feel strongly they will have a positive experience, they will learn and they will be stronger young women.”

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Renee Oliver

Renee Oliver. Junior communications major at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. Sports section editor for the award-winning college newspaper, The Loquitur.

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