Nashville Rowing to outreach to inner city

By Logan Langlois Arshay Cooper Photo by Clayton Hauck NASHVILLE, TN — Did you catch the last Nashville boat rowing race by chance? Neither did any other Tennessean you’d try and ask probably, but what if you found out that this under-celebrated sport could be the gateway to bettering the lives of many of Nashville’s inner-city kids? That’s what author, mentor, professional chef, and former captain of America’s first all-Black high school rowing team, Arshay Cooper, said soon after he visited the Nashville Public Library to talk about his book A Most Beautiful Thing. While touring the city, Cooper said he was also able to visit with the Nashville Rowing Club Executive Director and Junior Men’s Head Coach Cory Sanderson to talk with the team’s coach about an upcoming recruiting program Cooper is to help coordinate, set to launch this Fall.& Copper said outreach would consist of him coming back with the team he’s assembled that is dedicated to his cause of traveling to inner cities all around the world with him to talk to kids about crew. He said with this team – which includes former American Olympians of color – he will be traveling throughout many of Nashville’s...