Students at McKnight Middle School got to try their hands at indoor rowing last week as part of the Renton Rowing Center and George Pocock Foundation’s “Erg™ Ed” week.

The school is piloting the program, which connects kids to the sport of rowing, teaches basic rowing skills and safety on the rowing machine. The George Pocock Foundation has been running the education program in Seattle schools since 2010.

“We’re really excited for this program to potentially lead kids to the community to learn a new and different sport,” said Karla Landis, deputy director of the George Pocock Foundation.

Twenty ergometers or indoor rowing machines were delivered to the school for the students to use.

“When they saw the ergs in our gym, their eyes – it was sort of like Christmas morning when you see all the presents out,” said Mary Trettevik, physical education teacher. “They were very excited.”

Last Thursday, seventh-grader Cole d’Hondt sat on the ergometer manipulating the machine to measure his work and intensity.

“I like it because my grandpa won a medal in the Olympics for doing rowing for Canada,” d’Hondt said.

Cole’s grandfather, Walter d’Hondt, actually won two Olympic medals in rowing: a gold in the 1956 Olympics in Melborne, Australia, and a silver in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy.

The seventh-grader said he really hadn’t considered the sport before this week in gym class, but now might think about taking up rowing outside of school.

“The goal is to bring rowing into a P.E. curriculum and mainstream it,” said Landis. “The second (goal) is to use this as a vehicle to connect kids to things that are going on in the community around the sport of rowing.”

The students learned how to set goals, work out to certain intensities and challenge their sense of what they can accomplish. The week finished with a team challenge that emphasized working with peers and strategizing how to maximize time on the machine.

“I think it’s great to have this partnership with the Pocock Foundation and the idea of bringing this resource in for our kids, giving them a chance to try a skill exposes them to something that is a lifelong skill that they can try here and think about beyond middle school and beyond high school,” said Craig Cooper, McKnight principal.

U.S. Rowing and the George Pocock Foundation have partnered to expand the program to two more cities in 2015-2016. The organizations are going through the selection process currently.