My name is Niki van Sprang and I am a (former) TopRow Amsterdam instructor and current Dutch National Team Member (Heavyweight men’s double). In this new rubric I catch up with former teammates from my time at the University of California Berkeley. Today we start with Morgan Hellen. When I first arrived in America Morgan often had to act and translator and English teacher as I was still struggling with the new language. What followed were for years in which we never raced a race without each other with as highlights a National Championship in 2016 and a Royal Henley regatta victory in 2015. Now I’m curious what he has been up to since.

We are less than a week from this year’s Harlem River Classic, a fundraising regatta in support of Row New York — a NYC-based nonprofit organization that combines rowing and academic support to help middle and high school students attending some of our city’s most under-resourced schools realize their full potential.