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Updated: May 30, 2010, 12:22 am / 0 comments Published: May 30, 2010, 6:41 am Story tools: LargerSmallerSave Print Email Get Alerts Newsletters NEWShare this story: Buzz up! None of the four teens stands significantly more than 5 feet tall. None has been in America for more than a year or two. They don't speak a lot of English, either. What the four boys — Pray Reh, Nga Reh, Thy Reh and Win Htoo — do possess is a desire to keep going. They keep showing up four days a week at the West Side Rowing Club for two-hour practices. And they keep their coach, Dennis Call, coming back for each practice. "I'm not really sure how much they understand me, but they've caught on. They caught on to the basics quickly," Call said of the four teens from Burma. "It's a different kind of sport. It's a kind of sport that someone with no athletic talent can flourish at." The boys are part of a crew team made up of 14 students drawn from all over the Buffalo School District. The team began practicing in March. And on Monday, the four boys and the rest of the team will have their first and only race of the season at the rowing club. For the four boys from Burma, crew has turned out to be their thing, a way of getting used to life in America, something to do after school each day. It's hard work, and it's demanding, but they keep going. For Call and the other coaches of the team, it's been a challenge to get the team up and running, but they are hopeful, buoyed by the eagerness of the four boys and others like them. Like the other three boys, Pray Reh's family fled Burma to come to the U.S., following rule by a military government that many see as oppressive. Buffalo is now home to roughly 2,000 Burmese, who have settled primarily on the city's West Side. Pray Reh's family arrived in America six months ago, after fleeing to Thailand. Pray Reh's and the other boys' adjustment to America has been slow but steady. They all understand English, while they still struggle with speaking it. Thy Reh wears a black, white and yellow Yankees baseball hat, even though he doesn't watch or even like baseball. Rowing at the club has given the four boys something to do together. "I like the rowing, but I can't explain why. I simply like it," Pray Reh said through an interpreter. "I don't know what else to do." The coaches treat the boys like any other novice rowers. Practices last about two hours and begin with the boys carrying the boat they'll practice in down to the Black Rock Channel. They spend time on the water, learning the techniques. They might spend a little time in the tank, a pool with a stationary boat, or in the erg room, a long hallway with each wall lined with rowing machines. They might end with a little weightlifting — Pray Reh wants six-pack abs anyways. Despite whatever is lost in translation and any physical disadvantages, the boys have shown promise, Call said. "That little guy there with the hat?" Call points to Thy Reh. "Whether he realizes it or not, or whether he grasps the idea of power application, he rows like someone who is 5-9." Even with the work and the practices, the boys keep coming. At the Dr. Antonia Pantoja Community School, Pray Reh frequently turns up several times a day in the room of his coach and teacher, Bill Laurie, to ask if Laurie will take him to practice that day. "Mister, mister, we go today?" Pray Reh asks Laurie. Laurie laughs. "Yes, we go today," Laurie says. For the coaches of the four boys, it has taken a collective effort to get the team under way. Three years ago, Call began coaching the public school team at the club, after his wife pushed him to start coaching again. That first year was rough. The kids were unpredictable. "One day they'd come down, and they be calm. And the next day, they'd be wound up," Call said. Call struggled to keep the kids interested beyond pastone season. To help his recruitment problems, he went to guidance counselors. He went to school principals. He even went to the cheerleading coaches, telling them that he would take those who didn't make their squad. This season, Call has seen more dedication from his recruits, including Pray Reh and the other three boys. The recruits spent the winter inside, working out in the tank with its stationary boats. For Monday's race, Call, Laurie and others spent time coaching, stopping when the boys couldn't understand their instructions. Brunie Valez, a teacher at Pantoja School, gave rides to and from practice. And one rowing club member, Sharon Courtin, found rowing shorts for the team. "The funny thing is that I'd go, "Did you like it?' They'd go, "Yes,' " Call said. "Did you have fun? "No.' " "They didn't know what fun was," Call said. "They just didn't understand the word." abrown@buffnews.com
