Youth in the Mediterranean: The Rowers

Glauco Canalis’ reportage has the flavor of fatigue and personal growth. It’s a photographic journey on the threshold of the Mediterranean sea: on the waves painted by vascular arms, by a coach-mentor and by teenagers looking for a reason to improve as athletes, as men. Good vision.

This story is an extension of my ongoing research on youth in the Mediterranean. This time the focus is on the rowers: a tribe of blossoming teenagers building their bodies on land and shaping their minds in the sea waters.

The coach, Diego, is one of a kind. A Pirate-like character, long hair and narrow goatee, aka “il Dragone”. His methods are spartan but always uplifting and encouraging. He’s more interested in the content of his practices than in the form of them. He managed to raise ferocious athletes who gained gold medals nationally and internationally.

This photographic series aims to highlight the work dynamics within a team, but also the friendship and connection created by the group, by these young people, in order to achieve a goal that goes beyond the simple result of the competition: the construction of the various personality, of conscious men. A construction based on individual effort and mutual trust.

This story wants to celebrate the beauty of human maturity and the importance of having good leaders in a crucial and delicate moment such as adolescence.