Mean streets to sporting elite - a podcast by BBC World Service

Arshay Cooper likens his childhood on the westside of Chicago to "what soldiers experience in war." His father absent, his mother battling an addiction to drugs, Arshay and his three siblings struggled to put food on the table, or to heat their tiny one-bedroom apartment.

From a young age Arshay was aware that in his neighbourhood, “the big question wasn’t what college you were going to go to, but what gang you were going to join.” Still, he knew the life of a gang member wasn't for him.

So when Arshay came across an unusual sight in his school cafeteria one day - a rowing boat with a notice: "Join the Crew Team" - he was intrigued, but wary. The next day the boat was still there, and this time they were offering free pizza to anyone who signed up. The decision to join would lead Arshay to become captain of the first ever African-American high school rowing team in the US, take him and his team-mates into the elite, white-dominated world of amateur rowing - and change their lives for ever.

Arshay Cooper has written a memoir, A Most Beautiful Thing, which has been turned into a film of the same name. The memoir is available now, the film will be released on 31 July.

Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Maryam Maruf

Picture: Arshay Cooper during rowing practice with the Manley high school crew.
Credit: Heather Stone courtesy of Tribune Content Agency

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