“Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her” – Mia Hamm. While not a rower, Mia Hamm is an athlete who fully understands the impact that an intense sport can have on a person. Rowers are a special kind of people who have the ability to put their bodies through hell for 8 minutes and smile afterwards. Rowers run as much as cross-country athletes, lift as much as football players, and train as long as dancers. The effort is great, and the reward is little. There are no famous rowers. No one goes on to become a professional rower. In fact, when most people hear the term rowing, they think of canoeing.
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But I love the sport just as much as anyone else. I joined OARS my 8th grade year, under the false assumption that athletic skill was hereditary. I quickly discovered that it wasn’t. But for 2 years I had seen my sister become a new person since becoming a rower, a happier and better person. So I was determined to find that happiness myself. And every time a barrier stood in my way, I used my love of the sport to get through it. When I had a thyroid condition my first year that kept me from being able to breathe normally during any exercise, I dealt with it and powered through. When I got shin splits my second year that wouldn’t let me run at all, I switched to cycling to get my base cardio in. When I got a stress fracture in my low back that kept me from rowing at all later that year, I stepped back. But I still came to every regatta and coxed several races. When I was diagnosed with vertigo my sophomore year, which almost made me fall out of the boat on multiple occasions, I stuck it out. I loved rowing too much to let a dizzy head get in the way. Later that same year I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which caused me to have enormous stomach cramps whenever I ate gluten, and those cramps would be amplified whenever I used my abdominal muscles, which are used a lot in rowing. And due to the …show more content…
It’s a sport with hundreds of clouds, but even more silver linings. Some come to crew and let it into their lives, and it stays with them forever. Others come to rowing and it changes them into a completely different person. Others seek rowing as a refuge and it helps them survive. We all love the sport and it has become so closely intertwined with who we are that we can’t imagine our lives without
But I love the sport just as much as anyone else. I joined OARS my 8th grade year, under the false assumption that athletic skill was hereditary. I quickly discovered that it wasn’t. But for 2 years I had seen my sister become a new person since becoming a rower, a happier and better person. So I was determined to find that happiness myself. And every time a barrier stood in my way, I used my love of the sport to get through it. When I had a thyroid condition my first year that kept me from being able to breathe normally during any exercise, I dealt with it and powered through. When I got shin splits my second year that wouldn’t let me run at all, I switched to cycling to get my base cardio in. When I got a stress fracture in my low back that kept me from rowing at all later that year, I stepped back. But I still came to every regatta and coxed several races. When I was diagnosed with vertigo my sophomore year, which almost made me fall out of the boat on multiple occasions, I stuck it out. I loved rowing too much to let a dizzy head get in the way. Later that same year I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which caused me to have enormous stomach cramps whenever I ate gluten, and those cramps would be amplified whenever I used my abdominal muscles, which are used a lot in rowing. And due to the …show more content…
It’s a sport with hundreds of clouds, but even more silver linings. Some come to crew and let it into their lives, and it stays with them forever. Others come to rowing and it changes them into a completely different person. Others seek rowing as a refuge and it helps them survive. We all love the sport and it has become so closely intertwined with who we are that we can’t imagine our lives without