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abaya · 08-18-2008, 04:43 PM

On this topic, I was just reading in the Seattle Times today about the US women's 8 crew earning gold over the weekend (while ktsp and I were out of town on an extended trip around Iceland--was quite sad to miss the rowing finals)

-- and there are two people from the University of Washington crew from 10 years ago who were in this gold medal boat yesterday, including a coxswain: Longtime teammates now have gold in their grasp

We trained on the same waters, at the same time (we were all in college, and the Seattle teams all train on Lake Union/Lake WA between 5-7am)... probably rowed past each other on a daily basis, actually. It's eery reading the article, after reviewing the decision-making process I went through to NOT try and earn that coxswain's seat. Once again, who knows... I probably would not have made it. But there it is, someone who was training and racing on the same waters as I was, who made a completely opposite decision from me and spent the next 10 years of her life training like mad for this moment, and now has the gold medal (after a silver in Athens).

And yeah, I am still very glad that I made the decision that I did.

Had I coxed at Washington, things might have been different--it is a Pac-10 uni, MAJOR funding bucks and NCAA Div I (we were Div II), tons more pressure and development than my lil' university... so the chips might have fallen differently. But that's a whole other what-if that's not even worth my time, really.

More realistically, sometimes I have regretted not at least pursuing coaching after I graduated, as that was what most crew-obsessed people from my team did for 1-2 years afterwards. My co-captain (the men's team captain, and rower in my national silver-medal boat) and good friend from college did just that, after he decided that he was more fit for coaching rowers than for being in the spotlight himself. He is now moving up very successfully in big universities as a rowing coach, and I think he finds it very fulfilling. Then again, when I get envious of his job, he gets envious of my pursuing a PhD, so the grass is always greener, right? But someday, I do want to row/cox again, even just recreationally (maybe after we get back to a rowing-friendly community like Seattle).

08-18-2008, 04:43 PM	#16 (permalink)
abaya Location: Iceland	On this topic, I was just reading in the Seattle Times today about the US women's 8 crew earning gold over the weekend (while ktsp and I were out of town on an extended trip around Iceland--was quite sad to miss the rowing finals) -- and there are two people from the University of Washington crew from 10 years ago who were in this gold medal boat yesterday, including a coxswain: Longtime teammates now have gold in their grasp We trained on the same waters, at the same time (we were all in college, and the Seattle teams all train on Lake Union/Lake WA between 5-7am)... probably rowed past each other on a daily basis, actually. It's eery reading the article, after reviewing the decision-making process I went through to NOT try and earn that coxswain's seat. Once again, who knows... I probably would not have made it. But there it is, someone who was training and racing on the same waters as I was, who made a completely opposite decision from me and spent the next 10 years of her life training like mad for this moment, and now has the gold medal (after a silver in Athens). And yeah, I am still very glad that I made the decision that I did. Had I coxed at Washington, things might have been different--it is a Pac-10 uni, MAJOR funding bucks and NCAA Div I (we were Div II), tons more pressure and development than my lil' university... so the chips might have fallen differently. But that's a whole other what-if that's not even worth my time, really. More realistically, sometimes I have regretted not at least pursuing coaching after I graduated, as that was what most crew-obsessed people from my team did for 1-2 years afterwards. My co-captain (the men's team captain, and rower in my national silver-medal boat) and good friend from college did just that, after he decided that he was more fit for coaching rowers than for being in the spotlight himself. He is now moving up very successfully in big universities as a rowing coach, and I think he finds it very fulfilling. Then again, when I get envious of his job, he gets envious of my pursuing a PhD, so the grass is always greener, right? But someday, I do want to row/cox again, even just recreationally (maybe after we get back to a rowing-friendly community like Seattle). __________________ And think not you can direct the course of Love; for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. --Khalil Gibran Last edited by abaya; 08-18-2008 at 04:46 PM..