Goodale’s Walk to the 2007 National Rowing Team
7/26/2007 10:43:55 AM | Women's Rowing
When former Syracuse University rower Anna Goodale arrived at Syracuse, she made a bold decision to walk on to the university’s rowing team having had no experience in rowing. It was a wise decision because through hard work and her love for rowing, Goodale was able to elevate herself to a level of national and international recognition.
A two-time member of the U.S. National Team in 2005 and 2006, Goodale is currently training with the 2007 National Team at the Princeton Training Center in Princeton, N.J.
“My freshman year in college it (rowing) was something that was a possibility and then in my sophomore year it became a little bit more of a dream and something that I really started to think about and thought I might want to do,” Goodale told PressPassTV.com. “By my senior year the dream became reality and it was like wow, this is right in my grasp. Now I am here doing it and I thank my lucky stars because I feel incredibly privileged to be here.”
Goodale was a walk-on freshman six years ago. She had no high school experience and had never rowed before. Now she trains with the 2007 National Team, was a member of the gold winning National Team that set a world-record time of 5.55.50 for the women’s eight at the 2006 FISA World Championships and was a member of the silver medal team that finished second in the eight at the 2006 FISA World Cup stop in Lucerne, Switzerland. These are just a few of her many accomplishments.
When Goodale graduated from SU in 2005, the illustration major was not only a three-time All-American and a Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Mid-Atlantic Region All-American First Team member, but she was also a BIG EAST Academic All-Star, a National Scholar Athlete and the 2005 recipient of the Soladay Award, the most prestigious award given to a student-athlete by the department of athletics.
After graduating from Syracuse, Goodale moved to Princeton where she trained with the National Team as a spare. But when she started winning her pair races, she was able to earn a place in the boat that went to the 2005 World Championship in Japan.
“It was an incredible experience but it was bittersweet because we came in fourth by two tenths of a second. It was pretty intense and a hard one to swallow but we came back and worked hard the next year and in 2006 we went to the World Championship in England, I made the boat and we won.”
Since her victory in England where the team set a world-record time, Goodale has been training at the Princeton Training Center with the 2007 National Team. Training to compete at the national and international level is hard, but for Goodale who has come a long way in her rowing career, the process is worth it.
“It takes a lot of work but I love it, so it makes it easier to do.”
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