Spring Training: Seat Racing
3/18/2011 8:41:19 AM | Women's Rowing
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As fellow teammate Miranda mentioned in the first post, Coach Moore set the vibe of the whole training trip in his meeting when we arrived in Clemson. He scheduled out some of the week, and when he wrote Wednesday's workout on the whiteboard, we all looked around at each other knowing it could only mean one thing… seat racing.
Being a true novice, I was incredibly nervous, excited, but definitely pumped for Wednesday. Compared to the older, more experienced girls on the team, I do not have as much racing experience, however I was excited to get some more under my belt; especially before officially starting the spring season.
The team was divided into two groups this morning so that all the coaches could get a fair and extended look at the girls vying for spots in all the various boats. I was in the earlier group, and although I lost out on a little bit of sleep, I was happy to be at the water early, so I did not have time to think and analyze what was about to happen. I just got up, ate and hopped on the bus.
At the water, I was told I was going to stroke today. As I mentioned before, I am a true novice, and a starboard, so not only do I not have a ton of racing experience; I barely have experience leading my pair-partner and me in a stable eight (as we mainly row in port rigged boats). However, I know the coaches spend hours talking about these sorts of things, so I said to myself, “There's a first time for everything” and got on the water.
Seat racing was definitely intense, no questions asked. But because of the attitude and genuine desire for victory within our team, it was comforting to know that everyone was happy for another success, as long as our boats were going fast. So maybe I didn't win every piece, but each of those little, inter-team competitions were merely giant steps to creating line-ups that would help Syracuse Women's Rowing achieve their goals as a whole.
With such an intense, fast-paced morning, we were all grateful to have the afternoon off. Some choose to do yoga, run or swim here at the hotel. The sun came out in the afternoon, and everyone got a healthy amount of vitamin D. At night, we celebrated Maggie's birthday with cake delivered by her parents; it was a fantastic end the day.
