Break toughens rowing team

STORY BY ASHLEY BEALL

Ashley Beall can be reached at ashley.beall@drake.edu

Over winter break our team traveled to Louisiana for winter training. With two-a-day practices and a schedule of row, eat, sleep, repeat, it was a pretty intense time.

Rain and hail made practice difficult, but it gave us a sense of pride. We were able to say, “Yes, we practiced through terrible and almost scary weather conditions, but at least we kept going.”

We also had two new rowers who were experiencing their first time ever rowing out on the water. The two of them deciding to stick with it says a lot about their character and dedication. It’s pretty impressive because most people go through winter training and absolutely hate rowing because of how intense we train, and yet they are still here and showing up to practice.

After the 16-hour bus drive home, we started indoor practices during the first week of school. It was supposed to be a recovery week, but let’s be honest:

There’s no such thing. We continued to push ourselves and work through the pain that most athletes endure. We want to be ready for our spring training trip this March in Florida and also for racing season. Spring is our championship season. We are pushing for the conference championship and the work we did over our winter training only made us stronger.

I know I’ve said this before, but rowing is the bane of my existence. At the same time, I can’t imagine my life without it. Every day, I see improvement in our team and that makes me excited to start racing.