Personal Statement

When joining winter conditioning my 8th grade year, I never suspected I'd love rowing as much as I did. I thought like other sports, it'd be an activity to keep me in shape. What I soon learned was that it was a passion missing from my life. My team brought out a new competitive side to me and I learned to love the feeling of pushing my body.  Rowing is not just a sport, it's a feeling. The motion of being in perfect sync with your boat-mates feels like flying. Rowing does have it hard days, where you want to quit or have bad times. But those day are what make every good day worth it. You can only learn from the bad days and get better. 

One of the best moments I've had with rowing was not winning Stotesbury in the Freshman Quad, but actually just a regular old-practice. I was placed in a boat with a much older varsity team mate whose experience was a little intimidating. So intimidating,  I rowed one of the best practices I ever had. My coaches compliments made feel good, but the compliments I got from the older varsity girl were even better. She made me feel that I was good enough to row with the older girls and I had a feeling of belonging. That day feels like the day I finally won my spot on the team. I proved how well I could row and lived up to it. 

Rowing is a sport of confidence and learning. My coach always says, "There's always something else to learn in rowing." I live by those words and try not to get hard on myself when my form isn't what I want. I used that confidence in 2018 to get 2nd at Virginia State Championships in the Junior Quad, with an all Freshman boat. Then go on to win Stotesbury Cup Regatta in the Freshman Quad. Finally, get third at SRAA in the Freshman Quad. In 2019, as a sophomore I was placed in the Senior Quad where I got 1st as VASRA state champions and 4th at Stotebury Cup. 

My achievements bring me joy, but after the seasons over it's time to get better. There's always another season and boats get faster every year. I like to to continue moving forward and I think my drive is something that will make me succeed in college.