Seasoned Amateur - My story with ASU Crew.

Since it's only three weeks from, well, yesterday that I'll be leaving for a year abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, it's needless to say that I will be M.I.A. for the 2009-2010 season.  As desperately sad as this is (and if you don't know who I am, trust me, you'd be devastated!  Not really, but seriously.) I'm going to try and keep as close in touch as I can.  Plus, I'll be rowing while I'm in Copenhagen with the Dansk Studenters Roklub - don't worry, I can't pronounce it either - so I'll even be able to share what it is like rowing on the other side of the world.

For those of you that were lucky enough... ahem... to not get a chance to meet me, my name is Karen Hewell - although usually referred to as Ginger by Coach Burkett - and I was the varsity women's coxswain for the 2008-2009 racing season.  I, like most of the new rowers we'll have for this season, had absolutely no experience in the sport of rowing before arriving at the first day of recruitment in 2007, as a freshman.  I wouldn't even call myself an athlete then, either; I had been a dancer for a better part of my adolescence, but after injuries and the inevitable burn-out that comes from daily rehearsals put me out of the competitive dancing circuit, I spent a good two years doing absolutely nothing except, of course, something resembling competitive eating.

So, when I showed up with my 5 foot 2 frame and no distinctive muscle mass to speak of, I was hardly the physical epitome of rowing success.  Regardless, I was given the chance to learn to row, first on the ergs and then on the water, and instantly fell in love with this unique, exhilarating, and surprisingly intense sport.  My bliss was to be short lived, however, when on an 'erg test' day (if you don't know what that is yet, you will, and I'm just sure you'll love them) I re-injured my already mangled back, making it difficult for me to stand up straight, much less row without being in pain.  I spent about two weeks trying to convince both my coach and myself that I could row again, but after the warm-up loop at Newport Fall Rowing Festival left my back and neck in flames, I knew I had to call it quits.  

Luckily for me, I had something much more suiting in my future.  By this time, I had lost nearly twenty pounds from the running, rowing, and the general lack of affordable food at ASU.  I was a bossy redhead at 5 foot 2, 115 pounds, and a lot to prove.  I was made to be a coxswain.

The road was far from easy.  Most newbie coxswains last a grand total of one semester - the stresses of everything being your fault (because, as the only one not rowing, it always is) and trying to earn the respect and trust of your rowers without being a pushover, usually scare off anyone who ever tried to strap a microphone to their head and ask tired athletes for more.  There were days during my novice year that I was sure I wouldn't show up at practice the next day.  But, because I'm a stubborn, petulant little child sometimes, I did... just to show everyone I could.  

The bad days became fewer and fewer, until eventually my 'bad days' were the ones I didn't get to be in the boat.  It turns out that even with the bad days, I loved rowing, I loved racing, and I couldn't get enough of it.

So here I am, two years later, one novice and one varsity year under my belt, ready to take on the sport on a different continent.  And although I'm itching to go abroad, I do know that I'll miss being with ASU Crew.  After all, this is where I first learned how to carry a boat, and which side port and starboard were on, and what 'check' and 'run' and 'weight enough' meant.  This is where I found out how good it feels to have a good piece on the water, and how easy it is to forget about the not-so-good ones.  I've found sisters and friends and soulmates with ASU Crew.  I'm not the only one, either.  It comes with the territory.

So good luck for the 2009-2010 season, I'll be following and keeping tabs on everyone and everything involved (seriously, I will.  I'm a creeper like that.)  If you're a newbie and just starting out - in which case, don't worry, the blisters heal fast! - or if you're a veteran of the team (Cristina!) - don't forget what you loved about the sport in the first place.  

Trust me, you haven't heard the last of me.  Poor novices.  They thought they'd gotten off scott free.

-- Ginger.