Feb. 24, 2005

Throughout the season, members of the UNC rowing team will provide TarHeelBlue.com readers with an inside look at the Carolina program and the experience of being a varsity athlete at UNC. This installment, the 12th of the 2004-05 school year, is by Emily Glunz, a senior from Charlotte, N.C.

After a few days either at the beach, at home, relaxing at Chapel Hill, or at some other desired destination, we all came back from a much-deserved weekend off to hit the water for the first time in months on Monday afternoon. Our strokes were far from perfect, our counting absolutely elementary, and our technique questionable, but we all thoroughly enjoyed being there and taking in a few deep breaths of the fresh air. There was a cool breeze on University Lake, but we couldn't have been luckier to have a 60-degree day in the middle of February. Then, as if rowing on the water wasn't enough to get us pumped up for the spring, we were lucky enough to have two guest speakers come in to discuss the history of Carolina Rowing.

Our first speaker, Christine Shaffer, took us through the process of what it was that turned club rowing into a varsity sport at Carolina. She spoke of the heart, determination, and commitment of rowers who knew nothing of Nike gear, scholarships, or top-of-the-line Concept ergs. Her raw passion for the sport took her from a club rower, to a volunteer assistant, to a national team member, and back to coaching. Her story was inspirational and her dedication admirable.

Next, Joel Furtek - Carolina's first women's rowing coach - shared with us a number of stories of the early years of our program. He galvanized a group of girls all the way to a bronze at NCAA's, and gave us advice to make the most of our season, because it is all within our control. Joel inspired the first team and now, he's inspired our team. Not only was he able to share with us a pictorial history of our program, but also of a few of our coaches. I can speak on behalf of the team in saying we were overjoyed and over-amused to see pictures of Coach Haney and Coach Baylor in unisuits back in the day.

It's motivating for me to know that my coaches went through the same thing that I'm going through now - that through all of these years they haven't let up for a day, and neither should I.

Row Heels Row,

Emily Glunz