Rowing Along: Spring Break Memories
March 19, 2009
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 third of the spring season, is a collaborative effort by members of the varsity squad.
The Carolina Rowing spring break trip may not be an excursion down to the Caribbean, but we were just as excited to head out to Lake Lure, N.C., last week. We spent time doing a lot of technique work and seat racing, to make sure that we are absolutely prepared for our upcoming races. However, beyond just the work, it was a lot of fun, filled with team bonding, our infamous skit night, and many other adventures. For this edition of Rowing Along, we asked a few Tar Heels for their favorite Spring Break memories.
"My favorite spring break trip memory is from last year when we were in Pamlico County, N.C. We were in a very small town and there was not much around. We were housed in a church camp all bunked in the same room, with not much in the way of amenities, and of course Spring Break had to be the weekend of the Duke game. The coaches being Carolina fans too were trying to find a way for us to be able to watch the game. The community opened up their houses to us and the entire team piled into their houses cheering right along side of them. It was such an amazing experience to see what a family Tar Heel fans really are. This year I am looking forward to our Skit Night extravaganza!!!"
"My favorite Spring Break trip memory is from Camp Vandemere last year. We had these three
freshmen that were outrageous all the time. The camp had these paddle boats and the
freshmen plus a few others decided to be pirates and paddle around in a boat. They were
horrible. Eventually they swamped the paddle boat in the middle of this nasty water. It
was hilarious seeing our silly little freshmen looking like wet dogs pulling in a bright
blue boat. Carolina rowing is about more than rowing. It is about good times with your
friends while kicking butt."
Each trip with the team is a chance to become closer, especially the extended training trips. The memory that stands out in my mind from last year's trip to Pamlico was the emotional "bawlfest" where the whole novice team literally cried for three hours while we shared really personal stories. This was also followed by a slightly inopportune prank. Hopefully this year's memories are a little less intense! One morning of spring break my freshman year it was too foggy for us to go out on the water and row, so instead we stayed on land to do some team bonding and training. First we divided up into teams and timed how long it took each team to push our giant pickup truck across a football field (my team won). After that we played a massive game of Capture the Flag. I was a novice that year and we got to do all of this with the varsity team and I think it was a turning point in our season. We finally all came together and felt like we were one team and one program, not just the varsity and novices. The spring break trip that is eternally engraved into my memory would have to be spring break 2008 at Camp Vandemere. It's basically a summer camp, so we had some good team bonding time all sleeping in bunk beds, but the only thing wrong was that we had a teeny, tiny, unstable dock and had to row through part of the sound to get to the miles of creeks and backwater. One day, the sound was fine when we went out for our row, but by the time we got back there were whitecaps and waves crashing over the bow of the boat. Luckily the water was deep enough to row, but shallow enough to stand, so we ABANDONED ship on our swamped boats and trudged them back to the dock. We spent a good 20 minutes bilging water out of the gunnels before we could eventually lift them out.....with about 30 people. It took over two hours to dock six boats! Fortunately, no one was hurt and none of the boats were damaged. At least now when the weather is bad, we can say we've survived worse. My favorite memory would definitely have to be either our one-day break where we bonded over our aquarium trip, or skit night, where our novice crew totally had the best skit EVER!!! One of my favorite memories is from last year's training trip to Camp Vandemere. There was a lot of room for us to play around outside, so we decided to have a massive game of Capture the Flag. The problem is that our team gets really competitive and heated very easily, so this fun game of Capture the Flag turned into a do-or-die situation. Somehow, I was the last one standing on my team, and all of my teammates were calling me to just surrender. But I refused to give up! I contemplated even swimming through the water in the enemy camp, but luckily I vetoed that idea pretty fast. Instead, I just took off sprinting as fast as I could to try to free them...I was captured, but I was proud that my team didn't forfeit, and that I put forth every effort. Needless to say, we decided it was best to not play Capture the Flag again for the remainder of that trip. My favorite spring break memory is last year when we were at Camp Vandemere, N.C., during the North Carolina vs. Duke basketball game. The camp we were staying at did not have cable, so local residents invited us into their homes to watch the game. They were nice enough to pick us up from camp and carpool us to multiple houses so we would not miss the game. The house I got to go to had food set up for us and the residents were so excited to have us in their homes. They took pictures and cheered for UNC with us. We all had a great time and the generosity that the locals showed us was amazing. It also demonstrated just how big the UNC-Duke rivalry is in NC. And UNC won the game!!! |
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