Oct. 11, 2006

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 fourth of the 2006-07 school year, is by Emily Williams, a sophomore from Clemmons, N.C.

Why do we row? I don't think that any of us actually could give you a quantified reason. We come from all different backgrounds. This year, most of the girls didn't even row until college. So why do we wake up when it is still dark out every morning and subject ourselves to hours of pain?

I think it varies for each person, but for me this year, it's all about the energy of the team. If you had known me in high school, you would have laughed at the thought of me doing something as team-oriented as rowing. I was a runner through-and-through and I really didn't care about the rest of the team as long as I was doing well. Because I was the number one runner on my team for all four years, my coaches and teammates left me alone and let me train.

This is why it was such a shock last year when I tried out for rowing. I realized finally what it meant to be on a team. That it didn't matter how fast I was if I wasn't helping the rest of the team out. It took me awhile to figure this out. To figure out that no matter how hard I pulled, it was equally important that I pulled in unison with my teammates. I also figured out that my own successes meant nothing if the team didn't share them.

Yes, the team this year has a very special selfless energy. We recently had an intense few days of seat racing to win spots on a boat that is going to the Head of the Charles. Everybody trying to get in the boat or defend their seat reached a new level in their rowing. I know that for me, the motivation to make the boat pushed me work harder and improve my technique.

The best part of being on a team is just that - we all push each other to our utmost. The team just took a 6k on the erg, and the team average went down by far more than our goal of 30 seconds per person. Thanks to the girls next to me, whose times I kept looking at the trying to beat. I couldn't have done it without you.

On the flip side, we couldn't get through our grueling practice schedule without each other's encouragement and sympathy. It is nice to see a friendly face when I am staggering through the pit half-asleep. I know they are going through the same thing I am, and if they can stay awake in class, so can I. They also made me understand the importance of building a team community. If someone would have told me in high school that the highlight of my weekends in college would be dinner and a movie with 30 girls, I would have laughed at them. I was not known for attending team social events. But it is so nice to get together, eat, and have everyone understand why we need to be in our beds by 11 at the latest.

One last reason I think the team has so much energy is because half of the team is new. There were only eight returning rowers, whose expertise we all look up to and aspire to. However, over half of the team had only rowed for a year, and is beyond excited to be rowing with the girls we idolized and feared only last year. The older rowers have been beyond helpful in helping newer rowers on and off the water, and the new rowers have not only adjusted to the hard practice schedule, but excelled in improving their conditioning and technique.

One last motivation: Haney's quote of the day. Even though I am too tired to understand it at 6 a.m., I appreciate it all the same.

In short, we are ready to kick the competiton's tail this season. We have the biggest team in Carolina history. We can take out three eights, and we fill up the entire erg room. We have a cohesive, motivated team who is ready for some fall racing.