The fall semester marked the first in Cabrini University history for its rowing team. Serving as a learning experience, the team hopes to continue its development and improve
“Rowing revolves around teamwork, and I think our fall season really helped to create a stronger team and lots of friendships,” Lauren Markowitz said. “Sometimes negative times approach just like lack of patience or doubting yourself and others as a team. But personally, I know that I felt like we weren’t going to perform as well as other teams because we were new. In the end, we ended up winning and all of those mixed emotions were all in my head,” Markowitz said.
Markowitz said that all of the competitions were very enjoyable. “It’s always so intense during the race, but it’s so rewarding afterwards to know that all of your hard work paid off,” Markowitz said.
“The season went very well for me. It was hard in the beginning adjusting to all of the 6 am practices but in the end, I felt healthier and like I was getting the most of out my days.”
“As far as competitions go, I absolutely love the regattas that we go to. There is just this busy air of excitement, and everyone there is in the same boat as you (no pun intended),” Liz Hammond said. “But in all seriousness, the competitions are so much fun and in regards to our placing for them, I felt that at our first regatta we placed just where we expected to be. The second regatta we had worked so hard and really trained for it, and were happy and proud with where we ended up after pushing through everything and giving all of our efforts.”
Hammond says that her team has grown in their technique and learning the sport. “Since we were all new to the sport, it was really cool to see everyone find their strokes and strength throughout the season,” Hammond said.
There will be new team members joining in the fall this year, which is very exciting for all of the current members. They will be able to pass on their knowledge about the sport to others who are interested in it and will expand their team. Hammond says that the season went very well for her, but it just took her some time to get used to the schedule, as it did for many other members as well.
“My mindset for this season is really just to buckle down and focus on technique. Before we were racing the clock, but now we are racing the other boats in the water,” Hammond said. “You need to have perfect technique to achieve what you want during this, and strength is going to be what really allows us to give our strokes that extra power to beat our competition.”
“I hope to keep the close friendships and bonds between teammates strong as we move into the new season and would also like to see the team build upon our past race experiences from the fall and come back faster and stronger than before,” Meg Murtha said.
Murtha said that the fall season was challenging because everyone on the team was new to rowing, except for their coxswain who had six years of experience, and one rower who had a year of experience in high school. With great efforts, the entire team basically learned how to row and race within eight weeks.
“One significant change to the team is that we have five new rowers who just had their first experience out on the water, during the team’s spring break training! Another change for the spring is the length of the races,” Murtha said. “In the Fall the races were 5K but in the Spring the races will be 2K.” Meg said that his means the races will be more like sprints, and it also means the team has to work together to move the boat faster over a shorter distance.
“For the new season, my mindset is that there is still a lot of room for improvement from everyone on the team. I would like for my teammates to continue to work hard and push themselves to new limits in order for us all to reach our goals of going to the NCAAs, and earning a qualifying spot for the Head of the Charles Regatta, which will take place October 2017,” Murtha said.
“For each athlete to know they are doing the work to be as prepared as they can be when we get to the starting line,” Janit Gorka, head coach of the rowing team, said. “Most of the team is new to the sport—we will adjust goals with every season, but from my perspective, I am stressing this season that the team members should be proud of what they accomplished so far, but to keep reaching for more speed and effectiveness every day. Also for the team, I want them to come into the season in good physical condition so we don’t have a long ramp-up time.”
“Truthfully, how many college students want to wake up at 5:00 am? Besides that, many are learning how to be full-fledged athletes while also learning technique,” Gorka said. “It’s not easy. We practice twice a day some days during the season, especially when conditions are bad to get on the water. They have had to be flexible and adjust to additional practices in the afternoon this week because it has been so cold and dark in the morning. They’ve had blisters, sore muscles, and are sleep-deprived. We are fortunate to have had some tough Cavaliers.”
