| A little about myself... |
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| Articles - GCox | |
| Written by GCox | |
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I suppose that I should tell you all a bit about myself. I'm a novice coxswain this year. I don't believe that fact should be very important, but it should be stated. Rowing was one of the more random occurrences in my life. I swam throughout high school, and played water polo also. Captains of both sports, I helped lead my teams to pretty successful seasons all the way through high school. My competitiveness drove me through high school, keeping my grades high enough to compete. My test scores on the standardized tests (ACT and SAT) kept me well within the requirements for college in the US (and the UK, Oxford was sending me info in the 7th grade when I took the ACT for some reason). But, I found that I enjoyed competing more than learning. I was accepted to college (Grand Valley State University in Michigan, of the United States) and started after an all-too short summer. The ergometer was a fast acquaintance that was made my second day at the University's gym. I got my ass kicked. And I loved it.So I came back. And got my ass kicked again. I remember thinking, "I wish there was a team here for this." The next day, lo and behold, there was an 8+ shell sitting in the front lawn of one of the food buildings (an excellent choice for a recruiting site by the team, I must say) with a table and a couple of pretty big guys. I grabbed some info and headed to a meeting later that day. Now, once I got to the meeting, I ran into a problem. I weighed in at 140 lbs, and was a whopping 5' 6". As I looked around, I realized that I may not be cut out for the sport of rowing. As a rower, that is. Because I saw every person trying out was well over 5' 10" and built. Ah, but then I noticed that person in the back of the boat in all the pictures that they were showing at the meeting. Smaller, without an oar in hand, and dressed (many of the pictures were in the winter-time). I said, "Yeah, I can do that." So I investigated. I became a cox that week, and I've never looked back.First semester at university was pretty tough. I failed out, to be blunt. I was put on academic probation (or, as my university puts it, "In Jeopardy of Dismissal") and allowed to return for a probationary semester. But by now I was hooked. There was no true GPA requirement to stay on the Crew team, since it was technically a club team, but I couldn't row very well if I wasn't in school. So this second semester (two weeks left), I used rowing as my motivation to go to class. I used it to motivate me to do homework and to study. Rowing has affected my life in many ways, and I'm proud to say that my academics have straightened out as a direct result of it. Every morning I wake up to return to that water. It calls to me every time I hear my alarm go off at 5:00. I return time and time again. My life is driven by this sport right now, and it's taught me lessons that I won't soon forget. About teamwork, about competition, and about life. And those lessons are what I wake up for. It has changed my attitude, made me more confident of what I can achieve both on and off the water.That's me in a nutshell. GCox
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