An Interview With David

What inspired you to write about crew?

If I had one thing to say about crew, then that would be crew was my beginning. Crew was responsible for making me break out of my shell; it made me into a better individual. I feel that if you make yourself a part of something then you will go to better things. So I wrote this blog for people like me, before crew. I want to show people how something little can make a great impact in someone’s life.

I also want to show people who are or were involved in an activity, that they were probably changed as well. It may not be as much as my experience, but regardless, a change is a change. People may not realize this, they may not notice the true friends they have, how their personality has changed, how they may have changed physically. I noticed and I wanted others to see as well.

I think that everyone should be involved in something, no matter what it is, that’s up to them. It can be a sport, activity, or a hobby, anything that makes you happy. As I write this blog I can see how I have changed, also it brings me back to those good old days. In the long run I want this blog to be for me and for others.

What has been the reaction from people reading you blog?

This blog is available for anyone to look at, but it is mainly subjected the members of my afternoon English class. Though just a small amount of people have been reading my blog, I have been getting good feedback. I tend to get comments from people mentioning an activity they remember doing. Its great to read about people who have been in the same position as me, how something helped them along. The class will be over soon, but I hope that my blog will get discovered by others. I will check and continue to post periodically, maybe over a different topic, I’m not sure yet.

Popularity Always Wins

In high school, there were a variety of sports and activities to choose from. Almost every school has its football team, along with baseball, soccer, basketball, you name it. There are too many to choose from, but what I have noticed was that many of our school sports were always talked about. This was because of the people who were on it, the “popular” people of our school. What I’m trying to say is that no matter the sport these people were on, the sport became one of the schools main sports.

That was the complete opposite from my team. We were the least talked about at our school, in my opinion. I don’t care because I loved everything about it, I made my life friends because of it, even though I have been off the team for a year and a half. I also got a best friend out of it, Alexa to the left of the picture. Now back on topic, when we were talked about, all they had to say were negative things. This was from the people who were not involved, so I feel that don’t really have an opinion towards us. The thing that would always get me was how people said that what we did was easy. I’m not going to compare difficulty to other sports, but easy was not in our vocabulary.

What people need to realize is that all sports are difficult, not easy, maybe in some ways but overall. Dealing with anything, not just sports to. Now just because your friends are in a certain sport doesn’t mean that all others are worthless, this is what the people in my school didn’t realize.

Stressed Overachievers

Stress is a part of our everyday life and is one of the hardest aspects of life to overcome. Whether work or family stress, people handle it in their own ways. Stress is very common in college students now and days. The average college student will have a job alongside with schoolwork. There are also students who are in programs, sports, and extracurricular activities which tend to have more stress put upon them. Would it be easier if all stress were taken out of their lives? Perhaps, but the everyday stress that is put upon overachieving students is healthy for their personalities, along with teaching them needed skills to handle stress. These few essentials are good qualities to have and it contributes to becoming successful individuals.

In S. L. Kim’s article, Springtime Thoughts, she talks about the stress put on athletes in college. Now an academic advisor on a college campus, she talks about here past years of rowing. Being a past member on her college rowing club, she experienced a great amount of stress as an athlete and student. Kim rowed every year in college, but decided to quit half way through her senior year so she can concentrate on school. Happy with her decision, she still missed the sport, but she also thought about all the opportunities she missed because of crew. Later, becoming an academic advisor, S. L. Kim deals with students that are in the same situation as she was. These students will give up class and work to make it to practice or to a competition. In Kim’s article, she is upset with the coaches who put this on their students, knowing that it conflicts with their school work. Thus this brings up her argument in her web log. Her main focus is her students and their careers as students, but she “can’t help but get angry at the nameless and faceless coaches who put seemingly unreasonable demands on my students’ time and energy.” Though she is upset with the coaches, she doesn’t understand why some students don’t quit their sport and concentrate on school. Kim realizes that anyone can quit but she understands how hard it is to quit.

S L Kim feels that her student’s coaches put to much stress on them. She also thinks that her students will do much better if they were to quit their sport or organization. S. L. Kim does not realize or perhaps has forgotten that students get a great deal out of sports or organizations. Not only can students express themselves, but they improve themselves mentally. It does however put a great amount of stress on the students, having them keep up with their activity and their schoolwork. Stress should not be looked at as a negative though. In order to overcome stress, one must learn methods to handle it. Such methods are managing time, setting priorities, making commitments, and being responsible. These skills are very useful to have practiced at a young age. Reinforcing these skills will make future stresses easier to overcome.

S. L. Kim mentioned that when she quit crew, school became much easier to handle. She could concentrate on her work and take a further interest in the class. Through personal experience, quitting crew helped with school greatly, but what helped the most were the skills learned from managing multiple activities. These skills give a student an upper hand over others. Having the ability to cope with multiple stresses makes dealing with one much easier. In order to be successful in college, and in an organization or activity, you must develop these skills early. What the author argues is that the stress is brought on by the coaches. The coaches put unreasonable demands on the students, which ultimately can result to doing poor in school. Kim wonders why students put themselves through that kind of stress, also why they don’t just quit their activity and concentrate on school. What needs to be done is this: if the student is capable of doing the work and activity, what needs to be done to help them improve. In other cases, if the student is not capable, then possibly consider concentrating on schoolwork rather then the activity.

What the author is suggesting is that students should concentrate on schoolwork rather then activities, sports, and organizations. I agree that school is more important, but students should be able to express themselves in some way. Personally I was in S. L. Kim’s position when it came to me quitting crew. I do miss the sport but I was relieved by having that stress taken away. Though I did not have an activity to excel on, thanks to crew, I was able to learn skills to deal with stress and deadlines. These skills help me manage multiple activities, and without the stress of someone without these reinforced skills. I considered crew a learning experience; it helped me develop people and time management skills. These will be helpful to have later in life and for my career.

Thank You Web Log

Different people express stress in many ways. For some they let it get the best of them and let it outburst. Others don’t show but they let it sink deep within. These different types of scenarios are not the best way to handle stress for anyone. You have to find a way to let out your frustration and emotion.

For me, I like to relieve stress through physical activity, like going to the gym or out for a run. The funny thing about it is thanks to stress I am in the best shape of my life. Many things about college to me are very stressful. Trying to juggle a job, my quest to become an officer in the Air Force at ROTC, my school work, my social life, and trying to get at most 6 hours of sleep a night if I’m lucky. This is something I was never really used to. To get to my point on how this relates to my Crew topic, I wasn’t doing any type of activity, club, or hobby. When times got tough things got ugly and I mean ugly. I finally joined crew and found my release valve. No matter how bad things may have gotten I would go to practice on a mission. I would pull on that oar with every bit of energy I had; almost as if every stroke was knocking a bit of stress off the top. I would feel great afterwards, even though I had to deal with what was bothering me. I love the fact that I could take something negative and use it to better myself. If you haven’t tried it you should.

It’s not healthy to bottle up stress; it can affect you in many different ways. You should express yourself in any way suitable for you. People may watch TV, exercise, have their favorite snack, and if you haven’t noticed already through blogging. As long as you can give yourself a chance to breath, you’re in good shape.

I Don't Think She Heard Me

Have you ever had an embarrassing moment in public? Have you tried to cover it up as best as you could but no matter what you still look like an idiot? For example, tripping forward in public and while you are on the ground do push ups to cover your trip. Even though doing the push ups probably makes you more of an idiot then tripping. Regardless what happens and what you do to try to cover it up, we all fail miserably.

I recall of a time like this at a regatta. It was lunch time and all crews take an hour to refuel and rest. I’m standing in a small group of people talking as my coach volunteers me to retrieve oars for one of our boat going out. I was walking with one of the girls from my crew, a long haired blond and a close friend of mine. Even though the docks are not very far away it takes some time to get though the boats walking by in line. We had a conversation about our all time rivals, the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club or just CJRC. This crew was the best and always had a step above us. We all had theories joking on why they are so good, some ranging from a motor on their boats to even having their team genetically cloned as hard core athletes. Getting back to the story, a boat was crossing in front of us and I continued and ducked under the boat. Completely oblivious of the fact that my friend stopped for the boat, I continued my conversation with a long haired blond that happened to slide on in where my friend was. I continued to walk with my new friend talking about CJRC. Getting to the end of my conversation I said: “yea I guarantee CJRC has a cloning lab under their boat house where they clone their rowers.” Waiting for a “yea” or “I know”, instead I heard with a very faint, quivered, almost scared voice “oh, ohh… ok.” I look to my left to see a CJRC rower with long blond hair take a very sharp 90 degree turn away from me waiting for me to pass. She starts to scurry away as I yell “sorry wrong person,” there was no way she heard me though. I had a dumbfounded feeling and stopped where I was looking around making sure no one else witnessed my embarrassing moment, but one was enough. My real friend runs up to me and says “sorry I got caught up at that last boat.” I didn’t tell her what happened but I replied “let’s get moving.”

Even though I will probably never see that girl again, I can’t seem to stop wondering what see was thinking, along with that what see told her other teammates. It’s a little uncomfortable to think that some where out there I am labeled as "The Creepy Rower From Westerville Crew."

Do It For The Love

People who have done a team sport know that it takes effort and teamwork; however, time commitment is the most important factor. You have to be willing to give up a portion of you time, your life if you will, to do certain sports. Sports teach you personal responsibility to your team but most of all to yourself. It is a must to keep yourself first. This is why I chose to quit crew when I got to college. Knowing the work load that I would be enduring my freshman year, I chose my career first.

This is similar to S L Kim and her blog Springtime Thoughts. She is in the same situation as I am. She used to be on a Crew team before she went to college. She expresses how the sport influenced her through descriptive writing. Though she quit the sport she loved and concentrated on school. As you read her blog she begins to question why people in college do sports knowing that they will be busy with school. Surprising coming from someone who understands how it is like to love a sport, don’t you think? She mentions how she asked someone “why don’t you just quit.” This upset me because this is being kind of hypocritical.

People in college today seem to be doing sports for two different reasons. Reason one, because they are on scholarship. Reason two, they enjoy doing the sport. I feel that a sport should be played because you enjoy participating in it. I feel that you get the most out of it this way.

A Late Start

When teenagers get to high school, they already know their groups of friends. Then there are the others who are looking for a group to slide in on. It took me about two years to finally find mine. Two years seems like a long time but it was harder for me compared to other students. Most students met their friends though school sports and clubs, which many of them have been doing since middle school. It seemed that they already had their friends and it would be difficult for anyone else to feel accepted. All though I didn’t feel that team sports and clubs were the only way to find new friends, they certainly helped.

I came straight from a private to a public school after I graduated from eighth grade. This was a big leap for me because I had been at the same private school since I was in kindergarten. I didn’t really have that many friends while I was there, which was mainly the result of me going to a public high school. I decided to get away from that environment and try out a new one. Westerville North High School was the school in my district and the biggest one too. Getting dropped off my first morning was very intimidating. Immediately I was taken by the crowd and forced to go with the flow. It was hard to hear any sort of announcements over the hundreds of students. Very different compared to walking single file down the hallways quietly. The one thing I felt that was most strange was the fact that I didn’t have to wear the same uniform everyday.

Around the end of the school year I felt like I was fitting in with the crowd. I had a group of guys that I sat with at lunch and in some classes. Even though I was accepted, I didn’t feel like I was. Rarely did I go to my friends’ house to hang out or to the movies on Friday nights like everyone else. When I finally realized this I felt like I was back to square one again, that I was back at my private school.

The middle of my sophomore year, I started to hear about the Westerville Rowing Club or Crew for short. This was just talk I overheard in the lunchroom though. I became intrigued listening to all the talk and hype about it. I wondered why haven’t I heard about this club before, it had been in Westerville for almost 10 years apparently. I began noticing Crew t-shirts and jackets worn only on select days during the year, these days being the day before a race. This sounded like a good opportunity to get involved. I just didn’t know where to start.

It was winter quarter and the first snow finally fell. I assumed that the Crew season was over, and I was too late to join until the spring. There was little lunch talk and you rarely saw any Crew t-shirts or jackets being worn. It was almost like the sport was in hibernation. I started to trail away from my group of people little by little as the quarter went by. They started to dress different from when I met them; they dressed more punk and gothic. Also our music interests started to clash. These may not be very big issues, but that’s what mattered in social groups in high school. I stated to go straight to my classes instead of meeting with people to socialize.

One particular morning a blue and white flyer hanging up on the wall across from where I sit grabbed my attention. “Crew Conditioning” was the title in bold lettering. It was a flyer to try to recruit new rowers. I read that there was a time and place where they practice every night in the winter. Ironically they practice in the same spot I had been sitting waiting for class to start for the past couple weeks. I ripped the flyer down and studied it carefully so I wouldn’t miss anything. It said that the workouts will be on an ergometer or rowing machine. It also said to bring a water bottle and work out clothes, pretty simple. It also said “spandex shorts are highly encouraged.” After reading that sentence I didn’t know what to expect.

I arrived at the school about 20 minutes before practice. The school was empty and quiet, very different from what I have been used to. I started walking to the location on the flyer. I started to hear loud music coming from what sounded to be a large stereo. Along with the music I heard a different, unfamiliar noise. This sounded like metal chains being zipped back and forth. I assumed those were the ergometers. Once I got to the hallway and turned the corner, there were about 150 people exercising. I was amazed to see that many of the rowers were in my classes and at lunch right next to me. I met the head coach moments later. He was a tall and lanky individual in his late forties. He rushed over with a very positive attitude and reached out to shake my hand. He shook with both hands making my arm whip up and down uncontrollably. His attitude rubbed off in a way showing that he had great pride in his club. After greeting me he brought me over with the other beginners. Once everyone seemed to be there the coach clapped his hands together and said “let’s get started.”

Everyone works in different ways. To some people, making friends is not an easy task, for others it is much easier. Personally I would call this my beginning to who I am today. This club gave me the strength and courage to become an individual. I still don’t believe that team sports and clubs are the only way to meet people and make friends; they are only the starting point for an individual. They are responsible for how we are shaped, thus making it possible for teammates to become one. Though finding your desired group is not an easy task but it is certainly worth the hard work in the end.