I rowed on UC Irvine's varsity women's crew team when I was attending university, on both port and starboard, depending on the occasion, usually as bow of the 8 or as stroke of the lightweight four. Niki, one of my teammates (about twice as tall and thrice as smart as me) is collecting short descriptions of what we're doing post-Shellmaker Island. This is what I wrote.
"Since crew and graduating from UCI in 2001, I have been to business school at Waseda University in Tokyo and have come to work for Formosa Television in Taipei, where I'm currently a reporter and anchor. Although I don't have the chance to row anymore, I still think about the wonderful time I had on the water, with my teammates and with Carrie. To this day, may favorite sound is still that of eight oars simultaneously clicking in the oarlocks on the feather. There is something really special about that crisp and hollow sound eight hard-working women make together with so much precision and power. Thank you for the memories, in friendship, in feeling, in images, in sounds."
To get an idea, here's the recruiting video UCI crew made several years later. Our boathouse was on Shellmaker Island in Newport Beach, California. It was where we were everyday starting at 5h30, forcing to grow every single muscle in our body, including the heart and training mitochondria to produce more ATP's. If you wonder why I can run and cycle, and even climb up the stairs of Taipei 101 faster than anyone else without training, here is your answer. :D
Posts
