Emily Shian ’22 and the rest of the team finish up one of their final outdoor practices of the year.
Rowing
If one rower on the team zones out and doesn’t match the strokes of the rest of the team, the boat could flip over. If an oar gets caught on some underwater plants, the boat could flip over. If it’s a rainy and windy day and the boat fills with water, yet again, it could flip over.
Rowing is one of the few sports that requires constant communication and collaboration between crew members to avoid disaster.
Jim Li ’21 and Emily Shian ’22, rowers with University of Iowa Hawkeye Community Rowing, believe that teamwork is an important component for success.
“Rowing is more of a collaborative effort instead of just [an] individual [effort],” Shian said. “Everything is basically with a team and you all have to trust one another and make sure you’re all together.”
The crew has become close-knit through everything they have accomplished together, but acknowledges the separation between work and play.
”We’re all pretty close, everyone knows each other, and we can all laugh and joke with each other,” Li said. “When practice starts, we can shift our attitude to being focused and engaged and ready for practice pretty quickly.”