During their college years the oarsmen put in terribly long hours, often showing up at the boathouse at 6:00am for pre-class practices. Both physically and psychologically, they were separated from their classmates. Events that seemed earth-shattering to them - for example, who was demoted from the varsity to the junior varsity - went almost unnoticed by the rest of the students. In many ways they were like combat veterans coming back from a small, bitter and distant war, able to talk only to other veterans.
David Halberstam
"The Amateurs"
I love this because as a mom supporting my experienced 6’1″ daughter, who has recently gone through trauma -which resulted in lower erg scores etc…because of lack of sleep etc… it is hard to keep the motivation going when demoted from JV to 3V or whatever.
I forwarded this to her and she loves LOVES it. 🙂 Not alot of people from the Pac NW know what rowing is all about or how hard it is. How much your back hurts, how much you want to succeed in the freezing pouring rain – or erg for 5k meters after a 7 mile run. I am so proud of her – thanks for posting. 🙂