Two-time lightweight National Teamer and Riverside stalwart Sean Wolf's rowing career to date may be truly one of a kind (well, folks who know him are sure he is one of a kind, but let me finish): a walk-on coxswain as a freshman at Northeastern who also coxed at Riverside during the summer, Sean became a walk-on heavyweight rower two years later. Another eight years on, he made his first national team in the light men's pair, and five years later made another team in the light men's quad. Sean has also competed for and helped run the Riverside Boat Club along the way, becoming almost an elder statesman among the intensely driven scullers on the Charles.

row2k spoke to Sean about how it happened that he went from racing forwards as a fifth-boat walk-on coxswain to racing backwards for the US National Team as an oarsman.

Were you a coxswain in high school?
I never did cox in high school; I ran cross country and track at Notre Dame in West Haven CT, and I guess that is where I got my good aerobic base. I was 5-5 115lbs and had a mouth (I still do); I spent a lot of time running from the football team - hell I was running from the band as well ;)

How did you get started rowing at Northeastern?
I was a walk on my freshman year. My RA was the captain of the team and he said I should go down and sit in a boat and have some fun. So I did, but I actually quit the team before the Foot of the Charles. Gary Caldwell called me up and told me I was going to cox the 5th freshman boat, even better was that I had a bowman named Psycho chicken (Jay Rule); this guy had a full, all-out Mohawk and he screamed down the race course. It was fantastic. I owe Gary Caldwell a big thank you for dragging me back into the sport.

How tall/heavy were you upon arriving at Northeastern?
I went into NE at 5-6 115lbs, by the time I was finishing up coxing I was 6-1 120. I was pretty miffed that the international weight for coxies at the time was 110. My last year coxing at Riverside I was 6-1 130, I spent my summer at the Riverside development camp.

How much rowing had you done in HS - ergs, other, none?
None, I was running from the band guys who wanted to stuff me in a locker.

How did you end up taking up an oar?
I used to go down to the tanks at NU and row for about an hour and a half everyday after practice. I really wanted to know what the guys were doing and what to say to help them make a change while rowing. I also wanted to know what it felt like to go at it; sure it was the tanks, but I wanted to know.

Did you find that your coxing helped you when your started rowing?
Coxing gave me so much after I made the transition to rowing; I feel I see the race differently. In the cox'n seat you see things happening, almost slowly and you learn how to react to them, I get that same sight in the boat. I see when crews are surging or slowing down. It almost becomes a chess game, I am waiting for the move or I am anticipating it on another crew and then I try to make my move or have my crew make a move. I laugh for the first time I made the team, I like to say I was in the coxed single with Tom Keister. I remember telling him in the final at trials in 2000 "Anytime you want to start pulling me around you can," and he went off and I merely just picked his pace up and we squeezed by a really good pair from Philly. I knew what to say to Tom to get the most out of him right then and there.

It happens in slow motion most times - OK last year at worlds I did not see the Italians, I only heard them take their second stroke and I knew they were so GONE! HA!

What were your first rows like? Any good disasters, successes?
Please, this is the same guy who flipped a few days out from the Charles last year. Every day is a success or a disaster; it is what I learn from each of those that drives me. Everyday can be good or bad. I just try and make the most of them. I always try and make a change in my rowing before I get back to the dock. If it means staying afloat than so be it.

What was it like the first few times you were on the other end of the coxbox? Ever have the urge to tell the coxswain how to do his job better?
Being a coxswain is a tough job, though coxswains have to put it in perspective, for all they need to do is listen to the coach and conduct the practice correctly. In a race they need to go straight, call the moves clearly, and then let us know what rates we are at, how far to the line, and how far up on the field we are. ;) Kris Korzeniowski says it best by screaming at me to "keep it simple" the same thing goes for cox'ns, keep it simple And swearing is bad. Good coxswains do not need to swear, for we only hear the swears and frankly I know more cuss words than they do. Just ask a few folks on the Charles.

How did you do your first year of rowing?
That was a tough year. I was in the second freshman boat in my first year of rowing. We won one race and then we lost the rest by a TOTAL of 2.3 seconds, we lost Sprints by .01. Errr.

At what point did you start thinking about training for the national team?
In 1997 I started thinking about wanting to be on the team, though I only beat myself up about it and got slower. I then got hit by a car 1998 and it knocked me out of rowing for about 8 weeks and then I realized I should just have fun with it; that's when things started happening. I just want to have fun with the rowing and enjoy rowing with the guys and gals around me.

Can you give tally of your NT experience?
Sure I can tell of all the National team guys that have beaten me ;) It is a big list. Just kidding; I have been on the team twice though that is not what it is about for me. I want to race at the highest level I can, if it means being part of the USA team then I am honored to represent the USA. There are some out there who can be on the team every year, I call them "freaks" (kidding for they are hard workers and sacrifice a lot to be there every year) , and then there are some of us lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time rowing with great people around us. I got lucky twice and I thank my teammates and coaches for getting me there.

I also enjoy meeting all the people I can. One of my good friends is Ingo Euler from Germany, he is now retired from rowing though we met at the head of the Charles in 2004 and he sat in my apartment with a map of the Charles River and told me he was going to kick my butt the next day. I was like "Get out of my house for you are starting in the back of the pack on a course you do not know. Well he beat me by a good amount. Later on that day we sat down to a few pints and kidding around said we would meet up at Worlds the next year. (Mark Gerban was there too and represented Palestine as well.)

Sure it was easy for him, for he was a good rower; I held my end by being in a good quad with some really good guys and then I got to see one of my closest friends race his last race.

Do you know I gave him my Riverside uni and he has won more races in it than I ever could think of; he was going to keep wearing it until his Federation told him he had to stop. Thank god for it was getting embarrassing.

What was tougher, making weight to cox, or to row?
I am naturally 152, so the cox'n weight was a bit tougher. I look bad enough at 152 -- imagine a 6-2 120 person hanging out at the boathouse - the biggest part of my body were my knees. Though I do like to sell pounds off to the heavier guys I row with now. Joe Wilhelm (Northeastern women's coach) once found me hiding out at the Brock dorms (at Canadian Henley) eating a large pizza by myself.
I know this ride is almost over and I have had a long career as a rower/cox'n and I know I have so many to thank for helping me get to this level. So I just want to thank them for their help and guidance.