The first team that Greg Ansolabehere was a member of was his high school marching band in Bakersfield, CA where he played trombone. This month he will be attempting become a member of another kind of team; the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team in the sport of rowing.

As an overweight kid, Ansolabehere wasn't receptive to the idea of sports. He topped out at 320 pounds in his junior year of high school and subsequently joined a weight loss program with his mom and sister. The program helped him shed over 100 pounds.

After finishing up at Bakersfield Junior College, he headed to Sacramento State and in an attempt to keep the weight off; he looked to sports for the first time in his life. He showed up for the introductory practice of the club crew team and with the encouragement of his coach, he continued to show up at practice and continued to get faster.

In 2009, Ansolabehere was part of an eight boat that made it to the final at the American Collegiate Rowing Association championships. He had tasted success and was now facing another obstacle.

"My college athletic eligibility ran out that year and I couldn't compete with a team anymore," says Ansolabehere. "I still wanted to row so I packed up my things and went to the summer program at Penn AC Rowing Association in Philadelphia."

Ansolabehere says he was fascinated by the rowing culture in Philadelphia as the community seemed to embrace the sport with open arms. It was a much different climate than he had experienced previously in California. When the season ended he headed back to Sacramento where he began training with the post-collegiate group at UC Davis. It was there that Ansolabehere began building skills in sculling under Coach Sam Sweitzer.

In the summer of 2010, Ansolabehere traveled back to Philadelphia to train with the Vesper Boat Club. He made the eight boat and notched a win with his teammates at the US Rowing Club National Championships.

"It was such a positive experience and it made me want to stay in the sport," he says. "The prospect of the Olympics started to loom in my mind but I knew I still needed a lot of development. I wouldn't be good enough for the 2012 Olympics in London so I set my sights for Rio in 2016."

US Rowing's national team programs manager, Fred Honebein, suggested that Ansolabehere apply for the Oklahoma City High Performance Center (HPC) where he ended up training for a little over two years and was able to hone his sculling abilities which are now his focus.

After the 2012 Olympics, US Rowing changed the way they supported sculling, so when an opportunity appeared in Washington D.C., Ansolabehere made another move.

His girlfriend Jenifer Forbes was also training at the HPC and sustained a back injury that forced her out of training. Forbes was a bronze medalist in the women's eight at the 2011 U23 World Rowing Championships. In July of 2013, Forbes accepted the Assistant Coach position of Georgetown Women's rowing and Ansolabehere traveled with her to D.C. where he joined the rowing program at the Potomac Boat Club.

"It was the best move I could have made, as there are very few options in the United States for high level sculling," Ansolabehere says. "The team aspect was right on par with what I was looking for, and one of my teammates is Olympian Sam Stitt who I have learned so much from."

Last summer, Ansolabehere had a great run at the trials for the 2015 Pan Am Games and World Championships coming up just short of making the U.S. teams. His return to Washington D.C. marked the start of an intensive program that will culminate at the Olympic Trials this month in Sarasota, Fla.

Under the guidance of Coach Reilly Dampeer at Potomac Boat Club, they have focused on tiny tweaks and have ramped up his cardio level. There have been tactical changes with more focus on his catch as well as his hip mobility.

During the winter months in D.C., Ansolabehere's training is off the water and filled with nonstop erging. His cross-training consists of lifting weights three times a week, running and biking. In February, he departed for Sarasota, Fla. to attend an ID Camp where he is training with three-a-day workouts.

In order to focus completely on his training, Ansolabehere needed to leave his job at One Medical Group. The company had been incredibly supportive of his training schedule but it was time to move forward. A funding opportunity had appeared from an unusual source that facilitated the decision to train full-time.

Last November, Judd and Evy Anderson invited Ansolabehere and his girlfriend Jenifer Forbes up to Baltimore for a meeting. The Andersons had begun a program called Reach High Baltimore through the Baltimore Rowing Club in 2011. Reach High is a year-round after-school and summer training and racing program that develops discipline, self-confidence, team work and strong preparation for college, career and life. The program introduces inner-city students from sixth to 11th grade to the sport of rowing.

The meeting resulted in Reach High offering to help sponsor Ansolabehere's training leading up to the Olympic Trials. In the summer of 2014, Ansolabehere had been a coach with the program and he jumped at the chance to have a relationship with the kids again.

"I will be perfectly honest," says Judd Anderson. "I invited Greg and Jen up to Baltimore because I was looking to recruit two high quality coaches. When it became evident that it wasn't going to happen, the focus became Greg and his Olympic journey."

The sponsorship agreement includes Ansolabehere giving in-person workshops on training, and communicating with the Reach High rowers through social media to give them a glimpse of the life of a world class athlete.

"One thing I always say is that I can't control outcomes, but I can control opportunities," Anderson says. "We are doing the same thing with Greg. We don't know if he will accomplish his goals, but if we can do something to open up that opportunity, then we should do it."

One Reach High athlete that was at a workshop given by Ansolabehere last month was 15-year-old Amaris Hinton.

"I was in the group when Greg coached a few years ago," says Hinton. "At the workshop last month, I took a lot from his discussion about mental toughness. I sometimes struggle with that and it was comforting to hear that an elite athlete sometimes has the same struggles."

A 6'0" high school sophomore at Poly Tech in Baltimore, Hinton attended the U.S. Junior Women's National Team Development Camp at Connecticut College last summer. This summer her goal is to make it into the High Performance Camp.

"I have also been thinking about the fact that Greg started his rowing career in his last few years of college," Hinton said. "I have been rowing for five years already and that gives me hope for my future."

At 6'6" and a lean 212 pounds, 29-year-old Ansolabehere's own short-term future hinges on the training camps leading up to the Olympic trials. The workouts will be intense and it will be an opportunity for him to see how he stacks up against the other hopefuls. He says he is open for anything and if he can't find a spot in a double or a quad, he will go for the single.

"I am the only heavyweight from my team that will be at the camps and I admit I am a little nervous," he says. "Coach Dampeer has done a lot of networking with other clubs to make sure I have a good opportunity to make the Olympic team. There is some exciting stuff coming up."