The University of Connecticut has a rich tradition when it comes to its athletic program. When the university added women's rowing as a varsity sport in 1997, they hired Jennifer Sanford-Wendry, who has been associated with rowing her entire life, to bring stability to a new program.
From the first day Sanford-Wendry arrived in Storrs, Connecticut she has made sure that the athletes who joined her program had three simple characteristics.
"I wanted to make sure that any athlete who joined our program had a positive attitude, gave a positive effort and was coachable," Sanford-Wendry said. "If our athletes have these three characteristics great things would happen."
With a family tradition rich in rowing, Sanford-Wendry has been able to take her personal experience and translate that to young rowers and build a successful women's rowing program at the University of Connecticut.
"During my four years, the coaching staff has done a great job of fostering a family atmosphere," said senior captain Diana Filipek, who rowed for four years in high school at Bishop Eustace (NJ). "Coach Wendry has done a great job of developing young rowers and turning UCONN into a competitive program."
"The coaches have done a great job of interacting with the rowers and helping us get better," said sophomore Natalie Carlone, who rowed in high school for Mount St. Joseph's Academy (PA) and is currently in the 7th seat in the Women's Varsity Heavyweight Eight boat. "When I was looking at colleges, I fell in love with UCONN because of the way the coaches fostered a family-like atmosphere."
Throughout her 15-year career at the helm, Sanford-Wendry has seen the program continue to develop while experiencing some lifelong memories. In 2004, Sanford-Wendry saw her Junior Varsity Eight capture their first ever Dad Vail gold medal. In 2005, Sanford-Wendry's trip to Philadelphia was one of the highlights of her tenure as her Women's Varsity Heavyweight Eight captured their first Dad Vail gold medal. UCONN would go on to win the women's point trophy in 2005 thanks to a second place finish by her Junior Varsity Eight and a third place finish by the Novice Eight.
While Sanford-Wendry has had continued success at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta having had multiple novice crews medal throughout the years, she remains fixed on getting her Women's Varsity Heavyweight Eight boat back into the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta medals mix.
Each year Sanford-Wendry tries to add something different to the training regimen to keep the team focused. This past January, she decided it was time to define "TEAM CULTURE".
Part of the TEAM CULTURE philosophy involves breaking the team up into smaller groups each Friday and having team competitions to help everyone come together as a unit and stay focused.
"The TEAM CULTURE philosophy was a great idea," said Filipek. "It helps us work hard and work together as a team towards a common goal which is getting as many as boats as we can into the final round of our races, especially the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta."
In addition to bringing the team together on the river, the TEAM CULTURE philosophy applies off the river as well with the student-athletes getting very involved in the community with various community service projects.
One of the programs the UCONN athletes got involved with was going to Coventry Grammar School to help the students reach a goal of reading or being read to for 200,000 hours to help promote the principal's "Kiss a Pig" program. Thanks to the efforts of the UCONN women's rowing program, the kids achieved their goal and during an upcoming assembly the principal will "Kiss a Pig."
Other community service projects have included raising almost $3,000 for the American Heart Association at a Jump Rope for Heart event, Swim with Mike (raises money for disabled athletes) and the Goal Line Program with at-risk middle school girls.
"I really enjoy going out into the community and giving back," said Carlone, who is studying to become a teacher. "I am a selfless person who likes to be positive and include everyone. Going out into the community as a team has really helped us bond and develop solid team chemistry."
With the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta set to launch on Friday May 11 and Saturday May 12 on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Sanford-Wendry believes that her team has made tremendous strides during the spring season that will hopefully result in many of her team's boats advancing to the final round.
"We've been working on having more consistently good rows," said Sanford-Wendry. "We just completed final exams so, once the students return from a weekend off following graduation, I am looking forward to having practice before leaving to come to Philadelphia for the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta."
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|
row2k's Dad Vail coverage is brought to you in part by:
row2k's Dad Vail coverage is brought to you in part by: