When Mike Teti agreed to rejoin the US men's national team as head men's coach and oversee the development of a West Coast training center in Oakland, California, he knew one of the first things that had to happen was finding places for the athletes to live during the transition and relocation.

And for that he knew that Beth Covin was the person he would contact first. For most of the last two Olympic cycles, Covin had been at the center of a host family support network that placed athletes into homes in Princeton, NJ, where she lived with her husband David and their three children for 17 years until they moved to the Bay Area in 2015.

Teti has known the Covins for more than 20 years, through David Covin's time as coxswain at Princeton University, and because of the family's involvement in the host family network in Princeton, where both the men's and women's training centers have been located for the majority of the last several Olympic cycles.

When the Covins moved, Teti helped steer their two youngest boys to the Oakland Strokes youth rowing team, where both joined and became involved as coxswains. What Teti might not have known when the Covins first moved was how much Beth missed being involved with the national team athletes, and being a host mom.

He quickly found out when he agreed to coach the US men's team and move the men's training center out west.

"As soon as it became a rumor, before it was even announced, Beth called and said whatever you need, I'm in," Teti said. "So when the guys were still all in Princeton, they sent out their resumes looking for jobs, and then we figured we would have them all come out for a January camp so they could train for a few weeks while they had job interviews."

"With Beth, the way it works is I give her a name and phone number and she just takes care of the rest." Covin found them all places to stay, and at one point had seven in her home while they were being sorted out.

Since then, Covin has done exactly what she did back in Princeton and has become the center of a host family network that is making life a lot easier for both Teti and his athletes. "She is the primary reason that the mens transition west has gone so smoothly," Teti said.

Covin's work and dedication is usually something that goes unrecognized, outside of the coaches and athletes she helps. But this year, USRowing honored Covin last Saturday at the association's annual convention, naming her the 2018 recipient of the John J. Carlin Service Award for her "significant and outstanding commitments in support of rowing."

It was a recognition she said she was "thrilled" to have. But she was quick to add that the satisfaction she has gotten being a host mom and being a part of so many young athletes lives since she began in 2010 has been reward enough.

"It's very exciting to be a part of their lives and their experience, to be part of a journey where people are striving for the Olympics, young people who are so hardworking. They're just amazing people," Covin said.

Covin said she first got involved when she was called by a friend who was already working with the program, and was looking for a place for two athletes who were just about to arrive.

Beth Covin

"In Princeton," she explained, "there are a lot of people that host rowers, and my best friend, who was already hosting two rowers, called and said there are two more that need housing, do you want to host them? So, I called my husband, David, and I said two rowers need a host family.

"He said who are they? And I said I don't know. And he asked me if they were on the national team, and I said yes. He agreed and they showed up at my door. We had them for a couple of months, and it was magical for my family."

Those first two athletes were Eleanor Logan and Katelin (Snyder) Guregian. Both were trying to make the 2012 Olympic team. Logan had already won a gold medal at the 2008 Games, and Guregian was trying for her first.

Logan was chosen for the London crew, where she won her second of three Olympic gold medals. Guregian was not selected for that crew, but was selected to cox the 2016 Rio championship eight.

"I was just out of college and had never lived on my own before," Guregian said. "I was also having a whole new experience when it came to rowing; I went from being one of the top athletes on my college team to a novice on the national team.

"Beth empowered me and helped me navigate my insecurities. I absolutely would not have become an Olympian without her love and support. One of my goals in post-rowing life is to open my own home the way that Beth has opened hers," she said.

Both Guregian and her husband, Nareg, who rowed the men's pair in the 2016 Games, have stayed for various stints at the Covin home. They became so close through those years that the family attended the couple's wedding following the Rio Olympics.

Katelin Guregian at the 2018 World Rowing Championships

In her time as a host mom, and host family coordinator now in two different cities, Covin has hosted 70 different athletes for various amounts of time - some for a few nights while other homes are being located, and some for a few months. She has had up to seven athletes sleeping under the Covin family roof.

Covin said that the athletes she has hosted are easy-going, self-sufficient "fully formed adults that take care of themselves, but really add to the family."

She said that as a host family coordinator, she has been involved with the placement of up to 30 athletes at any one time in Princeton, and that the hosts have all had fun being part of the program.

There are families with young children - the Covins have three, and all of them have been part of the shared experience - empty-nest couples, and grandparents with room to spare. "Basically, it's a quiet place for them to live in. They take care of themselves. I'm a terrible cook, so a made a rule that host mothers don’t have to cook.

"And they go to bed at 8:30, so it's easy," she said. "It's a great experience. It's not like having an au pair or another teenager in the house. They're all college graduates, all fully formed adults, and they add something to the family. We've had families with little kids to grandparents. Our oldest host mom is almost 90 now. She had a host rower that would run with her every day.

"They've been babysitters, and they've been great role models for teenagers. And they end up bound to these families for a long time," she said.

Part of the experience for host family teens is seeing that sometimes dreams are achieved and sometimes they are not, but that the athletes have all been open and accepting of the journey, and have shared it in ways with the host children.

"They see people make it to the Olympic team, and they see people not make it. But they see the dedication in both situations, even if sometimes it has a tough end," she said.

Nareg and Katelin Guregian are athletes that have experienced both; each missed selection in 2012, but stuck with their dreams and raced in Rio four years later.

Nareg Guregian stroking the 2016 US Rio pair with Anders Weiss

"Beth's generosity and work ethic is unparalleled," Nareg said. "The host family system that Beth helped create is priceless to athletes. Not only do they put a roof over our heads and help us out financially, but they provide an invaluable support system.

"Having a caring host family like the Covins when I was 3000 miles away from my family in California was crucial to my rowing career," he said. "They were there to give me support in tough times, and to celebrate my achievements.

"Beth's hospitality and generosity has played such an important role in my life that our relationship has transcended rowing," he added. "We've kept a close relationship over the last several years, meeting my family in California and coming to my wedding!"