1. What inspired you to go to your first rowing practice; was there anything memorable about it?
I first rowed at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire in 1991. Jamie Koven was the big man on campus, strutting around in his Junior Team USA jacket and everything, so I was like, whoa, he's so cool. But seriously, Jamie was the first one who talked to me about joining the rowers, I suppose because I was above average height. Mr. Davis the head coach also suggested I should give it a try. The first practices were all dry land training; lots of distance running, erging, and hills. I thought it was great because it was getting me stronger for basketball season. When the ice thawed we went down for the first practice on the water. The coaches mixed the novices with the experienced rowers for the first few days. For my first row I sat in the 4 seat, behind Jamie Koven. As I was trying to figure out how to fit my feet into some 50 year old clogs, Jamie turned around and said, "If you nail me in the back I will @#$%&*! kill you." That is how I learned to get my legs down quickly off the front end.
2. Was there a practice, race or other event when you fell in love with the sport, or when you knew you might not be too bad at rowing? When you thought you could make the national team?
Again in high school, at the New England championships, my first year rowing. I was in the second boat. We won all of our regular season races, which was alright, but I didn't really feel it until the championships. We were leading the race by a length at the 1000m mark. The sprint was to start with 30 strokes to go. Just as the cox called it up, the 5 seat behind me smacked into the frontstops and his seat came right off the tracks. Massive crab; all the other boats flew right by. The 5 man got his seat and oar back in place; we did a racing start, and rowed down all the crews in the last 30 strokes to win by one tenth of a second. It was pretty amazing.
3. Best race/practice, worst race/practice?
Worst practice: Having a great piece in a pair with Pete Sharis on the Charles River. Long story short, we t-boned an eight under the BU bridge, then immediately got rammed by another eight we had just passed. Problem was, the eights were competing in a head race. Now imagine trying to explain to your coach, Harry Parker.
Best race: Lucerne world cup, 2002. Worst race: Henley 2003.
4. Best/Anything you've done in sport no one knows about?
I was on the New Hampshire state AAU basketball team for two years-- 14 year old age group, and 15. That's the "Junior Olympics" for those not familiar with AAU tournaments. We were seeded around 40th both years and ended up going pretty far through the bracket. That's really my highest athletic achievement before making the Olympic team in rowing.
5. Any/Most important advice for young rowers?
Learn to row the single. It's the essence of the sport.
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