Junior Crew's Last Speech

10 strokes to the finish in two that’s one, on this one.

10 strokes to live or die. 10 strokes to lose or win. It’s up to me to carry them to that finish line when their legs give out and their lungs burst. It’s up to the rowers to find that final drive, that final motivation in the very end. It’s up to all of us.

10 to prove them wrong As always, Colorado Junior Crew is the underdog. Despite being a team of 70, the idea of quantity over quality exists within our team. We show up with more children and come home with the least amount of medals. We are met with eye rolls and scoffs, sighs of annoyance and low grumbles about the immaturity of the team. Are we irresponsible at the worst of times? Absolutely. Only last night, our teammates

We will not be defined by our creaking racks or our outdated trailer or the oars that don’t belong to us or our lack of height. We will be defined by our 6 am practices and our determination to beat the odds and our sportsmanship and our team spirit and our bonding moments. But in the end, it comes down to our rowing. This boat, the Women’s A Varsity 4, needs to prove that our team is strong, fast, responsible. That this team can beat the odds and come out on top, despite everyone saying it is not physically

Who have chewed me out more often than not, who strike fear into the heart of their rowers and hold absolute power over all of us. For our coaches, who try and make us laugh at 5am. Who meet with us individually to see how we want to improve. Who rarely give praise, but when they do, do it wholeheartedly. Who are proud to be a part of this team.

4 push No time between the strokes now, no time for words as the stroke rate hits 32 strokes per minute. This is the end, the final push, the few final seconds.

Someone in the boat lets out a small scream. A scream of pain. A war cry. It is not a cry of defeat, but one of effort, of desperation, of raw emotion and power. The sound will ring in my ears for weeks to come. 3 drive Use the legs to send the boat forward, in the final inches here I’m not sure if we are over the finish line yet or not yet, but they’ll keep driving the legs down, crawling for those extra inches. An inch can be the difference between it all. These final drive, these final inches, determine what our team is made of.

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