Women's Rowing Journal - Katherine Brewster-Duffy
1/18/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
Jan. 18, 2007
When I tell my non-rowing friends that I am spending the last half of my winter break in Elberton, Ga., I get two different responses. One, people think I'm joking, or two, people want to know why. To answer the first, I am not joking, but the second question is quite a bit harder to answer. Not because I don't know how to answer them but because I don't know how to make them understand. It is more than just a love for the sport. Rowing is a passion, an obsession and it has become part of my college career.
Elberton, Ga., is an interesting place. My view of Elberton entails three rowing practices a day and two runs. Some people might think that my teammates and I are crazy, however we all know that the time and energy put into our practices and workouts will make us stronger, faster, and better for the spring racing season. Georgia does more for our team than just make us better rowers. Training trips make us better teammates. I feel that our time in Georgia transforms us from a team to a family.
To an outsider it may seem strange, but Georgia truly does transform us into a close-knit group. This fact I believe makes us better rowers. If we feel like a family we can row as a family. I learned from my boat last year that when nine people groove together, and truly row together, then they go fast together. The purpose of these training trips is not only to grow as individual athletes but as a team. These trips help us grow as a team and go faster as a team. The passion to go faster is what we find in Georgia, the passion that will hopefully propel us into a great racing season.
- Katherine Brewster-Duffy '08