Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Rowing Journal - Allison Martens
4/22/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
April 22, 2009
I learned early on that in this sport, you should never underestimate the word push. When Coach said to the team that "these next 10 days will be tough," I anticipated that the team would have to hang together to make it through one of the hardest weeks of the season, because it would be easier than standing alone. Ben Franklin was once quoted as saying to his fellow revolutionaries, "Surely, gentlemen, we must all hang together, or else we will all be hanging separately!" Although crew isn't exactly motivated by death for treason, the principle is still the same; pulling together for a team purpose is better than pulling alone. Coach wasn't yanking our chains either, the next week was hard, but the team progressed as a unit as each individual added their press to our pile of accomplishments. We pushed that week home together the same way we pushed the truck home in Georgia. We were proud of our progress as a unit, and Coach was proud and impressed with our press.
But in the end, a team is made up of individuals, and there are always those days that you aren't at your best. There are always those days where your focus is scattered and the aggressiveness that you've possessed in the past seems dimmed under the school work, the aches and pains, or the life outside of Bucknell. You know that the drive is still there underneath it all, but that chem lab where you spilled acid on your favorite shirt and ruined your product, or that English exam you thought you were prepared for yet barely scraped a C on, all of those little things have nudged you a little out of your element. That's when the team comes and picks you back up. Sometimes it's not even your own team that does it.
While looking for a place to reorganize my practice bag a few weeks ago, I happened to find the athletics classroom in the KLARC, where rowing and many other teams have operational meetings and the like. Since there were several desks in the empty room, I walked in and sat down, looking around. The previous week had been Patriot League Championships for the swimming and diving team, and when I glanced at the chalkboard at the front of the room I noticed there were places and scores for each of the teams in columns, keeping track of who was winning the meet. As a team, Women's Rowing had made a bunch of posters and hung them around the natatorium to show our support for the swimmers and divers, and I had really enjoyed supporting another Bucknell team since, in the end, we are all just one big team of Bucknell Athletes. As I sat in the empty classroom, cataloguing my various aches and pains and anxiously letting my mind wander to the training sessions ahead, I looked to the chalkboard and noticed that there were more than just scores written. In three bulleted points the swim team had written,
-"Sometimes you have to bounce back."
-"Sometimes the unexpected can happen."
-"Sometimes you have to make it happen."
They might have had a different purpose, and I'm sure it wasn't as deliberate as making posters, but in that moment I received just the words I needed at just the right time. When I needed support the team was there for me... it just wasn't exactly the one I was expecting.
- Allison Martens '11
