May 1, 2008

It seems like just yesterday I was struggling in my single during the fall training trying to grasp the idea of rowing with two oars at the same time. Now I am a Patriot League Champion. The moments leading up to this event have been many. Since the end of August, all of the sweat, blisters and pain have been a culmination to this one day, to this one hour, to this one 2,000-meter piece.

The preparation for Patriots was unlike anything that I have encountered before. In high school I only rowed four months out of the year. I remember asking myself how I was going to endure training at the college level, not only the heightened level of intensity, but also the year-round training. After surviving my first fall and winter season I knew that I was in for a challenging, competitive and unforgettable spring.

Since the Spring Training trip to Georgia I knew that something remarkable was going to happen. The team had been working hard and pushing each other to new limits. I had witnessed the inner workings of a rowing team before, and let me be one to say that it is something special. But this time there was something different. We are a unit unlike any other unit before. We are one soul comprised of 52 individuals. We breathe the same air and we dream the same dreams. Every morning we wake up to the sound of our alarm clocks only to take the same strokes on the Susquehanna River, striving to become stronger and faster than the day before. We focus on today. Together we make a decision to be exceptional, to be the best that we can at what we do.

Patriots was no different than any other day, or so I thought. We woke up early, hopped on the bus and drove to the racecourse. One by one the boats began to launch. Next thing you know the boats start racing down the course. I remember watching the races prior to my own. Watching the boats battle it out until the finish with the other crews inspired me to pull out my shield and prepare for whatever lay ahead in the next 2,000 meters. I was witnessing my team, my family, my sisters fight as a unit for our unit. I can't remember much from the race, but I do remember one thing. I remember during the third 500 meters my coxswain, Jeweliet, firmly reminded us that there weren't just nine people in our boat propelling down the race course; there were 52 women within the gunnels. As we crossed the finish line ahead of the league competition it wasn't just a boat victory, it was a team victory. Without the entire team pushing each other to be exceptional, Bucknell Women's Rowing would not have walked away with its third Patriot League Championship.

The movie that we watched on our way to the Cooper River inspired us to believe in each other and in our unit. As Al Pacino proclaims in Any Given Sunday, "On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying!"

- Victoria Dudley '11