HOW I BECAME a coxswain

In my junior year of high school I wanted to find a sport. A couple of my friends had heard about crew, and it sounded interesting. So I went to the tryouts for the crew team at the Marin Rowing Association near our school. The Rowing Association is comprised of all the schools in Marin County, California. There were 70 girls trying out for 30 positions, and a lot of coxswains trying out for only 5 coxswain places. When I found out what a coxswain was, I decided to try out for one of the positions, and I made the team.

A coxswain is like an assistant coach. We are the connecting voice from the coach to the rowers, so a coxswain should know a lot about the technical aspects of the sport — about each part of the stroke. We steer the shell [racing boat] and keep track of the stroke rate per minute. We lead the rest of the crew through set workouts. We also motivate the crew during the races and make specific calls or corrections to each of the rowers. If we make a call that's unnecessary, the other crew members don't want to hear it. A lot of them have had so many years of experience that they can tell if we really know what we're talking about.

During my senior year I was doing crew six hours a day, six days a week. I got frustrated because it was time-consuming. At that time I was also busy filling out college applications. At one point I got a little stressed out and felt like I was going nowhere. I came home and I was really sad. My parents said, “You know, you can quit crew whenever you want. It seems like it's a real stressful sport for you. You don't have to do this to yourself.”

And so I just sat quietly in a corner for a couple of hours and prayed. I knew that God would make everything all right because He always has. He would guide me through this and tell me what was right. I thought of the words to a hymn I know from the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 304) that begins, “Shepherd, show me how to go.” I've always thought of God as my guide, my Shepherd, since I was a child.

After praying that way I didn't think about how busy I was during my senior year — how I had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. and go to bed at 1:00 a.m., because I had so much homework. I didn't even feel tired during the day. That year I was recruited by a bunch of colleges, and last September I began my first year at the University of Southern California.

My first month at USC, we competed in the 33^rd annual Head of the Charles Regatta on the Charles River in Massachusetts. The Head of the Charles is a world-famous regatta that, last year, included crew members from 36 different countries. Head races are longer, more difficult ones — on courses that usually have twists and turns. There's a lot of stress on the coxswains because steering and boat traffic is always a big problem. Although the race starts at intervals, there are a lot of boats on the water at the same time and we have to watch out for both the buoys and the other boats. Crews often crash into something by mistake and get marks deducted from their final time.

The morning before, and the day of, the Head of the Charles race, my Sunday School teacher, and my mom both prayed to know that God would guide me and comfort me throughout the race. I felt so much more at peace when the race started. And I felt confident through the finish. We ended up placing 8^th out of more than 50 boats.

Sunday School has definitely kept me on track throughout the year, especially my Sunday School teacher. Even though I'm in college, I still call him probably three or four times a week. It's not like he's just my Sunday School teacher. We're really good friends. I always ask him advice about different situations. He's really cool.

Without balance in my life, I'd be really stressed out with all of the things I have to do every day. So each day I wake up, and before I do anything, like before I shower, I think about how I can attain balance for the day — how I can handle all of my school stuff and my crew stuff. And I know that God will lead me through each day — one step at a time.