SPORTS June 29, 2009 Issue

ROWING AND PREPPED FOR SUCCESS

NOAH BRUEGMANN

SINCE 2001, when someone at church introduced me to rowing, I have competed in about 100 races, from small high-school school dual meets, to collegiate national championships and international competitions. Inevitably, my racing has taught me about effective preparation for success.

Each season it becomes clearer to me that in rowing, as in most other sports, college athletic programs tend to base their activities on the assumption that their athletes possess a limited supply of talent, and that they must leverage this talent to gain their best chance of winning. This viewpoint reduces competition and preparation to an exercise of willpower over opponents or the body, resulting in either success or failure.

My experience with rowing in high school and college has convinced me that, despite its prevalence, this paradigm doesn't govern sports. Through daily study of the Bible and Science and Health, I've become confident that, spiritually speaking, everyone involved in competitive situations has limitless ability. It is God, who is divine Principle and Mind—and not some law of probability or physics—who determines performance.

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