For the past five and half years of my life, rowing has been my constant and part of my self-identity. My freshman year of college I took a year off to explore what college is really about and I have never felt more lost. Some of you may be thinking it is just another sport like soccer or softball but it is not. I would go back home and see my old team mates on my high school team or friends joining teams at their colleges and I would feel a sense of loss. Let me explain to you why this is more than just a sport and how it has made me who I am.

To the sport that has made me who I am,

When I had started high school, much like freshman year of college, I was alone. I had friends at school but they weren't people I hung out with every weekend. When I saw the ad on the school news for you combined with rejection I had just gotten from the school soccer team, I thought why not try you out.

Our first day together was not any easy one. The moment I stepped on the boat I wanted off. Rowing has taught me to face my fears whether it has been standing up for myself or someone else. Fear is not an option with you. I had to attack every moment because you are a game of seconds. Everything can change in a second. A single millisecond is the determining factor between winning and losing. I am not a loser. You have taught me that whether I am in the boat or not. I have learned not to fear my mind or what I want because in a millisecond everything can change.

The bonds you have created for me are unlike anything. You have given me friends that no matter what, will always have my back because we have faced blood, sweat, and tears together. They are the ones who sat with me when my family was falling apart and I thought the world was ending. Without you making me get up everyday to see these people who have become so precious to me, I don't know where I would be.

You showed me what true team work is. There are plenty of team sports out there but none so more than you. When you are in a boat there is no individual mindset. There can be as many as eight people in a boat and in order to win everyone has to have the same exact movements at the same exact times otherwise it is hard to go anywhere. The trust and teamwork just strengthens the bonds in the boat even more.

The most important lesson you have taught me is that being loyal and reliable goes along way. Becoming the person coaches and teammates turned to when something needed to be done because they knew I would get it done made me feel prideful. This is also something I have been able to transfer into school and other social circles. Without you I don't know that I would have gained these skills. I was so scared of messing things up before. I'd only do the minimum in order to get by.

Overall, you are a part of me. You are something so special that I couldn't give you up. You are worth the countless hours I put in every week, the 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls, and all the constant pain I feel during practices while I push myself to be better. You are worth having all my possible free time taken because without you I don't know what I'd do. What I do know is that during that year I took off, I didn't like who I was and I don't plan on going back.