This post was supposed to be written months ago, but as is my procrastinating nature, I'm only now getting to it...
June 2017
Somehow, as if a sign of changing times, as Allison and I drove away from what we knew would be our last regatta coaching for Northville High School's Rowing Team, my white frame, gold polarized sunglasses just fell apart. Like one second they were intact, totally functional, good for daily running or for making me look a little more intense when I needed it, and the next second one of the lenses popped out after the frame around that lens snapped in half. They were good, solid glasses that I used almost everyday, mainly cause of my rowing job. When out on the water, they served a trio of purposes: of shielding my eyes from the sun, protecting my eyes from lake water splashing around, and serving as an eye shade, so the kids I coached never knew where I was looking. Plus they had a downward slant to them, which I felt like gave me an added intimidation factor. But honestly, with my track record of breaking any small, wearable accessories within a couple months, I was proud of how long I held onto them in general, let alone how much use I got out of them.
As we drove away though from that regatta, somehow it felt kind of appropriate. For anybody who's heard me talk about my experience coaching this goofy group of kids, they know it's been quite the time(: Ironically enough, Ethan was the one who originally found me the job. He was looking for a job himself through U of M's student jobs listings, and came across a listing for my position. I met with the head coach at the time, apprehensive because with only a year of rowing at Michigan, I didn't exactly have the most glittering resume. At the end of the interview though, I couldn't believe when I got offered a job! It was a light schedule, and the pay was good ($15.00/hr), and the commitment was kind of low. For the situation I was in at the time, it was basically just some free cash for some work that I was excited to do.
Anybody too that knows about me with rowing, I think I'll always feel a little cheated of my rowing career. When I came back from my mission, my horn teacher expressed some pretty serious concerns about me being serious about studying horn at U of M because of how much I had focused on rowing during my freshman year. Considering I had a major scholarship to study with him, I took it pretty hard and told him I would drop out of the rowing team. It kind of makes me sick to think now about how my life has changed, and how music didn't end up being the route I took anyways, but at the very least I kept my scholarship and was able to finish my dual-degrees at U of M. Nonetheless, getting this job made me feel like I was able to bring rowing back, maybe not exactly in the way I wanted to, but at least I was still involved in some way.
And even though the whole thing is kind of a blur, and overall just full of crazy experiences, it was marked by certain moments. Here I've tried to list them in chronological order. Hopefully it gives you a sense for the insanity that it all was and all happened.
1. My first season of just kind of gliding. I was intense about what I coached the kids on, but generally I wasn't super committed, I didn't learn the kids names, I didn't expect much from them, I didn't make boat lineups and I didn't attend any regattas. Russ generally controlled everything and I wasn't really feeling ready to stand up to him.
2. Summer's over, and I'm back coaching. And I'm sick of standing around, waiting for Russ to tell me to do. We get some new guys with some serious athletic potential and quite a bit of teenage energy, and I'm coaching them to WIN, baby. Generally I spend this whole season forcefully taking the reins from Russ for the guys team, while some nice new assistant coach named Allison joins the coaching staff and does the same with the women's team. Generally a fun time, and we actually win some races with my new rowers!
2b. To be perfectly honest actually, I originally considered Allison a little bit of a threat, and kind of a rogue element. I had no idea who she was and how she was going to be coaching, but I had made up my mind on how I wanted to coach, and darn it, she wasn't going to interfere with that. Not to mention she would actually know and say something if I was messing up or saying something wrong, unlike Russ and the rest of the coaching staff who didn't care, or the kids who rarely knew more than I did. So to be honest, we didn't talk/interact much and I was pretty okay with that.
3. On the Friday before our last week of fall practices, Russ tells us he has to leave the team. I have to say there were NO tears shed over that. Suddenly the world opens up to me and I have almost complete control of the team.
3b. Waaaaaaiiiiit..... how does Allison feel about this, and is she cool with us becoming co-head coaches essentially?
3c. Wait, dope, she's totally all for us ramping up this team's competitiveness. Let's do this.
4. Over the next 2-3 weeks, Allison and I meet up regularly and construct a winter training plan for the team. Granted, the team has never run its own winter training plan before, so this is largely unchartered territory as to how the team will respond to this. But we do it anyways, and we have a surprising number of kids come regularly! Unsurprisingly, the new guys who won medals in the fall are back to get faster. Eeeeexcelleeeent...... *evil cackling*
5. Winter training commences, and I have about five consistent comers to winter training, with some sometimes people coming sometimes. And granted, I'm flying by the seat of my pants, meeting with parent boards, meeting with Allison, changing training plans, and running workouts, but somehow it's working out (no pun intended). The guys who come are getting faster, they actually seem to enjoy hanging out together, and they're working hard. And Allison comes to my practices, and I come to hers, and she's actually kind of fun. Plus she buys me hot chocolate on occasion, which I would never do for someone who's just a work "acquaintance"...
6. My guys are getting REALLY fast, and I'm getting a LOT better at this coaching thing.
6b. Also, somehow between meeting weekly about our training plans, talking after practice for an hour or so a night, and going over to her house and meeting her family, Allison and I are probably friends by now. Granted, there is a LOT over which to bond. Someone once said that "there is no stronger bond formed between two people than when those two people hate something together". And Allison and I had a joint distaste for a LOT of things. We hated where the team was, we hated having to meet with the parent board and how ineffective they were, we were annoyed with the kids on occasion, we were irritated with the slow progress, and we hated the general attitude of the old team. Looking back on it, no surprise we share so many interests and general likes/dislikes(: So hey, turns out she's kinda cool.
7. Allison wants to know if I'm going to the wine tasting fundraiser the team puts on every year. Apparently it's at this fancy underground wine tasting room, and tickets are super expensive but we get them free cause we're coaches, and all the parents will be there, and she wants me to go with her cause she doesn't want to be alone. So although I have NO idea what I'll do at a wine tasting, I figure it could be fun.
8. To this day, this moment still seems crazy to me, but I know it wasn't the wine talking cause I obviously wasn't drinking any. But Allison is kind of a babe. And yeah, she's really friendly with me. Generally, since we're both pretty happy to keep to ourselves and talk to each other, we're talking to some parents but generally sticking together. And that hug that she gave me to say goodbye was definitely not just a friend hug(:
9. On some Saturday in February, right before March and the begin of the Spring Season, Allison's coming to my apartment for dinner and a movie. And I spent the whole day cleaning my house, and somehow I'm only realizing that this is basically a date.
10. And we have another date, because Allison hasn't seen the Lord of the Rings movies, and this travesty must be remedied. And it's definitively a date cause I put my arm around her, and she leaned into it. Woah, wasn't expecting that.
11. Spring season starts up again, and its fun to have an excuse to see Allison every day. With an apartment at the same apartment complex where the team has their boathouse, she takes naps on my couch before practice while I do homework, and she comes over after for dinner. It's a good life(:
12. Spring Season is in full swing, and all the hard work my guys put in over the winter pays off. First indoor erg regatta, my biggest new guys tear it up. And a lot of the next regattas. We're winning medals, and gold ones too. And it's not fluke wins, they're solid, repeating performances. Seriously couldn't be happier with my guys, and so happy my intensity has paid off.
13. Summer again, and I leave for Riga. And Allison's back in Michigan...
14. This list is getting tedious, and to be honest, the second full year of coaching wasn't as exciting. Short to say though, we kept getting better and better. Unfortunately, there were some hiccups with winning that year cause my guys who had won the previous year weren't novice rowers anymore, and there was a new head coach that the team elected who Allison and I both disliked MORE than Russ cause this one actually half cared, but whatever. Short to say, we kept coaching, we kept working, and things with Allison kept getting better.
And through it all, those sunglasses kept me going. Originally, quite ironically, I was pretty hesitant about getting a $75.00 pair of sunglasses, cause no matter if it was watches, sunglasses, rings, you name it, if it was a wearable accessory I lost it or broke within a couple months. But I joined that rowing team, and those sunglasses had an immediate daily use.
February 2018
So as they broke apart in my hands as we pulled away from our final regatta as coaches, somehow looking over and seeing my former co-head coach turned fiancé next to me in the car seemed kind of symbolic. It's been a wild ride, working with these kids, taking over leadership roles, gritting it through the rough days of coaching and teaching, and being surprised by finding Allison. And even though the glasses are gone, it symbolized for me the end of one life and the beginning of another. Kind of like not losing a pair of glasses, but just trading out an old view for a new and improved one. And its good(:
June 2017
Somehow, as if a sign of changing times, as Allison and I drove away from what we knew would be our last regatta coaching for Northville High School's Rowing Team, my white frame, gold polarized sunglasses just fell apart. Like one second they were intact, totally functional, good for daily running or for making me look a little more intense when I needed it, and the next second one of the lenses popped out after the frame around that lens snapped in half. They were good, solid glasses that I used almost everyday, mainly cause of my rowing job. When out on the water, they served a trio of purposes: of shielding my eyes from the sun, protecting my eyes from lake water splashing around, and serving as an eye shade, so the kids I coached never knew where I was looking. Plus they had a downward slant to them, which I felt like gave me an added intimidation factor. But honestly, with my track record of breaking any small, wearable accessories within a couple months, I was proud of how long I held onto them in general, let alone how much use I got out of them.
As we drove away though from that regatta, somehow it felt kind of appropriate. For anybody who's heard me talk about my experience coaching this goofy group of kids, they know it's been quite the time(: Ironically enough, Ethan was the one who originally found me the job. He was looking for a job himself through U of M's student jobs listings, and came across a listing for my position. I met with the head coach at the time, apprehensive because with only a year of rowing at Michigan, I didn't exactly have the most glittering resume. At the end of the interview though, I couldn't believe when I got offered a job! It was a light schedule, and the pay was good ($15.00/hr), and the commitment was kind of low. For the situation I was in at the time, it was basically just some free cash for some work that I was excited to do.
Anybody too that knows about me with rowing, I think I'll always feel a little cheated of my rowing career. When I came back from my mission, my horn teacher expressed some pretty serious concerns about me being serious about studying horn at U of M because of how much I had focused on rowing during my freshman year. Considering I had a major scholarship to study with him, I took it pretty hard and told him I would drop out of the rowing team. It kind of makes me sick to think now about how my life has changed, and how music didn't end up being the route I took anyways, but at the very least I kept my scholarship and was able to finish my dual-degrees at U of M. Nonetheless, getting this job made me feel like I was able to bring rowing back, maybe not exactly in the way I wanted to, but at least I was still involved in some way.
And even though the whole thing is kind of a blur, and overall just full of crazy experiences, it was marked by certain moments. Here I've tried to list them in chronological order. Hopefully it gives you a sense for the insanity that it all was and all happened.
1. My first season of just kind of gliding. I was intense about what I coached the kids on, but generally I wasn't super committed, I didn't learn the kids names, I didn't expect much from them, I didn't make boat lineups and I didn't attend any regattas. Russ generally controlled everything and I wasn't really feeling ready to stand up to him.
2. Summer's over, and I'm back coaching. And I'm sick of standing around, waiting for Russ to tell me to do. We get some new guys with some serious athletic potential and quite a bit of teenage energy, and I'm coaching them to WIN, baby. Generally I spend this whole season forcefully taking the reins from Russ for the guys team, while some nice new assistant coach named Allison joins the coaching staff and does the same with the women's team. Generally a fun time, and we actually win some races with my new rowers!
2b. To be perfectly honest actually, I originally considered Allison a little bit of a threat, and kind of a rogue element. I had no idea who she was and how she was going to be coaching, but I had made up my mind on how I wanted to coach, and darn it, she wasn't going to interfere with that. Not to mention she would actually know and say something if I was messing up or saying something wrong, unlike Russ and the rest of the coaching staff who didn't care, or the kids who rarely knew more than I did. So to be honest, we didn't talk/interact much and I was pretty okay with that.
3. On the Friday before our last week of fall practices, Russ tells us he has to leave the team. I have to say there were NO tears shed over that. Suddenly the world opens up to me and I have almost complete control of the team.
3b. Waaaaaaiiiiit..... how does Allison feel about this, and is she cool with us becoming co-head coaches essentially?
3c. Wait, dope, she's totally all for us ramping up this team's competitiveness. Let's do this.
4. Over the next 2-3 weeks, Allison and I meet up regularly and construct a winter training plan for the team. Granted, the team has never run its own winter training plan before, so this is largely unchartered territory as to how the team will respond to this. But we do it anyways, and we have a surprising number of kids come regularly! Unsurprisingly, the new guys who won medals in the fall are back to get faster. Eeeeexcelleeeent...... *evil cackling*
5. Winter training commences, and I have about five consistent comers to winter training, with some sometimes people coming sometimes. And granted, I'm flying by the seat of my pants, meeting with parent boards, meeting with Allison, changing training plans, and running workouts, but somehow it's working out (no pun intended). The guys who come are getting faster, they actually seem to enjoy hanging out together, and they're working hard. And Allison comes to my practices, and I come to hers, and she's actually kind of fun. Plus she buys me hot chocolate on occasion, which I would never do for someone who's just a work "acquaintance"...
6. My guys are getting REALLY fast, and I'm getting a LOT better at this coaching thing.
6b. Also, somehow between meeting weekly about our training plans, talking after practice for an hour or so a night, and going over to her house and meeting her family, Allison and I are probably friends by now. Granted, there is a LOT over which to bond. Someone once said that "there is no stronger bond formed between two people than when those two people hate something together". And Allison and I had a joint distaste for a LOT of things. We hated where the team was, we hated having to meet with the parent board and how ineffective they were, we were annoyed with the kids on occasion, we were irritated with the slow progress, and we hated the general attitude of the old team. Looking back on it, no surprise we share so many interests and general likes/dislikes(: So hey, turns out she's kinda cool.
7. Allison wants to know if I'm going to the wine tasting fundraiser the team puts on every year. Apparently it's at this fancy underground wine tasting room, and tickets are super expensive but we get them free cause we're coaches, and all the parents will be there, and she wants me to go with her cause she doesn't want to be alone. So although I have NO idea what I'll do at a wine tasting, I figure it could be fun.
8. To this day, this moment still seems crazy to me, but I know it wasn't the wine talking cause I obviously wasn't drinking any. But Allison is kind of a babe. And yeah, she's really friendly with me. Generally, since we're both pretty happy to keep to ourselves and talk to each other, we're talking to some parents but generally sticking together. And that hug that she gave me to say goodbye was definitely not just a friend hug(:
9. On some Saturday in February, right before March and the begin of the Spring Season, Allison's coming to my apartment for dinner and a movie. And I spent the whole day cleaning my house, and somehow I'm only realizing that this is basically a date.
10. And we have another date, because Allison hasn't seen the Lord of the Rings movies, and this travesty must be remedied. And it's definitively a date cause I put my arm around her, and she leaned into it. Woah, wasn't expecting that.
11. Spring season starts up again, and its fun to have an excuse to see Allison every day. With an apartment at the same apartment complex where the team has their boathouse, she takes naps on my couch before practice while I do homework, and she comes over after for dinner. It's a good life(:
12. Spring Season is in full swing, and all the hard work my guys put in over the winter pays off. First indoor erg regatta, my biggest new guys tear it up. And a lot of the next regattas. We're winning medals, and gold ones too. And it's not fluke wins, they're solid, repeating performances. Seriously couldn't be happier with my guys, and so happy my intensity has paid off.
13. Summer again, and I leave for Riga. And Allison's back in Michigan...
14. This list is getting tedious, and to be honest, the second full year of coaching wasn't as exciting. Short to say though, we kept getting better and better. Unfortunately, there were some hiccups with winning that year cause my guys who had won the previous year weren't novice rowers anymore, and there was a new head coach that the team elected who Allison and I both disliked MORE than Russ cause this one actually half cared, but whatever. Short to say, we kept coaching, we kept working, and things with Allison kept getting better.
And through it all, those sunglasses kept me going. Originally, quite ironically, I was pretty hesitant about getting a $75.00 pair of sunglasses, cause no matter if it was watches, sunglasses, rings, you name it, if it was a wearable accessory I lost it or broke within a couple months. But I joined that rowing team, and those sunglasses had an immediate daily use.
February 2018
So as they broke apart in my hands as we pulled away from our final regatta as coaches, somehow looking over and seeing my former co-head coach turned fiancé next to me in the car seemed kind of symbolic. It's been a wild ride, working with these kids, taking over leadership roles, gritting it through the rough days of coaching and teaching, and being surprised by finding Allison. And even though the glasses are gone, it symbolized for me the end of one life and the beginning of another. Kind of like not losing a pair of glasses, but just trading out an old view for a new and improved one. And its good(:
Comments
Post a Comment