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ANDOVER
CAPTAIN REFLECTIONS
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2005 GIRLS CREW CAPTAIN
Marcella Viktorin ’05
Crew is a sport unlike any other. It requires intelligence and balance, and most of all, a tremendous amount of effort. The rower is someone who pushes herself not only for herself but for her pair, for her coxswain, for her coach. In crew, you can’t ever stop in the middle of practice because there’s nowhere to go but into the water. Once you launch, there’s no turning back, no stopping. When you’re out there it’s you against the water, and because you can’t ever stop you find you push yourself past your own limits time and time again. Limits become invisible. In this you find motivation. This motivation gives us a unique discipline.
Rowers are subconsciously affected by the water. The pull of the water extends past the boathouse. It pulls us out of bed in the morning and pulls us onto the bus in the afternoon. Even more, it pulls at our souls. This effect puts a smile on our faces when we talk about crew. We have to overcome the pull of the water; we can’t let the water completely overcome us. This is why rowing is a sport of balance. Rowers balance port with starboard, mind with body, hard work and reward, water and land, sanity with insanity. This balance is applicable to life. Crew isn’t just a sport, it’s a way of life.
2005 BOYS CREW CAPTAIN
Peter Belisle '05 |
2004 BOYS CREW CAPTAIN
Garrett Kirk ’04
Chills run down my back and into my legs. I shake my arms to release all tension that has built up. I love rowing for this thrill: sitting on the starting block, ready to unleash every drop of energy I have. My entire body understands the value of this moment. Every limb pops with adrenaline as I visualize my body exploding out of the start. I tweak my neck and put myself into a starting framework. Andover Crew is behind me in this boat race. The bond that our boat has built for months will win this race. The pain I would endure be temporarily, but the victory would last forever.
This is the thrill that I love about rowing. Everyday is an opportunity to prove oneself. All one needs to do is to go a bit faster than they did the day before. Be a little more consistent and carry his strength through the finish line. The outcome of this work does not only have to be measured through victory. The trust that teammates have in each other, and the bonding that takes place within each individual boat cannot be duplicated. While victory adds to this opportunity, victory can only enhance it, never replace it.
2004 GIRLS CREW CAPTAIN
Jessie Daigneault ’04
To our coaches and teammates, and the boats who have carried our souls on journeys beyond the thrill of victory and lessons of defeat...
It's your sweat and your smile and blisters that sting as you give your teammates high-fives. It's your sore muscles and your spandex and bare feet on a squeaky dock at dawn. It's the breeze on your neck the first day on the water after winter training. It's the one erg test after so many other erg tests that makes you cry with joy rather than pain. It's falling back with relief into the lap of the person behind you after a great piece. It's that person falling back onto the person behind them, and that person falling back, and again until the coxswain has a clear view of the bow ball over eight relaxed bodies. It's the sound of synchronized oarlocks clicking in unison. It's the dirty river water. It's the smiles and winks between teammates on the path to class. It's the good luck notes put in mailboxes and pinned to dorm room doors. It's part of every person who has ever stepped into a shell. And it will always be a part of me. |
2003 BOYS' CREW CAPTAIN
Taylor Washburn '03
I grew up in a fortunate situation. Not many people can say
that they grew up exposed to the sport of crew. In fact, many
of the students at Phillips Academy who go on to row in one
of the varsity boats had never seen the sport until they got
to Andover. I was lucky because growing up at Phillips Academy,
as the son of the crew coach, Saturday afternoon races on
the Merrimack were normal for me. It had always been a dream
of mine to row at Andover, but I didn’t know what I was
getting myself into until the spring of my freshman year at
PA. This was when I got to go out to the boathouse as a part
of the team and sit in a boat for the first time. That experience
changed my life.
Crew is the definitive “team” sport. You can not
have one star that carries the team. It starts with nine different
parts that, over the course of a season, learn to fit together
as one whole. I have never felt the same sense of trust, confidence,
and pride in any other group of people (excluding my family).
And that is significant, because we are, in a sense, one big
family. Crew is one of the only sports that I can call a program
and not separate varsity and JV teams. I can say with confidence
that my fondest memories of Phillips Academy will be my days
out on the Merrimack. I know that no matter what my day is
like on campus, the moment I get out to the boathouse all
my worries will disappear. There is an indescribable feeling
that I get on the water, a feeling that all rowers know but
few can describe adequately. What I do know is that I will
never forget my four years out on the Merrimack.
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2003 GIRLS' CREW CAPTAIN
Meryl Mims '03
Girls' Crew at Phillips Academy is so
much more than just a sport. Ask any rower on the team what
she thinks of crew, and you're almost guaranteed a very wide
smile. While each and every rower knows what it means to pull
hard and hurt, every rower can also be peacefully assured that
there are eight other girls in the boat who are feeling the
exact same thing. A boat is the ultimate example of a team.
Everyone works together while simultaneously pushing themselves
as hard as they can. Every day, every hour, and every stroke
of practice is aimed to reaching that perfection called boat
chemistry. The mental and physical challenges of every day practice
are met with fun, laughter, and an undescribable bond between
the rowers, coxswains, and coaches. And when the race day comes,
and the chemistry is just right, everything is perfect. The
boat flies, and the feeling is amazing.
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2002 BOYS' CREW CAPTAIN
Nick Reber '02
"Our first boat this year has chosen to self-apply the
identity of Puff Daddy and the Family, a syndicate of somewhat
outdated rap artists. The cast of characters includes the
famous names, from Puff Daddy himself to Black Rob to Biggie
Smalz. Our collective alter ego is a mainstay at the boathouse:
the crew admires a poster of The Family before every practice;
rowers count off and refer to each other by these pseudonyms.
"Entering Andover as a new eleventh grader, I was struck
by this odd type of behavior, which I now know to be typical
of the crew team. Even after having been a member of the PA
crew for two years, I can still understand how it may seem
strange that a group of adolescent prep school boys would
identify themselves with rappers, considering that no member
of the team thinks seriously of pursuing the profession.
"What I have learned is that Andover crew
is not governed by the logic of the academy. Like Andover
academics, Andover crew is characterized by its intensity;
a premium is put on success. What separates the two, and what
has impressed me about Andover crew, is the team's focus on
enjoying the process. Rowers enjoy being Puff Daddy and the
family, so they do it. We realize that winning is only important
in so far as we learn and take pleasure from the pursuit of
it. The intensity of the crew team comes not from outside
obligation, but from enjoyment. Andover crew is special for
allowing me to become Puff Daddy."
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2002 GIRLS' CREW CAPTAIN
Sarah Maxwell '02
"At Andover, rowing doesn't happen on a field behind
the gym. Instead, each day rowers board two yellow school
buses that take them to Andover's boathouse on the Merrimack
River. The boathouse holds far more valuable boats, coaching
launches, and twenty years of accumulated rowing accessories
and experience than its simple and unassuming cinder-block
appearance suggests. As the big metal doors are drawn open
with a crash, kids organize themselves to take out oars, carry
down launches, and fill gas tanks. Coaches call out lineups,
coxswains organize their crews, sneakers are hastily thrown
into baskets on the dock, or into the water for an unlucky
few, and soon thereafter the rowers are taking their first
strokes of practice. What happens at the boathouse and on
the water is a combination of excitement, commitment, and
teamwork. These characteristics, as evidenced in classes and
dorms as well as on the water, are the underlying attitudes
of rowers at Andover. The staples of Andover crew––yellow
school buses, fiberglass launches, the concrete boathouse,
passionate coaching, and dedicated athletes––allow
the sport of rowing to be not just physical exercise but rather
an important emotional part of a rower's high school career
during which dedication and cooperation are developed, practiced,
and passed on."
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2001 BOYS'
CREW CAPTAIN
Spencer Washburn '01
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"Growing up as the son of the boys head crew coach,
I have been exposed to Andover rowers my entire life.
In the spring, Saturdays have always meant going out
to the river to watch the races. So, after 15 years,
I thought I understood what the Andover crew program
was all about. But, when I first stepped into a boat
in my freshman year, I realized that I had no idea what
rowing was about, or more specifically, what rowing
at Andover was about.
Rowing is a sport that gets a hold of you and will
not let go. There is something beautiful about eight
bodies all striving for the same goal, perfection. Eight
bodies all moving in rhythm, together, is a great feeling.
Flying down the race course, feeling eight guys moving
together, all wanting the same thing, to get to the
finish line first, the trust and expectation that all
eight members of the boat have for each other is something
that you don't get in other sports. There is something
addicting about striving to produce your personal best,
yet having to rely on seven other rowers to achieve
the greatness for which you strive. The bond that you
make with your fellow rowers is stronger than friendship.
It is companionship. You are in it for the pain, agony
of defeat, and elation of victory, and through it all,
you have each other. When it hurts so much that you
feel you can't go on, you force yourself to continue,
not for yourself, but for the seven other guys who are
pulling along with you. There comes a point what you
no longer row for yourself, but you row for the rest
of your boat. They won't let you down, so you won't
let them down.
There is something about the bonds and trust developed
amongst a crew that can't be found anywhere else. It
is an experience that can't be duplicated, that can't
be reconstructed, that you can't ever forget. I know
that I would never trade the experience I have had in
my four years rowing at Andover for anything. I learned
more about people and friends on the water than I could
ever hope to learn in a classroom."
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2001
GIRLS' CREW CAPTAIN
Emily Thornton '01
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"Most people on campus wonder where we really
go for three hours each day in the spring. They've never
seen the boathouse, and it's mysterious to them how
we leave from behind the gym on two rickety yellow school
buses, and come back three hours later, drenched in
sweat and Merrimack water, and then limp into Commons,
but are still able to lift our trays piled with chicken
and pasta and green beans and six or seven glasses of
various liquids to a table. It's not until a student
goes out on the water with the Andover crew that he
or she realizes what an invigorating and bonding experience
it really is.
Andover crew is a passion. Each rower has an incredible
intuition that can sense the determination of her fellow
rowers to achieve the same goal of synchronization and
success on the water. They see the determination in
everyone's eyes and are willing to put in 110% for each
other. It is a combination of hard work, team work,
and commitment to each other that makes rowing for Andover
so special. It is an experience that can only be truly
understood by taking the ride to the river, and spending
some time on the water with us."
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2000 BOYS' CREW CAPTAIN
Hunter Washburn '00
"My name is Hunter Washburn and I am a four year senior.
Not only am I the captain of the boys crew program, but I
am also captain of boys cross country and swimming teams.
I greatly enjoy the competitive side of rowing, but I also
enjoy the comraderie. The program is open to everyone who
wants to experience something new. This has brought many interesting
people to the team and I have made many friendships that will
last for years."
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2000 GIRLS' CREW CAPTAIN
Elizabeth (Biz) Ghormley
'00
"Crew is an amazing sport. I fell in love with it in the
spring of my freshman year. Since then, rowing has shown me
the power of a team and how to push myself to achieve new
levels of physical strength and mental toughness. As a rower
who works together with many different combinations of people,
I have faced extreme challenges, frustrations, and victories;
and I have had some of the funniest experiences of my life.
A team of rowers is different from any other kind of team.
As soon as the rowers and coxswain sit in the boat, they become
one being. They are not tied together physically, nor do they
lose the individuality of their personalities, strengths,
or weaknesses. However, the power of the boat is generated
ultimately by the team, not by individuals. The boat must
work together as one to go fast and to win. At the end of
a race, there is no MVP, no team star, and no bench warmer;
the boat is one entity and the rowers and coxswain that drive
it win or lose as a group. This bond has, in my life, inspired
wonderful friendships and intense trust for people I otherwise
would never have known.
The Andover Girls' Crew program provides the girls who come
to the river with intense athletic training and an opportunity
to reap the benefits of such an amazing sport. Our competitive
season is in the spring, though we do row recreationally in
the fall. We usually have five boats out on the water: two
varsity, one junior varsity, and two novice boats. The spring
training for each boat is commensurate with the experience
level of the rowers, but all the girls who come to the boathouse
are considered equal members of our team. In 1998, our team
finished first collectively as a team at the NEIRA Championships,
with our first and third boats taking second place and our
second boat placing first. Last year, 1999, was also a strong
season for our team. with our first boat finishing second
in the Championship and our other boats finishing in the top
three places. We are looking forward to the 2000 season with
a strong group of returning students and an eager and powerful
group of new students. This is going to be our best season
yet! GO BLUE!
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