2015: The Year in Review

Stopping time, going inside your head, and simply analyzing the images that run through your mind as you think of what has occurred during the past 12 months. That’s how I sort of review my year. Because I’ve spoken about the great times and the mishaps of the first 6 months throughout my posts, I’ll just come back starting in September. I want to specifically talk about rowing and the lifestyle I adopted.

After a solid summer in Florida, having fun and training hard, I came back to France to start the second year of my master’s degree. With about 3 weeks until Sprint Nationals, the group worked to clean up our rowing and put together the best performance we had to offer. Just to explain the context, in the 80’s, our club was top of the line for the men and had an outstanding men’s 8+. 20 years later, our president wants to rekindle that glory and keep it running. This championship regatta was the first step towards that. As underdogs, all we wanted to do was get to the A final, obviously, realizing that we were amongst 30+ other crews on a distance that separated 1st and 6th by just a few seconds. Long story short, we surprised ourselves, but especially the rest of the opponents by just missing out of the A final and finishing a very close 2nd in the B final. For me, that was a solid way to end a difficult year of rowing.

Coming off something positive, I adopted a culture, you might say, where I trained but with no goals, besides just building myself a good endurance base. When it came time to race the single at the only head race of the fall, I was too preoccupied with my technique and moved away from making my body go through hell and the boat go fast. That performance was deplorable and shameful. I was behind people that usually belong under me on the lists. That was a huge wake up call! I was kind of stuck in a purgatory state at that point. Luckily, my cousin Julien came along. He started making me think about what I wanted, what I was ready to do for that to happen, and how to perceive myself in the coming weeks and months. With his help, I straightened back up and trained smarter. When I say smarter, I mean training at a level that is adapted to what I want to accomplish and understanding what is going to happen during tougher parts. When it came to my erg test, I was confident in my capabilities. If you know me, erging has never been my forte, but I still work towards ameliorating that. I wanted to complete a test by hitting the splits and some. I set out to go 6:34 to do so with a plan that would get me there. I got on the erg and did just that…and some! I went a little faster and beat my PR in 6:32. Finally, I was able to have a positive performance on the machine and an uplifting moment that set me up for progress.

Once we passed that weekend, I took a few days to decompress in Lithuania (that is a story for another post). In November we usually race a duel in a 8x+ against the club of the Basse-Seine. This match is the oldest in France and is 88 years old. It was planned the weekend of the Paris terrorist attacks. We legally weren't allowed to have a race and we also didn't feel like it was appropriate. We moved it to this past weekend.

Today was the 88th duel between us and the club Basse-Seine. We won with an enormous gap, but the legs still burned like hell. I've only been able to do this race twice, and thanks to these guys I've put the hammer down back to back. We usually have this race before coming into the new year, but we we were not allowed and did not want to race on the same weekend as the terrorist attacks in Paris.

A photo posted by Scott Del Vecchio (@scottdelvecchio) on Jan 17, 2016 at 3:32pm PST

When I got back, we were closing in on 2016 and our yearly Christmas race: la Coupe de Noel. This was the 50th edition so the club invited many world, European, and Olympic champions from the past including Jean-Christophe Rolland and Michel Andrieux (2000 Sydney M2- Olympic race).

I had set out to race with my buddy Antoine Lagouge, but he was hurt so I switched at the last moment to my friend and teammate Thomas Fadie. We did not have the best equipment and hadn’t practice, but that did not stop us from starting last and finishing first on the 9 km race which had two turns. We won with by raw time, but finished 2nd with age adjusted time. That whole day was a lot of fun and the partying finished in the early hours of the morning with a few stories that I won’t share... I couldn’t stay the whole night as I had an early flight to catch a flight the next morning.

In conclusion, 2015 was a rollercoaster of events, some that I deserved and some that were questionable, but it is all part of life. I learned from these situations and can’t wait to be on top of my game in this coming year while facing an angry crowd of rowers who are desperate to get to the Olympics this summer. I wanted to add that I have moved away from the single toward the pair with Antoine Peronnet, meaning I switched to starboard. We are working on getting faster for small boats qualifiers and helping our 8+ get faster for June.

Until then,

Much love.

The NCAA. A disgrace fronted by gold medals and smiles?

This blog post is just a class project that I had to make for a culture and sport's class. I chose to not include the names of the people I interviewed for this blog. Enjoy and don't be afraid to comment if you have anything to add. 

The NCAA. A disgrace fronted by gold medals and smiles?

By Scott Del Vecchio              Jan. 11, 2016

Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer hoists trophy after Buckeyes defeated Oregon Ducks, 42 to 20, in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium on January 12, 2015 in Arlington, Texas

The USA, a world of sports, where dreams are made of gold, and part of every great champion’s road to victory, but at what cost? Hidden behind confetti and trophies, is an organization that could be reexamined.


College sports in the United States lives within a different dimension then the rest of the sport’s world. The sovereign empire that is ruled by the NCAA and assisted by media and money is not as glamorous as it is made out to be for the fans. The inequality and rules that do not always make the most sense truly show the moral and financial disarray of the greatest nation on Earth. In a way, it

takes part in situations that lead to think, in the same manner as the rest of the planet thinks of this colossal nation’s system, which is that it is another American capitalist enterprise that fills its socks…basketball socks you could say, with money, while college players do everything and anything to pay for school whether that means taking out loans or eating ramen noodles for dinner.

Is the NCAA a hypocrite?

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is the largest non-profit association in the United States that governs over 1,000 universities and their +20 sponsored sports. It dedicates its time to overseeing performance within the structure, the sports’ championships and keeping anyone from breaking its set rules, which seem simple, but are a lot more complex and hidden then you would think.

Most rules that are broken are either due to a failure to upkeep the academic quality demanded to play college sports, for instance, scoring under a 2.0 GPA during the semester or testing positive on a drug test such as cannabis. The student-athletes who are concerned with these offenses are usually warned, punished, and even kicked off the team and/or out of the school. On the other hand, there are multiple rules that seem to be in the gray area between black and white, or should we say right or wrong. Such rules like not accepting money for playing your sport to keep the status of an amateur athlete (Payment Prohibition. No member team shall make any payments for play or expenses directly or indirectly to any player;) or being denied a meal from a coach because they cannot favor one athlete over another even if that athlete has no food or money to eat [Services (e.g., movie tickets, dinners, use of a car) from commercial agencies (e.g., movie theaters, restaurants, car dealers) without charge or at reduced rates;]

Morally, where does right stop and wrong start, because as a coach, how do you let one of your athletes go to bed without eating dinner knowing that they have to be at practice the next morning before their 8am class? This is where monetary involvement appears to be quite incomprehensible.





The NCAA made $912.8 million last year, 84 percent of which came from one, three-week event: The Division I men's basketball tournament. (Indystar.com)

How to read the money flow, graph by: Haoyun Su and Mark Alesia/ The Star, 2014



With revenue closing in on 1 billion dollars each year, the NCAA fills its pockets thanks to the hard work and competitiveness of athletes playing in front of crowds hectically flooding the stadiums and arenas. While the non-profit association is rolling in it, the athletes on the other hand are being denied extra help, money, and other benefits in the name of amateurism. Does it make much sense? Most athletes do not agree and feel robbed. I will add that recently, athletes have been helped through stipends. To get a better idea, we chose to ask a female soccer player about her experience. "I did not go to FSU to make money I went to play soccer and get a degree and that is all I expected out of my experience as a student athlete.” When asked to put herself in a situation where she was underprivileged and wanted to pay off the rest of her education that was not covered by her scholarship,  we wanted to know if she would like to receive money for her participation in a media covered championship such as March Madness where the NCAA makes a lot of money and the players do not.  Her response was, “I mean yes that would make sense. But I don't know because I wasn't in that situation. They do give us a small stipend such as for preseason to help pay for rent and thanksgiving break if we are still in the tournament.” When she mentions they, she means the university and not the NCAA.

According to CBS sports, “The plaintiffs in the case [Jeffrey Kessler case] allege that the NCAA and its schools violate federal antitrust law by conspiring to impose a cap on the amount of money a school can provide a college athlete. Without the cap, the plaintiffs argue, schools would compete in recruiting players by offering more generous scholarships.” In other words, the NCAA prefers making huge amounts of cash and sharing it with the schools than redistributing it to the personnel who is responsible for that revenue. The NCAA tries to justify itself by adding that it is for the good of college sports and predicts higher wages to pay by FBS and Division I school, which will lead to less participating teams and a smaller number of scholarships.

“The NCAA and its schools violate federal antitrust law…”

With this much access to public records like revenue and such, there is no doubt that athletes, their families, and others will draw closer to trying to resolve this crisis. Whether it is lawyers who represent these athletes, or post-collegiate professional athletes like Richard Sherman, cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks, who are pushing for a possible change in the system, the NCAA is finding itself with its back to the wall. Only a reevaluation of the structure to find a compromise for both parties can end this vulgarized helping hand association.

United States antitrust law is a collection of federal and state government laws that regulates the conduct and organization of business corporations, generally to promote fair competition for the benefit of consumers.

Rowing, a gentlemen’s sport overrun by women.

Rowing is the oldest sport in American collegiate history, which started in 1852 with the first intercollegiate event: the Harvard-Yale boat race. Since then, sports have emerged and as the decades have passed by, rowing has kept its prestigious status intact. In 1972, Title IX, now known as the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act gave equal opportunity to women, including sports. This meant that the number of athletes in each institution had to equal one another including the money used. Most American universities have American football teams that require large budgets, but also bring in large amount of money due to their media attention. There is no women’s football so the female sports that don’t necessarily need enormous amounts of money, end up benefiting from that huge budget. Women’s rowing is most of the time that beneficiary.

In 1997, it became part of the NCAA, but men’s rowing, an old timer, still has yet to be part of it. A former collegiate rower and coach answered the question, “To the best of my knowledge, the reason or at least one of the reasons that Men's Rowing never became an NCAA sport was again Title IX.  The women administrators that pursued women's rowing to become an NCAA sport did so because of the numbers of opportunities that rowing could bring to the collegiate sport world to even out rather quickly the disparity between men's sport opportunities and women's at the times. Men's rowing was not considered because it would go counter to what Title IX was all about.”

It is difficult in 2016 to empathize why one gender is and the other is not within the structure, but we can easily notice the discrepancy. For example, in 2010 at Jacksonville University, 7 full-ride scholarships were given to the rowing recruits and team members of a 20 girls squad, even if the results were unsatisfactory. A full-ride represents the whole payment of an undergraduate diploma, which at that time cost over $30,000 a year. On the other side of the boathouse, the men’s rowing team composed of +30 members had 3 full-ride scholarships to be shared. On top of this disproportion of budget, men’s rowing had to abide by the same NCAA and school rules as the women, but are not part of the association and do not receive any benefits from it. 

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

The biggest question is, does men’s rowing have a future with the NCAA? The interviewee says, “Certainly there are rumblings of bringing men's rowing into the fold of the NCAA.  I believe the Ivy Leagues have made it known that they do not want this as it would take away their 'power' and water down their traditions.  The rest of the men's collegiate rowing world doesn’t have the resources, the Rolodex of names to call upon for favors to attempt these changes until, I think, recently. Rowing has continued to grow substantially during the past 20 years and the sheer numbers of people now cover every age group from middle schoolers, juniors and high school, collegiate, clubs, masters and on.  These demographics now outweigh the voices of the previous governing proletariat of rowing and their voices are now being heard.  I think men's rowing will move to become an NCAA approved sport, as long as the NCAA keeps it nose clean, as all this involves lots of money!”

“The reason or at least one of the reasons that Men's Rowing never became an NCAA sport was again Title IX.”

The Ivy League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group. The eight institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. The term Ivy League has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism.

 If so, there will be major financial and restructuration consequences, but if not, do the sport and rowing communities care for such inequalities even though women’s equal rights have only but just started? With such a fast moving and growing entity such as sports in general, there seems to be an almost obligatory evolution as NCAA governors and the sport’s coaches have to decide soon where to go from here. There is an obvious unfairness presented here under the ruling eye of an association who prides itself with the following statement, “Values such as respect, caring, fairness, civility, honesty, integrity and responsibility are equally important on and off the field.”

Friday Night

Besides the closest people to me, I haven't said much about my life here, in France, during this past week. I don't usually say much anyways except through my occasional photography, video, and these posts. There is something so impersonal about writing a Facebook status, that is actually meaningless among all the others, which makes it so unattractive. I believe in taking time to reflect whether it's my own problems or something as grand as death. Just remember that these are my words, my feelings, and my knowledge that are reflected here.

To start off. I think it should be an obligation as an ethical person to look around and find out as much as you can from many different places about a subject as insane as this one. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with the lack of miscommunication in people's exchanges with one another as a product of media, but also how narrowly minded others can be just because their ego is bigger than their back yard. For now, here is how I lived the last week. 

Last Friday, I had many little plans that didn't happen. Friday is my day off from school so I try to work on my thesis, train multiple times, and simply try to do something I haven't had time to do all week (i.e. go explore new coffee shops in Paris). Time wasn't on my side so I had to make some changes; and so I chose to workout twice. By the time I was done, I was drained, no energy to do anything else. I decided to just go to bed early. Little did I know that staying up late was going to be inevitable. At first you tell yourself, "oh, there was just a shooting in Marseille, this is probably something stupid again...", but then you realize it is so much worse. Without rehearsal, my various groups of friends activated.  We all made sure we were accounted for and stayed up until everyone was safe. That's when feelings started pouring in. No joke, it seemed like deja-vu, sitting on my couch watching some unholy men killing and holding hostages; it was just happening again. But I had to get up early, so I went to sleep as fast as I could. Throughout the night, I realized that people cared for me just as the whole world cared for France. Thank you to all the people who did. Even if I was quiet or didn't answer,  I very much appreciated it. I think the next day for me was the worse because videos and pictures came out, I truly felt sick to my stomach. I felt like I was watching a movie. As the days passed by, my life didn't change much besides races being cancelled, security tightened up at INSEP, and it was all people could talk about. But I'm still sad. 

Everyone here knows that more will happen. Lets be real, I have been to more minute of silence events in the last year than throughout my entire life. With death and horror comes acceptance and love. People will live their life the same way, maybe with an additional look over their shoulder, and that's the reality of it all. There isn't much we can do besides hope and pray (for some) that this was the end of an atrocious year. All I can say is that you should always give the benefit of the doubt to the one's you don't know, whether they fulfill you or disappoint you, that is their choice. We have become a mankind made of help, assistance, and understanding, so why stop now. 

“There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.” 

― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Beaucoup d'amour. 

Here is a little film I made right after this all happened.

Would You Wake Up - Behind the Scenes

I'd like to start by saying that you do not need to go all the way to Europe or Central Asia to explore and have a great time. You can literally do that in the U.S. and still have the time of your life.

This summer, Emily and I decided to go up into the Northeast on a road trip. She'd never been and I can't ever say no to another adventure. Throughout this post I'll explain how I proceeded to plan this trip, what we did, and the idea behind the movie. Ok, go.

If you know me and have followed my little adventures, you are conscious that I do not plan whatsoever. I've had great opportunities due to the fact that I'm helped by an airline agent. But this time, I wanted to really make this trip special. It was special because no rowing was involved, but mainly because it was my way to show how much she means to me as we were coming up on two years of dating. Chocolate strawberries aside, I wanted to have no problems and just go with the flow as planned. I started by sitting down in a Starbucks and writing the entire plan down (cities, places to stay, dates, miles, time spent...). Caffeine hyped, I probably got 80% done in one sitting. I signed up for Airbnb, called people I knew, and made sure that everything was appropriately coordinated. I was really happy with myself because it's a lot more fun knowing what you are doing and where you are going than packing in the middle of the night to make a flight the next morning. Our biggest win of the trip was having a cooler with food and snacks; we definitely saved a lot of money and didn't eat at one single fast food...until one hour away from Jacksonville on our way home. Tip: stay with people you know, it's fun and doesn't cost anything but a hug. 

Our road trip started with a 7 hour drive to my friend Danielle's house in Wilmington, NC. Lucky enough, she was only leaving on a camping trip the next morning so we made it just in time. After a good night's sleep with her cat Sam, we woke up early and drove 9 hours up to Philadelphia. I can't thank my friend Nick enough for letting us stay in his apartment in Center City. We felt like royalty. From there we walked everywhere. I know Philly pretty well so it was easy getting around. We met up with some friends and explored the Magic Garden, spent 75% of our day in the Reading Terminal Market eating anything and everything, and just walking around at night taking pictures. After a few days, we took off and drove about 2 hours into New York City. I've been there a few times on short occasions, but this was the time to really take in the hectic lifestyle. Luckily, after our Airbnb failed on us, we were able to stay with some friends in Chinatown. Let me point out that Manhattan is rough with no AC during the summer. With three full days, we were able to sincerely take in a lot. From running in Central Park, to riding the Staten Island Ferry with an insane sunset or riding CityBank bikes for what it seemed like millions of miles to eating in some little restaurant at 11pm that blew my mind. At first I was a little annoyed at the chaos around me (especially the Chinatown stink), but I was able to go into tunnel vision and observe the beautiful things NYC has to offer. We then left extremely early which led us to Brooklyn for breakfast and a last view of the skyline. I felt relieved and accomplished, anything we did from then on was just bonus. We drove 4 hours back towards Washington D.C. where my stepbrother and his wife had just started moving into their new house. It had been a few years since I had seen them so I was purely in heaven just relaxing, eating good food, telling great stories, and sharing quality time together as a family. Something we hadn't planned was Emily's mom coming during the days we were staying there for a wedding so literally timing couldn't have been more perfect. After rejuvenating and keeping our hands out of our wallets, we drove 11 hours straight back to Jacksonville. There was not one moment where I thought, I'd rather be doing this with someone else. Tip: leave thank you letters wherever you stay, they'll like it. 

Onto the movie. I wasn't sure what sort of story I wanted to tell, but I knew I wanted to improve my shots and the way I perceived what the viewer could feel. With a lot of thinking, l decided to simply make it a dream. The entire trip is in chronological order with random black cuts that separate parts of the dream since you can never precisely determine the start or the end of one. The breathing is to let you inside my head, hearing my own rhythm as I experience the different cities. You can hear Emily's soft and whispering voice telling me to wake up as she is on the other side, reality, not knowing what I'm undergoing. And I finish with heavy breathing and fast cutting clips to let the viewer know that I'm finally waking up and my connection to the dream is cutting out. This leads me to ask you: would you wake up? Tip: keep all your footage, it will serve it's purpose when you least expect it.  

Much love.

My Favorite Blogs at the Moment

Any type of creative content will affect your perspective throughout your daily/weekly routine. Whether it's a favorite show on Netflix, a book series, or simply just some vloggers you follow on Youtube, that content will continuously mold you and your thought process until you switch to something else.

With so much sweet stuff popping up on Youtube, Instagram, Blogs, Websites, it is difficult to process it all and just pick a few good creators that actually make you feel excited. For me, when I'm hung up on an idea, I like to pursue it at 110%, which means I'm not just going to consume that content, but also use it to my advantage and actually try it out or research about it.

I really enjoy vloggers and respect what they do, but sometimes you need to take a break from just sitting there and watching, and instead actually read someone's heart-felt words whether it's them trying to teach you how to cook, bashing other NFL teams, or simply trying to give you an objective view on sports. So without further ado, here are my Favorite Blogs at the Moment (in no specific order).

Living The Healthy Choice 
Pauline is a German food blogger that I found through Jack Harries (JacksGap) who simply makes delicious food which is not only healthy and most of the time vegan, but also just brilliant to look at.

I've tried some of the recipes while I was in Florida as well as in France, and I've had nothing but success. The feeling I get while I'm on this site is plain comfortable and no pressure to have to make something; I like it! On top of all that, her Instagram is off the charts!
Go check it out @livingthehealthychoice


Prolongation Sport
This blog is not your average "here are the results of last night's game" website and is composed of some great minds. Before you click away, let me just tell you that it is in French but we are working to publish some articles in English as well. Yes I said "we" (not Oui!), because I'm one of the writers. This team is made up of epidemiology  researchers that just want to give you a new perspective on sports whether they are big to the public eye or not. The blog has started to pick up in the last few months and is part of the top 10 sport blogs in France (waiting to see who wins). For me, it helps you understand another side of sports that you rarely see while being simple and interesting.

The Spice Girl

Beth Kennedy aka the Spice Girl is someone from my hometown who has completely evolved over the last year ever since she's been to Spain. At first, her genuine love for food and travel caught my eye and I knew that she would slowly but surely write some truly interesting pieces. The passion she has for the food she presents is most likely fueled by a San Sebastian wood oven fire. Even the simplest recipes look outstanding and make me hungry in class. Don't take your eyes off of her, because she might take off without you. Might I add that her Instagram is pretty neat too.

Go check her out @spiceeeegirl and give her some love.

The Honest Phin

A few weeks ago, my friend Matt wanted to scribble down some honest feelings about his Dolphins. Like most Miami Dolphin fans, he's disappointed year after year so what better way to blow off some steam than roasting his favorite seafood. I'm honestly amazed about how that team has been playing lately, but knew right away that he would kill it on his blog. His writing is almost like a great american comedy movie featuring Matt and his team. The plain-spoken words and the lack of self control to cuss out whoever isn't up to par is hilarious and truly lets all his buddies enjoy a good 5 mins of head nodding before and after each game. Even if you don't care about Miami or the NFL in general, it's still something you should see! 

At the moment, these are the creators that have caught my eye and have been part of my routine. I'm not going to lie, I have a million more Youtube videos and Netflix episodes to watch, but that comes nowhere near the pure enjoyment I get from these people's words. 

Much love

No Pressure

When you take a few steps back, talk to people, and realize where you stand, life makes more sense and paths start clearing out for you; it's up to you to choose which one you want to take.

Lets just put it out there...last year was simply appalling! I learned a lot about myself physically and mentally, but the results were nowhere near expectations nor a reflexion of my work. I'm sure I am not the only one in this world that complains about this, which means I'm not that special and I should quit while I'm ahead...complaining wise. 

Here is the "goals versus results" list:

- Qualification for small boats French Nationals --> did not qualify (sick)

- Podium at French Nationals --> C final

- Race at US trials --> did not race (missing ECG report + fine)

Before I finish this point, I'd like to mention that USRowing should not tell 4 days before racing that a rower is missing an ECG report when they have been entered for 2 weeks.

It's always about analyzing what you can change to be or do better in the future. By talking with people that are outside your bubble, you can establish what it is that went wrong and/or right. For me, I've pinpointed the fact that I'm a smaller rower and I don't have extraordinary physical capacities, but I have a lot of heart and passion. So instead of ruining my days worrying about how I'm going to do on this test or how much of this and that I have put in, I've learned how to not care and just see where my work takes me; NO PRESSURE. 

This summer I lifted as many times as I wanted, I ate what I wanted, and I had fun like I wanted without worrying about how these things might affect me. I believe that this will help with how I train and perceive the sport. I'm not giving up, but I am changing my philosophical and mental game for this year. 

This fall is looking pretty fun starting with Sprint Nationals (500m) in the 8+ and going right back into the 1x for some fall racing. I can't wait to see some improvements that I have made technically and physically. 

Until then, check out some of the fun I've had in the last 6 months.

Much love. 

When you get comfortable...

In my last post, I kept my thoughts very broad and didn't go too much into detail about my training and goals so this will clear things up.

During the summer, while I'm taking a break, I think of what I would like to accomplish or what has been missing that could make me happier inside, even if its slightly unrealistic. Don't we all love underdogs?! So as I turned in my application for my master's program, my athletic goals were brought up: what do you plan on accomplishing in the next year? With that question I decided to create two groups because fixating on one goal is mentally grueling especially if you don't succeed. 

As a primary goal I wanted to win the French National Championships with my teammates in whatever category because that's a medal I haven't really been able to attain. To do so, a lot of training needed to be done due to the high level of the leading guys on our team. 

My secondary goal was to qualify for small boat nationals in the single and perform as well as I could against the elite. If that were to be a success, university national team spots would be in contention. 

So I'll recap how my current status holds up next to these goals. 

With a lot of good training and pushing myself to row the single as well as I could (a lot of technical changes were made), I felt confident I could contend with the best during the week leading up to the regional qualifiers. Knowing that only the top 10 could qualify (the top 4 were preselected and given a free pass due to their elite status and spot on the national team) which left truly only 6 spots behind them, it made things very interesting and exciting. As much as we try to keep ourselves healthy, somethings are out of our control and that Thursday I got the stomach flu. Of all times right... But I still decided to go down the course feeling awful just to tell myself the last 6 months of training by myself weren't for nothing. I actually believe that I was more upset than sick when I got home and lets just say I spent 5 days in and out of the bathroom... 

Now I'm left with an entire goal that I couldn't even give a try at; so disappointing. With these slight dark moments, some rays of light do poke through. Some of my teammates and I bit the bullet and took an 8 hour bus ride from Paris to London in the middle of the night to spend an entire day in London for my birthday. Why London? Because that day was the BNY Mellon Boat Race and if you know me well, I'm a fangirl! What an amazing experience and a wonderful way to spend my 24th birthday.

Onto the next goal. As much as I trained and was complimented on the work I was putting in, things felt neutral leading up tot his week. On Wednesday, we had a meeting to announce the lineups for Nationals. To my eyes, I wasn't well taken into consideration for the results I had put out, but you can't always fight the system , which leaves me now in the second boat: the quad. I'm not going to lie, the first 24 hours, every scenario and negative thought rampaged through my head, but I learned to accept my faith. It's not the first time this has happened and I am sure it won't be the last. With acceptance, I face a new challenge. The quad this year is predicted to be an extremely hard event but that truly doesn't scare me because who doesn't love an underdog, right? And this is actually fitting for the upcoming months. 

On Sunday morning we leave for a week training camp in the South of France and I plan to make my body hate me, in other words put in a lot of good strokes and hard ones too. After Nationals are over, I'll be heading back to Jacksonville in June to finally join Emily after a very long wait and to pick back up where I left off with the single. I'll be transferring from a Filippi into my Hudson and I have no doubt that it won't make the slightest of differences. I have a few quality races I'm planning on attending but I'll keep that to myself for now. 

We can plan all we want, nothing happens as designed. You might read this and think "Well everything went down the drain for him..." but to me it's all part of a larger picture that needs obstacles for the biggest reward. 

Much love.