In a new blog series, Emily Puia will be taking us behind the scenes of the UCF rowing team.It has been a little over two weeks since the NCAA selection show, since the whole team was all together, since our last row on Lake Pickett, and since our season officially ended.
This time of the year is always a very odd time. It's a time where we reminisce on the past season while also looking forward to the next year ahead and preparing to show up on day 1 of next semester ready to go. Everyone takes the season coming to an end in different ways: for the seniors that are leaving, it is bittersweet; for some this may be a time to relax and rest their bodies; others may be counting down the days to be back together, and some might really enjoy the flexibility and freedom of summer training.
Summer training is mentally the hardest time to train for me. I thrive off doing the workouts beside my teammates, knowing that they are pushing for me and I am pushing for them. While I cannot see my teammates, I know that we are all connected and pushing for each other no matter how many miles or countries away we are.
It is very easy to lose sight of the end goal at home, away from your team, when that goal is almost a year away. Finding ways to stay connected and competitive while remembering that feeling we all had at conference just a few weeks ago is crucial - that feeling of being at conference knowing that there is nothing else you could have done differently and knowing that all of your teammates did everything that they could.
Rowing is both a team sport and an individual sport. During the summer is where you really focus on that individual part of the sport and doing what personally makes you faster and sets you up best for the next season so that you can put the best you forward on that first day.
Thinking about next season gets me so pumped and ready to go, especially since it will be my final season.
As we count down the days until we are all back together, I will be posting a few different articles about our summer and all of the amazing places my teammates travel as well as check ins and updates with the team. Summer '22 is going to be a good one!