Chethan Chandra '22 Recruiting Profile

“You would make a great coxswain,” a family friend pronounced.  “You’re small, bossy, and focused. You should check out one of the middle-school ‘Learn to Row’ Camps, and when you get to the high school, find Coach Valerian. He coaches the rowing team.”

Before crew, I was not athletic. I was 5’4, 90 lbs, and totally uninterested in ball-dribbling and running. But after I signed up for the Learn to Row Camp in 8th grade, I was hooked. The thrill of racing across icy waters, wind in my hair. Huffing and puffing as I tried to push and pull the oar properly. It was exhilarating.

Once I arrived at the high school, I sought out the crew coach. Unfortunately, I did not have the physicality to row, but he took one look at me and made me a coxswain. As we began to train and race, I learned how unique this sport is from others. It requires intellectual ability just as much as physical strength. It requires constant, rapid mental math and kinesthetics. It requires discipline and focus. It requires dedication.

I am surprised by how committed to the team I became. Crew has taught me to assert myself, to raise my voice, to lift up my teammates, to force them to grow better even when they don’t want to. I have learned to lead in ways no other sport could have taught me.

I attend Shaker Heights High School, one of only two public high schools in the entire state of Ohio to have a rowing team. We train on the Cuyahoga, a river with a reputation for being one of the most winding and treacherous rivers in the world. It is an industrial river, full of iron-ore and cement-mixing barges. It has jet skiers and booze cruises. It has turns so steep that one is literally known as, “Collision Bend.” Sometimes, when the weather is just calm enough, the team can take boats out onto Lake Erie, which is one of the five Great Lakes.

Shaker mostly competes against affluent private high schools, some of which have gargantuan, well-funded sports teams.  We, by contrast, currently have one coach for 40 teammates. Our boats are all purchased second-hand from colleges and universities that are upgrading their fleets. The funds are cobbled together from car washes, ergathons, renting out and assembling our regatta tents for events, and donations from alumni and kind souls. 

And yet, for such a small team, we have a phenomenal record. I have coxed in 9 regattas and medalled 5 times over four years. The challenges my team has faced have made it scrappy and strong. 

Some of my best high-school memories involve crew, and I want to continue to have those experiences in college. It would be an honor to continue what I’ve started.