Athenea Aloiau '18 Recruiting Profile

The first time I ever hear about rowing I was at a soccer tournament. At that point in time it was getting harder and harder to get an athletic scholarship for soccer, each women's team got more, and more competitive.  But that wasn't what stopped me from playing soccer, at least sort of. I had always been blessed with really great coaches when I played soccer, but the effect of women's soccer getting more competitive, made each and every single coach change into a new person. This new person that all these soccer coaches became, was by no means a better person. All of a sudden the sport stopped being about having fun, it stopped being about teamwork, and it was all about winning. But this was not the end for me. I loved soccer so dearly, that I could go on, that I would fight for it and love it, like I always had, and what's wrong with a little competition? The end of soccer for me was my high-school soccer team. I then realized what had made soccer more bearable all those years, as our coaches started turning into the dad from Kicking and Screaming. The girls, my teammates, are what made it bearable. The girls on my school team, in no way made the sport more bearable, in fact they made it worse. We were not a team, but rather 20 girls that were so competitive, that in soccer games we would not only compete against our opponent, but we would all compete against each other, who could be the best on the team. There were only three girls on the whole team I felt comfortable talking with. The whole season was so awful, it made me hate everything about soccer. I did not return to my club team that fall, for I had learned that the team that I had been with so long had taken a turn for the worse as well. So I quit. It was totally heartbreaking, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that I found rowing. When I first tried the sport out, I was reluctant to it because I made the false assumption that it was going to be much easier than soccer. Boy was I wrong. It was great how hard it was really, it's what really hooked me in. I knew I would never be bored. Tryouts for the season were on my birthday, and I made the team! After I made the team my love for the sport only grew. How lucky was I, that I got to go out on the beautiful bay everyday, while all my friends who did other sports got to sit in a pool, or be at a poorly treated grass field for six hours, while I got to do my sport in what seemed to be paradise. And I mean that in every sense of the word. I loved the people I was with, my teammates were actually teammates, my coaches would not pit us against each other and it was great. It had been a long time since I had truly been excited to go to a sports practice. All season was great, we were encouraged to compete against one and other, but in the end both teammates could congratulate one another for their good work. We traveled together, had fun together, and most importantly we all encouraged one and other to be the best we could all be. Even at states when we got third by .04 seconds we made the best out of the situation. Anyway, I would love to row with girls, and teammates that I could really bond with, and have a pleasant experience with. I love rowing and really hope I could row with a college who loves competition, but also values academics, and people. Thank you so much!