Michigan State University Athletics
Emily Regan's Second Journal From U23 Camp
7/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
July 8, 2010
Big Ten Athlete of the Year and First Team All-America selection Emily Regan is training this summer with US Rowing, competing for a spot on the US U-23 team that ll compete in Belarus in August. Regan turns in her second installment of a bi-weekly journal from her time at this camp to give an inside look at the training and experiences that she'll be having during this fun, yet intense and competitive, summer.
Today, the coaches officially announced the lineups for Worlds. It looks like I will be lining up at the start line against Laura Cowal and Canada in Belarus in just about two weeks, because I made the eight! I am so excited to have this opportunity. This has been one of my goals since 2008 when I didn't make the boat that competed at Worlds. That year they won the gold medal, so I'm hoping that this year, the US will be able to win again. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I am so completely excited that I have this opportunity, and I want to make the most of it!
Rowing has had its up's and down's over the past two weeks, but that's the way life is. Sports have a way of making you appreciate all the small things in your life a little more. Since we arrived in Princeton on June 18th, our eight had the opportunity to race at the US elite nationals. We only ended up racing one other boat, but it still put us in a race situation, and we were able to push our speed to see where we were as a boat at the end of June. We won the race and learned which areas in the race that we needed to improve on most before Worlds.
Outside of Rowing, we had a BBQ with all the girls at camp on July 3rd instead of the 4th. It was fun to be able to spend time relaxing with everyone outside of practice. We had a ton of food, which is one of the things in life that rowers appreciate most. It was a really great way to be able to celebrate the holiday, even if it was a day early. Another activity that we did recently was costume bowling. The night was planned by some of the national team, and it was nice of them to invite us. Most of the girls from the U23 team that went didn't have a ton of options for costumes, so we dressed up in solid colors and wrapped some plastic wrap around us and called ourselves freeze pops. It was the most creative idea we could come up with, since we had limited resources. So, I, of course was a green, lime Popsicle.
I never realized how much green and white I own, until one of my U23 teammates pointed it out to me a few weeks ago. Since then, I have noticed that I wear some form of green, white, or Spartan memorabilia to every practice. I think this sense of Spartan spirit is true to most Spartans and I'm proud of it. I don't think that any other school can match our pride. MSU has an amazing tradition and I am grateful that I get to be a part of it; I can't wait to represent the school in the U23 World Championships at the end of the month!
Go Green! Go White! Go USA!
