As a freshman, I joined the OSU Women’s Rowing Team. It has been a wonderful experience so far and is helping to mold me into the person I hope to become. If you would have told me 4 months ago that I would be rowing for Ohio State, my dream college, I would laugh and say you’re lying. I participated in many sports growing up, but rowing was never one. Rowing never even crossed my mind as something I’d want to try or even go watch. I knew absolutely nothing about it, and I still kind of don’t. I continually learn and grow more and more each day with every practice. Growing up I got really competitively involved in volleyball and track and field. I initially wanted to play on the OSU club volleyball team, so I tried out, but didn’t make it. I was pretty bummed about this because it was my dream to play at Ohio State and a world without volleyball wasn’t normal for me. I wasn’t used to not being in a sport 24/7 and i didn’t know what to do with my time. Don’t get me wrong I came to school to study and get a degree, but I wanted more from my time at Ohio State, it felt like there something missing. Then, my friend, who is on the rowing team as well, tried to get me to come out and watch a practice because they needed more girls and were recruiting people. I initially was weary of it like why rowing, I’ve never even done that. In the end, I decided why not I guess I’ll go watch and see what it’s all about. That day i went and watched the launch and it was super cool! I enjoyed it a lot and decided to try it and since then I love it. I’m so glad that I not only took the risk to go try something new, but took rejection and turned it into something great! The family I’ve created through rowing even so far is amazing. All my teammates are awesome. Without facing that rejection of not making the volleyball team I would have never joined the rowing team. I have found that I push myself a lot more physically and academically because of the mental toughness I’ve learned through rowing. In conclusion, I recommend to do the thing that you might be too scared to do or worrying too much about. Just go for it because you never know what will come from it. 🙂