Team Narrative Essay

    The 1936 Olympics was an international multi-sport event held in Berlin where eight young boys, against all odds, managed to row their way to their first gold medal in the eights rowing competition. The Boys in The Boat by Daniel James Brown delves into the stories of Joe Rantz and Washington’s rowing organization before their victory in the Olympics, revealing the many obstacles they had to overcome to gain the coveted gold medal. At the beginning of Chapter 13, the epigraph above describes the beauty and efficiency of the “swing” in rowing, where a team begins to row in sync in an almost magical fashion, leading to an amazing increase in performance. The following chapter described the creation of the rowing crew and their victory at the Pacific Coast Regatta over their rivals in California. Their victory, however, was only possible through the crew’s performance as a team, achieving the ‘swing’ that Pocock’s described in the epigraph.

Varsity rowers attributed their failures to external factors, while underestimating the contribution of internal factors; rowers would not only blame each other, but blame the coach for making them race against the JV team so often. Though the Varsity team had the most physically capable rowers, their motivation and group cohesion was virtually non-existent. Though Coach P tried to create group cohesion through the email initiative, he did not try to fix the problems at its core. There are many possible solutions, however, it is clear that switching rowers and boats altogether would be detrimental to the entire team, especially so late into the season. Only by analyzing motivational concepts and incorporating them into a solution, can the Varsity team unlock its true

The people in the boat have to be balanced in the boat or they will collapse in the water. The coxswain is in the 9th spot in the boat. It is the brains and strategic genius of the boat. The coxswain does not have to row, he/she just has to make strategies. Then you have seat seven and eight. They have are the ones who have to listless to the cockswain. In the boat seat seven is Joe Rants and seat eight is Don Hume. In spots four, five, and six are Johnny White, Jim “Stub” McMillin, and George “Shorty” Hunt. They are the engine root of the boat, strongest. Seat one, two, and three are represented by Roger Morris, Chuck Day, and Gordy Adams. They are strong but technically

was requiring the nine young men who would make it to the olympics to live well together in close quarters for weeks at a time. " If he had nine amazing rowers that did not get along at all, the boat would not flow or have that "swing" it requires to be functional. However, forcing them to "live closely together and well" will make sure that the rowers respect one another and stay in sync throughout their races. This is a very wise and strategic requirement for the coach to

The rider needs to signal to the driver that they are ready and the boat should start moving straight forward.

If one blade goes into the water even a microsecond late or early, the boat will experience turns, drags, and tilts. The boat that makes the least mistakes will win the race. They must forget their outer life and become one with the boat. Teamwork is the key. Ulbrickson brings a healthy lifestyle to the team and encourages a friendly and positive attitude toward rowing.

Throughout the race Brown kept posting the standings of the boats for the readers. He effectively updated the reader on each of the boats’ stroke rates. Germany and Italy were consistently in or near the lead position. Japan burned its energy in the beginning. Britain tested its prowess in the middle. America showed its courage at the end. At the end of the race, I could feel my heart beating even though I knew the

coxswain did not see the start signal. To quote the book, “The Husky Clipper, for a horrific moment, sat motionless at the line, dead in the water.” They were already quite behind and they had a sick rower. He was doing well until the coxswain asked to up the tempo. The ill rower did not respond. The coxswain tried again to no avail. As he was starting to get worried he decided to pass on the order to Joe hoping that the rest of the boat would follow Joe’s lead and pick up the pace as a team. Just as the coxswain leaned forward to tell Joe what he wanted, the sick rower seemed find strength in himself and the team picked up the pace. They were already far behind and had the odds stacked against them. Through shear will power, the U.S. crawled their way back to the front of the pack and won the race in a photo finish. It was so close, no one could tell right away who had actually won. This is the most prominent example of the ‘Boys in the Boat’ over coming difficult circumstances and finding a way to

The race had already been postponed from a previous date, and after having to wait an extra week for our highly anticipated home invite, our entire team was stirring by the time the day finally befell us. It was a reassuring feeling to be able to warm up on the course knowing that every step of the 3.11 mile course had been imprinted into from the time I had started running on it the summer before. Granted the weather wasn’t perfect by any means and the course’s condition was already less than stellar, but I could make do, to be honest I was too excited to even let it

The story of Joe Rantz and how he came to be a collegiate rower is astounding. However the story of the Washington Row team who had to be perfect to be successful in the water. The hardest part about this team sport “is that when any one member of a crew goes into a slump the entire crew goes with him” (Brown). If one of the nine men in the boat were off count and there was no communication the whole run could be effected and could be the difference of a

The case is centered on events of the Army crew team’s annual crew season in May 2002, four days before The Nationals, a 2000 meter race where crew teams row for the best time in an intercollegiate competition. The varsity team has been consistently beaten by the junior varsity team, even though, the eight Varsity rowers are supposed to be the top eight performers of the team and the Junior Varsity is comprised of the bottom eight performers. Coach Preczewski’s dilemma forces him to a decision point where he has to decide between three options which are:

I heard the announcer on his microphone call you for ages 14 to 15 reps in 45 minutes I went down to the water to see what I really got myself into and surprisingly it was not too cold but it definitely woke me up. 20 minutes I heard him call out but then people started grouting around the water 10 minutes he started the race in knee-deep water the countdown has begun 5958 57 my heart beaded faster and faster my knees were shaking people were cheering 10 98 I put my hate hands out ready to dive 4321 and I went went reaching my arms as far as they can get kicking my feet with power. When I turn my head to breathe you could hear people's cheering and screaming around that the Bewley I went falling behind a kid as I was reading the sand I pulled myself as hard as I could to the beach and ran to the transition station my body Felt like rapper I was so cold as it was changing my shoes as best as I could grab some water and I was off rating my bike out on the road my mom screaming is all I heard passing my family with

Thoughts of drowning run rampant in every man’s mind on that boat. At dawn, the men decided that their only chance is to row toward the distant shore again and swim when the boat finally capsizes.

Thinking about this obstacle now, I probably appeared to be a little bit of an idiot at this one, I was really excited to get in the water and the obstacle had a few minutes delay while racers very slowly entered the water and completed it and I was eager to get in. When my turn came, I asked the volunteer if it was okay to attempt to cross all three sections on one breath, which got me an odd look from the volunteer, but he said it was okay. I got in the water, took a breath and crossed the first two floating barrels with no problem, but for some reason floating barrel # 3 wasn’t coming when I expected it to and I eventually came up to check why. I ended up swimming off course and to my right, but I did receive a collective cheer from all the racers waiting on the line, which made me happy and fired me

The water was an icy shock. It made my muscles tighten as I began my eight lap warm up. Focusing on my arm movements, I struggle to keep up with the others in my lane.