College Rowing and Recruitment Chronicles PART 1 with Colleen Saville | Episode 43

*This Transcript is Autogenerated*

Kristi Wagner  0:00  
I'm not from Sara, if

Colleen  0:01  
you're a local celebrity, you know, but don't be modest. There's a sandwich named after you Putnam.

Kristi Wagner  0:07  
Like it makes me sad that I don't get to spend as much time in Saratoga now, because I really do love it there. And I feel like gearing up for Tokyo. I really was in Saratoga way more. So it I feel like a lot of people felt really connected and like part of the journey, which I hope that they still do,

Colleen  0:26  
I'm sure they still do. Like Saratoga is such a special place. And in so many ways, it really is a small town even though I know it's grown. And it always blows my mind when people actually know of it, which it shouldn't. But you know, living in Boston when I say it, and like so it's like, there's all been in there like, you know, we know like the horses, the whole thing. And there is very much I think for the core community. They're such a tight knit community. So they will be watching you in Paris, no doubt, they'll be probably a desert, if not a second sandwich named after you. The time you get there.

Kristi Wagner  0:58  
Oh, that would be amazing. No, but Saratoga is a great leeway into introducing you a little bit to the show. Obviously, you're now a woman of the world. I would say you travel probably more than anyone else I follow on Instagram. So I've been really blessed.

Colleen  1:14  
I feel really lucky to work with World Rowing since 2017 on officially in 2018 Officially, and it's taken me to all kinds of places and courses and most importantly given me the opportunity to watch world class rowing with what we always say is true. It's the best seat in the house. I mean to sit at the 1000 meter mark or the 1500 You know, timing hut and watch a fleet of boats, eight singles, you know, you name it go by is such a privilege. So it's been an amazing and completely unexpected chapter in my rowing story. It's been awesome.

Kristi Wagner  1:51  
I do I want to hear all about that. But first, I don't know how you got into rowing. So I'd love to hear how it all started. And if you started as a Coxon, or if you were had grand rowing interests,

Colleen  2:06  
well Christy, you know, you know what a Coxon is but for maybe those who are listening who are less familiar, the Boys in the Boat I feel like the world has such a deeper understanding for what the role of a Coxon is these days with the movie and that in the book, A Coxon, you know I've heard it described as sort of like a hybrid between a jockey and a quarterback, which I think is a great description, because you are your primary role right is of course, to steer the boat to go as straight as possible on straightaways. And of course, I'm turns you know, to take the best course possible. So steering safety, but then also to be the one unified voice that that's helping call the plays, so to speak, you know, most notably in eights and fours, and your question is really bought on because I'm five foot seven. So I didn't you know, go into the sport of rowing, necessarily thinking that I would be a Coxon. I started at Saratoga Rowing Association at the end of sixth grade. So it was the summer for me after sixth grade as a rising seventh grader. So whatever that is 12 or 13 years old and joined with a group of rising seventh graders that summer. And within that group of however many people there were, I think it was nine I think it was enough to fill in eight was the smallest person like within that group, right? So it was still fairly tall. I don't know, if I have hit you know, my full height of five seven quite yet. But Chris Chase who we all know and love said, Okay, within this group, you'll Cox and you'll do it for a season, maybe two, and then we'll teach you how to row and I have to be honest, like I like did, but I didn't like love it. At first, I had had a lot of learning to do. I mean, when you're 13 years old, and you're steering a boat before you can even drive a car like years before you will even have the chance to drive a car. You know, there's a lot of like learning and growing and leadership and confidence building and all of that that goes into learning to know what the heck to do when you're in that seat, because it is such a huge responsibility. So I think I loved it enough certainly to continue. But I didn't fall in love with it, I think until probably like the maybe, you know, few years after that. And so Coxed spring of seventh grade and then just never left coxing and thank God because I would have had a completely different experience as a rower, like my life, you know, would have been looked completely different in terms of the trajectory that it put me on. And so I'm so grateful and so happy to chase and to Saratoga rowing, but then also just to sort of happenstance to stay in that seat and so kept coxing in eighth grade and ninth grade, you know, through high school in college after college and sort of beyond. Yeah, it was Saratoga rowing. It was like the novice years. It was it was the early early years of Saratoga rowing. I mean that's before there was a boathouse we have like some boat racks down you know the hill for you know, by Saratoga Lake people that that know it, know it and now part of the community of Saratoga rowing, I also really loved I mean, I remember being that 13 year old kid and 14 year old kid and we would rake late leaves every fall and like, take care of the space and the container that we practiced in and that was like our home even if it wasn't the fanciest, you know, place so it was a gift. Yeah. Those were the early goings.

Kristi Wagner  5:20  
Yeah, I know. I feel bad that I never saw Saratoga before the boathouse. I've heard I've heard quite a lot about I did go there when the old bridge existed. So I'm like, yeah, not quite total newbie. But yeah,

Colleen  5:36  
you probably can never outrun the story. So like everyone's gonna want to tell you about like the site. I think it's what we're used to. It's

Kristi Wagner  5:42  
really nice though. So sometimes you I'll be like, at the boathouse you know at work or working out and people that rode back then we'll just stop by and oh, it's Chase yours cat here like I'm blah, blah, blah. Just wanted to come check it out. And then tell this heartwarming story about how growing Saratoga changed their lives and so nice. Yeah, yes. No, I'm totally with you. And like, I mean, I also wrote in high school and I cannot imagine driving to where I wrote telling anyone

Colleen  6:14  
well, they would spot you a mile away and he's back Is it where was it Wayland? Weston like that? Yeah. Where you wrote in high school.

Kristi Wagner  6:21  
So they had the boathouse that they still have when I was there we rode like to chew it like Waylon town beach so it's like a basin off the Charles

Colleen  6:31  
and how are they like are you there Olympian? Are there multiple Olympians to come out of that program?

Kristi Wagner  6:37  
There are actually so we'll new all I think is his name. I went to high school with a boy named Michael and they will but his older brother well Manuel was in the lightweight for in 2008 Maybe 2012 I'm not sure okay, but I know he went to the Olympics and he wrote it down on Washington and then actually boy that I rode with whose name is Jacob Boucek is in was in the Canadian men's for in Tokyo and is still rows in there. Yeah, his I think Mom is Canadian. So he was a Columbia lightweight and then he's been on the Canadian national team. So to have us in which is pretty cool. Like, ah, that's really like high school program.

Colleen  7:21  
That is really cool. And you guys are probably all messed up. So you couldn't actually like properly hang out with one another at the venue. Took

Kristi Wagner  7:28  
you I mean, I've seen him like a ton at different events and stuff. I think he was a couple of years below me still like kind of a crazy it's really cool thing. And there have been a lot of people from Wilmington that have raised it like World Champs and stuff. A lot of like, like a program kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Colleen  7:48  
Right around the corner from us in Boston.

Kristi Wagner  7:49  
Yes. So I probably embarrassed cap here. But he's said before that probably like the best to coccyx he's ever had. Where you and Nicole Falco, who happened to be there at the same time? Yeah. So how was it having that kind of? Did you feel like there was competition between the two of you maybe just a little bit about that dynamic? Because I feel like that's a lot and I mean, at any stage, but picking a Coxon is so like subjective? So

Colleen  8:25  
personal to right. Yeah. Oh, that's nice of cat plus cat, I think. And I like to think that Nicole would say the same thing. I like to think that it made us both better. And I'm certainly better for having worked with her and, you know, Ben, Ben contemporaries or teammates or whatever, right. At the same time, you know, oftentimes, especially in high school programs, there might be, you know, one or two toxins that were even, like collegiate programs were kind of like, okay, so and so it was, you know, kind of got this boat and I think it was a real benefit to be able to work with one another and to have that competitive space where, you know, the program at the time was doing so well and the rowing, the caliber of the rowing was so high that I think like, you know, it was on us to keep the level of coxing as high as we possibly could and to continue growing as toxins and as people so I do think I would imagine she'd say the same thing to I think it set me up for college really well, where I was used to being around other great toxins and Nicole was excellent, of course. Katy Ross at the time, that was another Coxon, who's with us who went on to Tennessee, there were toxins on the men men's team as well that were really strong. So I think that culture sometimes I think a little bit about, like the University of Washington and I'm like, Oh man, gosh, it would be so hard to Cox there because the caliber of comsenz is so strong and there's just like so the depth of the team is so broad that you could you know, be the six V Coxon and you could be just lucky to be Vote voted. That wasn't totally the case for us at Saratoga. I mean, we have fewer, certainly fewer votes than that. But I looked back, and I think it was a really good thing. And I think actually at the time, too, I knew it was a good thing, too, if To be honest, because I really, really tried to live in this space, both in high school and in college, where I never took my seat for granted. Like, I never woke up on a Monday and assumed that like the lineup was going to have, you know, college like the popsicle stick name, or however, it was right that we were sorting lineups. And so I think for me, that push was also really important and helped me develop so like hard in a in a, in a good way, I think because I can't imagine being on a team where you know, maybe there's just fewer boats or whatever the circumstances are just like less of a pool of of either rowers or toxins, but like there's just kind of one Coxon. I think I think that would actually be like much, much harder. You know, if it was a team where it was always small boats and and the Coxon hopped in here there. And I know like the higher one gets, right, those are the realities. And you might only get a shot in the seat every however many weeks or months or whatever that looks like but like I feel lucky to have Cox at the same time as Nicole together on the team. Yeah, I

Kristi Wagner  11:16  
feel like you touched on something that I think is so important. And I think people just don't get it unless you're in a space, which is like you never take things for granted. And I think high achievers are constantly you have confidence, but you don't err on the side of assuming anything. And I watched the Netflix, US Women's National Team Docu series about their World Cup campaign, which obviously they didn't do as well as they would have wanted. But it was so interesting, because it showed, you know, the pre camps and them getting selected. And it's like, you know, Megan Rapinoe and these other women that have been to so many World Cups, and you would think they were just Uber confident like, oh, obviously I'm going to make this team but they're saying the same things. Your spot is never guaranteed. You have to show you know, you have to earn your place every day. And it's like, yeah, I think you think like gives me chills. Yeah, but it's true. And I think if you talk to anybody that's achieving things, that's the mindset that they have. And I think the earlier you embrace that instead of wanting to get to a place of Oh no, you're just going to be a shoo in. Because I agree with ya harder, right? be way

Colleen  12:31  
harder. And like I always tried to think to like no matter what, however well or not, well, you think you're performing like there's always someone better than you like there's just always someone better than you they know you might be in whatever boat or whatever team or whatever scenario but then you like the world expands, expands, expands and there's just always someone that's better than you so whatever however good or bad you think you are like that's the truth. That's a really interesting Netflix Docu that I feel like now I want to watch but yeah, it was I completely it was good are sympathized with that. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  13:01  
it was good. It was, um, I don't know, I maybe wish it had been a little bit more actually about soccer, I don't really know how their interpersonal stories were super interesting. But I think it's really the this is like a little off topic of what we're talking about. But do I love it's, it seems to me, I was talking to my roommate, Claire about it, she watched it too, what's happened to them, or what they've communicated in this Docu series, and I think people are seeing is that the women's national team, you know, in 1999, and then after raised the level of Women's Professional Soccer, and they're winning all the time, they're playing these styles of soccer that people aren't playing, and they just have more power, they're better now the rest of the world has caught up to them. And so they can't just keep doing the same thing they've been doing and expect the same results, because they're not playing the same competition, which I think is really what has happened to rowing. And I'm not going to pretend to know everything about the US Women's aid, but it was like, we had this system that made an aid that was faster than any other country's aid. And then the rest of the world caught up. And it was like, how were we going to respond? So it's just a really interesting comparison. And so I wish they had talked more about like, the soccer and the dynamics of Do you know what I mean? Yeah,

Colleen  14:23  
yeah, I'm totally with you. And I completely agree about the women's aid too. It's like, you know, if whatever their sort of formula or race plan was, and then you've got the Romanians who don't settle and you've got just suddenly like the caliber of the eight and the interest in the eight it just it changes the game. Yeah, it's funny. I was wondering Chrystia if there's recurring rolling anxiety, dreams that you have,

Kristi Wagner  14:46  
I actually have most of my anxiety when I'm awake.

Colleen  14:50  
Or like good news.

Kristi Wagner  14:51  
I do. I do have stress dreams. They usually don't manifest in rowing. It's like some other weird thing. Yeah, I usually have most of my, I'm a good sleeper. So

Colleen  15:06  
Oh, that's good. I have this one recurring growing anxiety dream. And like, I still probably have it at least once every six months. And the dream goes something like, Well, there's two scenarios, but it's kind of ultimately the same thing, which is, I'm dropped into a college rowing team. And oftentimes, because I transferred out of Ohio State and went to Northeastern, oftentimes, it's me returning to Ohio State as a college senior, so like three ish years or whatever have passed. And it's like March. And so they're just starting to both the lineups for that season. And it's like back to the like, popsicle stick like moment, right? So I'm like in the boathouse, and it's like, well, you've gone and like, left us for a few years, like, you may have a shot in hell at making the first date, but like, good luck, because it's March. So like, go off and good luck. And it just, it's like this recurring dream dream where I wake up, and I'm like, I'm not gonna make the boat. I'm not gonna make the boat. There's not enough time like you've, you've gone and I have to come back. And I have to prove yourself, and you only have like, this amount of time to do it. And can you do it? And then fortunately, I wake up, but it's the same dream again and again. And it's kind of akin to like, the anxiety dream, where people are like, Oh, I wake up and I've, like, forgotten to go to that, like college math class. And so they're about to like, take my diploma away. And I'm like, Oh, I'm always happy that this doesn't happen. Like, oh, no, it's just been a cool however many years, but I'm still worried about that. So like, that's good. That's deep down in there somewhere.

Kristi Wagner  16:27  
That is funny. It's funny. Some of my friends from college have told me that they've had like, yeah, 2k Anxiety dreams or something. They're not doing two K's like, that's crazy. I mean, yeah,

Colleen  16:41  
but and how many years later? Yeah, it's not as it just goes to show you how like deep rooted you know, back to your earlier question, earlier question about like, the anxieties and what that can look and feel like, it's like, oh, man, there's always a little part of that. I think that lives on with us. Yeah.

Kristi Wagner  16:55  
Can you share a little bit about going to Ohio State for one year and then deciding to transfer? Yeah.

Colleen  17:04  
Yeah, of course. So as I mentioned, I was at Saratoga Rowing Association, went through high school had the privilege of working under Eric Adelanto, who is the best coach that I've ever had of all time still felt, you know, I felt that way ever, ever since I left SRA and was recruited to Ohio State and was thrilled at the time they had finished fourth at the NCAA the year prior. So gosh, this is a while ago. So I'm a high school senior I graduate in 2005. And recruited to go there fall of 2005. Got there, the school and what is surprising to no one for folks who haven't been there is massive. It's like a self sufficient city. In a way. There's buses, there's, you know, I used to cycle the class, like it's a really, really big campus. And that's okay. I think it felt to me, like quite large, you know, at age 18. And it's funny, because in subsequent years, I've gone back and been like, oh, yeah, this is fine. But you know, that's kind of you're in a different place. I think when you're that, that young, you know, I went to Ohio State and the rowing, the caliber of rowing was so strong, like it was the opportunity of a lifetime to get into an eight with these women, many of whom I don't know that any of them that hadn't necessarily been to the Olympics at that point, but we're certainly on national teams, you know, for their home countries back home. So to go to Columbus and get into an eight. And that fall, you know, I think we raised like the Ravenna round the UVA race and there's probably something else that we did some scrimmages with like Michigan and things like that but to get in and to like have the opportunity to race at that caliber was unbelievable and a lot of pressure and an amazing but like talk about growth really fast to come out of a high school aid and then basically be training with like the, you know, there wasn't a one or two v that was set at that time, but sort of the two training boats that like first second, maybe third ish eighth and really grew to love the team as well and was fortunate in that I made a couple of very, very close friends who I still speak with a couple of them daily, one in Germany, one in Italy. So the rowing piece of it was incredible. I did feel the pressure and that was a reality of like being a freshman on that team wanting to make sure that like, you know, coxing wise, I certainly had a lot to learn and then as we went through winter training, my eyes were so open to new styles of training and training plans and Andy Teitelbaum was the head coach at the time Robbie Tenenbaum was the assistant so to watch like again these like Olympic caliber women conduct their winter training against a play was just a real expanding period for me and then we came into the spring and we had you know a few scrimmage races I remember my goal like very aspirational goal going into college was like I don't want to be put in four which in a lot of ways was kind of like inevitable as like you know, training boats sure for practice here and there but I just felt like I was such a better Coxon in an eight than a four in the fall. We were you know, primarily an eight and by the time we got to spring I was like, I just don't Got to be in the for, I've got to be in like the, it's gotta be in the second eighth. So it was really happy within the early goings of the spring was in the second eighth and our first official race, which was out in California, and then a couple of races thereafter and then moved into the first state, which was like the thrill of a lifetime to go and I'll never ZZ another moment I'll never forget, it was like a practice. And we used to do some kind of a drill that was silent, it was like some sort of a like build to the top of the pyramid. And then you kind of come back down the other side, when I moved into the one V it was, I don't know, whatever it was, like April or something. So it's like this calm, flat still, like kind of cold morning, and we're doing this silent, like pyramid warm up, and we're just the one ate out with Andy and the speed coach, like we're moving, we're moving the boats, like super flat, we're like gliding and I'm seeing the like numbers tick down on the speakers. And it actually brought tears to my eyes, because it was like such a beautiful rhythm. And I've never had never, and still to this day have like, never felt anything like that being inside of inside of a boat was just unbelievable. So that experience, and having the chance to steer that boat was really profound. The way I got into it was also meaningful to me because it was a seat race moment. So to be able to, like, in practice, pull the votes together, and back to being a five foot seven Cox and like when my seat race, but you know, whatever it was, it meant something to me to be like, I'm five foot seven, you know, I'm probably like 10 pounds heavier than than this girl next to me. And to get into that, but it was it was amazing. We finished fifth at the NCAA that year, we won the big 10, which was exciting. I think we were second at whatever the conference championship was the SE regionals. And then we were fifth at the NCAA. But along I sort of had this nine because as amazing as the rowing program was the school just really wasn't for me. And Columbus wasn't for me, you know, football at Ohio State is religion. And that was new to me. Like that's not surprising now that I've like lived in the world longer. And I sort of understand the big 10. And I understand how like things work. But to go there and have football be such a set, like to be everything, honestly, it's like where the minivans rolled in every weekend, and everything is about the tailgate and like people would like fall into a depression and they lost the football game. And I remember I was in a language class once it was like Italian or Spanish or whatever, like an intro level class. And it was like, you know, the conditional If This Then That. Like if I could meet a famous person it would be and like, we were all meant to answer the question. And this like, name keeps popping up. And I finally turned to someone in the class. And I'm like, Hey, like, Who is this person? Like, who is this name that they're and they're like, oh, no, it's the quarterback. And I was like, No, it's supposed to be like Michelle Obama, like, like, that's free rein, like, no, that's what I mean, when like the football to me fell all consuming and like, being there in some ways at that time, felt really suffocating. And so while I loved the rowing, if I could have been if there was a world where I wasn't five foot seven, and I could have been feasibly an Olympic hopeful, I would have totally stayed. And I would have like, no doubt, I would have very happily stayed at Ohio State and like, ran at that goal. But I knew because I wasn't able to even just like, get into the U 23. camps, because I was like seven pounds over what they were looking for. They just wouldn't even consider me that I was like, Alright, I've got to choose a life. That feels right to me in other ways, and not just the rowing, which was really hard. It's hard. Yeah.

Kristi Wagner  23:32  
I feel like it's so interesting. I feel like so many people when I was like, getting recruited, what kept saying, you know, oh, but if you can't row you have to like the school you have to like the school. And also, it's in hindsight, you're like, why do you trust such a young children to make such a big

Colleen  23:51  
decision? I know, I know. But I

Kristi Wagner  23:55  
really wanted to go to UVA before I when I was looking at schools, and I went on my visit there, and I understand what you're saying, because it wasn't the like football necessarily, but just the sun, which you've Virginia is not even that Southern but the Southern way of life. I was like, Yes, I don't think I can do it. I don't think that I can feel comfortable here. And it's a beautiful school. And I The coach was so nice. He's, he's a great guy. The program couldn't be more like the girls were so nice. Everything was great, but just the atmosphere of the campus versus what I felt when I went on my official to Yale, which was like, Oh my gosh, this is so cool. And I feel so comfortable. And it's interesting like, you feel

Colleen  24:47  
it in your end. What did you say? Like I felt suffocated. If you think about like a word or two, what was it that like felt not right to you?

Kristi Wagner  24:58  
Maybe if I had been a student there because I was obviously interested a visit, I think I just felt really uncomfortable. And like, out of place, I couldn't be myself there as much, which then I felt really silly, you know, for almost like making that decision, because it was like everyone else was like, oh, yeah, but you're being offered a scholarship and you know, blah, blah, blah, like row and I'm like, Yeah, but what if I get injured the first day and I can't know your, your spine

Colleen  25:31  
and I completely agree with you where I think back and it's funny, the word silly you just said I'm like, when I was kind of explaining like, oh, the campus felt so big. I feel silly saying that now, because I'm like, it's a campus, like, it's not a big deal. So there's like parts of that. But I think the the actual implication is like, even at 17 years old in your bones, you can feel if something is like the right fit or not for you. And like that piece, like our instincts never actually lie to us, even if the sort of rationale changes over time of like, oh, it could have been this or it could you know, your body knows, you know, so you totally get Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  26:08  
so how did you decide on Northeastern?

Colleen  26:12  
Yeah, so I so I went through the spring, and like huge credit to Andy Teitelbaum. I was really afraid that if I was too vocal about my concerns about staying there that it would it would jeopardize my spot in the eighth. So it did take that spring to decide like I wanted to get through the season. At the same time. I also knew that I needed to start to like plan for a future if it wasn't going to be at Ohio State. And I had always loved Boston. So immediately, you know, it's thinking about BU and northeastern coincidentally or I should say ironically, I had taken an official to Northeastern in high school because Elijah Durant shout out to Lyta we all know and love at Saratoga rowing was a longtime teammate of mine, Elijah and I actually rode, of course in high school and together at Northeastern and then after college and in the summer is at Riverside. So she's like my forever seventh or eighth seat, you know, a lot of went to Northeastern so when she was a freshman, I was a senior in high school, I had taken official an official visit to Northeastern, but really because of the, like aleida connection, and they didn't offer me any money, which for school, which is, you know, a reality, it's also a really expensive school. And so I didn't really, you know, consider it I was happy and thankful that they had had me come out for the weekend, I went on my way I was, you know, deciding between other schools, but when I knew that Boston was an area that that you know, back to what you were saying about being comfortable that was like a city that I felt very comfortable and it felt like myself in just felt like whatever the opposite of feeling suffocated was it felt like there was space and opportunity and culture and, and so chatted with both BU and Northeastern, and thank you to Joe Wilhelm, the head coach still today of northeastern for taking a chance on me and was able to bring me in and financially it worked out, you know, it was like essentially an even trade and showed up that fall. And it was really I don't know, you know, for folks, I guess you didn't have the transfer experience. But it is a very bizarre feeling when you're on a sports team and you're like, give back your gear to one team and show up you know, coincidentally and just a different shade of red and black to compete on a completely different team in boats that felt completely different. And a type of rowing that felt completely different. So I think there was definitely like a transition period for me fortunately, Elijah was at Northeastern but it took me a good like season or so to kind of like get my feet on the ground and then I started to love it. And then my life also felt fuller and more like I had more I was more interested in the classes that I was taking there was sort of like just more going on but you can't have all or at least there are maybe put another way there are there were certainly trade offs, like the feeling of being at that caliber of rowing at Ohio State you know, was second to none so it was different. But it was good. Yeah. And I was okay with that. Yeah.

Kristi Wagner  29:11  
My dad and grandfather went to Northeastern so I am always been a northeastern fan but it's funny because I whatever obviously grew up in Boston and I have never spoken to Joe so not a not really not a knock on him at all. He came to an Western practice more than once I like one of my teammates from well Western went to Northeastern Chelsea brown my really good friend from surgery. They did not recruit me at all. Like I'm sure never and I like took it a little personally

Colleen  29:50  
okay I'm relieved because of Christie's and like not getting recruited or Northeastern I can live with my like, hard tasks the first time around where they're like whatever like I think yeah, I think part of it though, Christi is like, I don't know off the top of my head anymore. So I may stand corrected. But at the time, my understanding is that they had something like 14 or 12 full scholarships, when like the big schools had 20. So part of it was a my impression. And Joe, if you're out there, you can keep me honest. But like that there was some like sorcery of division of like this percentage and that percentage and whatever, like, they just had to get really like clever with it. Because you would never pass on Christy, like, you just wouldn't do that.

Kristi Wagner  30:32  
It's just funny, because it was one of those things where I actually really, I, you know, like, we were saying, It's so interesting, you trust kids to make these decisions. To me, I really didn't want to go to school in Boston. I think just growing up in Boston, I was really like, there's obviously all these amazing schools here. But I really want a different experience, and just wanting to get a little further away from home. So I don't think I you know, you could fill out the recruiting questionnaires. I don't think I filled them out for like any of the I mean, maybe Harvard but I don't think I felt Yeah, for any like bu BC Northeastern any of them.

Colleen  31:10  
It's funny to think back to the recruiting process, because you're kind of like, how did it work back then, like now, a friend of mine is the basketball coach at Suffolk. And he's like, oh, yeah, it's just all texting. Like, you can't like these kids won't pick up the phone. So like, you just have to text with them. And like, it just seems like the whole dynamic has changed. And obviously, like social media presence is like, probably something that's at least looked at, or considered or at least searched for once or twice, right. And it's really different than when we were young, which is like you show up to your mailbox. And you're like, who sent me I know, and who sent me a letter and it was just a different game. You also

Kristi Wagner  31:47  
did the whatever it was like June 1 or July 1, did you guys have that? So they don't really do that anymore. And I was explaining to some of the, like juniors a few years ago, like the stress of that day, because I feel like that really kick started, like who was going to call you? And I don't know. Like, yeah, so far. So funny.

Colleen  32:10  
It's so funny, where you're like, you're allowed to talk to this one. But you're not to talk to that one. And like June 1, and then you'd be like, it was like getting your school schedule. But like in a much more stressful format, where you're like, did you get a thing? Like, did you like who are you talking to a visit? Yeah. And then it's like, oh, everyone got invited to Clemson and you're like, oh, no, sorry, Clemson. But like, everyone got invited down there. It was such a game. It was so but like, you're 16 you're 17 you're just like, you know, you don't know what you don't know. It's and in some ways, I feel sorry for the kids today that there's like so much pressure on them. And there's so like, rowing has come so far, because it's the fact that there's like, I don't know what they would be called. But like mentors or scholarship coaches, or whatever it

Kristi Wagner  33:02  
is, is why I knew nothing. It was so also my parents like I have wonderful parents, but they were kind of like, What are you even talking about? And I feel like they were just didn't really believe that it was like real for a little while. No, I remember. I Kate Maloney who used to coach at Yale, I remember, she sent me an email. I was sitting in my high school library and opened the email and was like, and I remember I told this boy, that was in my high school. Like I do you know what I'm it was just soak. I was like, like, yes, yeah, I'll email coach, email me. And then this random boy helped me draft my response to her like, which I feel like in today's world, you would never, you know, like, but I was just like, Oh, yes.

Colleen  33:54  
Like, that sounds great. Saturday, sounds fun. My mom will drop me off at noon. Like really look forward to Oh, Chrissy, that's so funny. I mean, yes. And to the extent that for a period of time, I was doing some writing on the side for rowing news. And some of the like, high school kids, if I was doing like, Junior National Team stuff, I would email the kids and I get a response from the parent, as if they're like, agents, and it's like, dude, but they're, like, teach their own live and let live but like your kids in high school, it's not like this big media inquiry, but I don't know. I guess we were like, flying by the seat of our pants.

Kristi Wagner  34:26  
Yeah. So I mean, I don't want to knock parents because I'm not a parent. But that seems a little bit and then

Colleen  34:32  
did you feel that comfort at Yale when you got there? Were you like, Oh,

Kristi Wagner  34:35  
I loved you. I mean, the school like I, I loved it. And rowing was awesome in so many ways, so hard in so many ways. Like, I wouldn't pretend to say everything was perfect. It wasn't I loved my team, so much like I wouldn't change any of it, you know, but I think it was also not lost on me like how lucky I was to be there. So I think that I, you know, when things were hard, or whatever it was, like, I would walk around and look at how beautiful it was, and just be like, I get to go to school here. And of course, like, sometimes I would call my mom and cry or complain about things, you know, a normal kid, but it was also weirdly not lost on me that I only had four years there. I feel like I was very aware of that. And I'm not sure why.

Colleen  35:29  
So that is so interesting, Christy, because it was never lost in me that I had for years. And the reality is that like, every year, I kind of felt like, one like one down, like, Okay, now the next down, and like what a gift to have to be looking at it through the lens of like, I only get to do this two more times. Like, I'd be lying if I said that was the mentality that I had, most of the time. A lot of times, it was like, Okay, we got through and like now the next one.

Kristi Wagner  35:57  
I think it's interesting also, because I never, I think in a longshot dream sort of way, I thought it would be super cool to go to the Olympics. But in in every like reality, I thought I would grow in college, and then I would grow recreationally post college, or you know, whatever, lol I know. But I think that because of that I like made the most of call it. I don't know, it's it's very interesting now to hear some other women that train on the national team and their college experience. Like, I feel like I was a division one varsity athlete, but I also had a full college experience. Like, I did the things I wanted to do. I went to parties, you know, I did, I did all of it. And I don't know if that's because I went to an Ivy League school. And so the rowing was never going to be like Ohio State football, like that just was never going to be the reality. And so everyone was having this kind of more whole experience. But like, I think I would have been upset if I had just used it as a, you know, stepping ground to elite rowing. Like, that was never what I was intending to do, nor wanted to do. Like, now it's fine to me that all I do is train and work and sleep and eat, you know, but I didn't. And of course, you know, the three weeks before NCAA, that's what we did. But like, otherwise we were college students. So I have

Colleen  37:30  
to imagine that helped. I always think about like, Happiness is when reality exceeds expectations. And so like the cynical way to look at that is to be like, Oh, you just go through life and your you know, what you expect is like the bars on the floor. But like the other way to go through it is to be like, like you said, we're like, oh my gosh, like look around, look at these buildings. Look at the history of this campus and this place and like, I get to be here and I get to do a sport. And I get to do I get to be like a proper like Yale student. And that, like, That's awesome that you had that framing and I'm sure was helpful and also necessary because to get through the grueling four years of college rowing, you do need to love it. It can be like love hate, I think like, people don't understand. I don't know, maybe you don't feel this way because of like your experience at Yale but I always feel like you know, parents or friends or parents or whatever, they'll they'll be like, Oh, but you like you had so much fun doing that and like it was never fun. Oh. Okay, yeah, you're with like, yes, of course. Of course you do. It's like especially college and I'm just like it was never fun though. But it was meaningful.

Kristi Wagner  38:41  
I mean, college. I even think to this day, like college rowing was one of the hardest things I've done. Yes in my agreed

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