"When Everything's A Competition" with 2 US Women's National Team Members

*Automated Transcript Provided*

Unknown Speaker  0:01  
I feel like my family was like super into the Olympics, we would watch it all. Definitely. I loved watching swimming when I was a kid. Now I love watching rowing. Honestly, welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream, they want to turn into a reality.

Unknown Speaker  0:20  
So Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years. This is an exciting week, I have two of my national team teammates, and to Yale women's crew alumni, Daisy Mazzio-Manson and Margaret Hedeman. So I didn't overlap with Daisy or Margaret at Yale, because I'm older than them. But they are both amazing and have had really amazing rowing careers to this point, and are both racing in the women's aid at the upcoming World Championships for the US. So we just had a lot of fun talking to each other. So they both have, like rowing in their families. And so we talked about how they got involved in rowing and kind of what led them to it. And if they felt pressured to join the sport, like from their families, but also kind of what it means to share that experience with their parents. And we talked about the transition from college to elite rowing and kind of the track their careers have taken. And obviously, because we're all yell grads, we talked about why we love y'all so much, and some fun things from that. So

Unknown Speaker  1:37  
I also ask them some kind of silly questions to wrap things up. So it was really fun conversation, but I feel like they had a lot to add. And I hope that you all enjoy Margaret and Daisy as much as I do. But before we get into that, here is an update on what is currently going on in my training. So we are in our second week in Aruba, Italy at our pre camp for worlds. And we're basically just training. We've had some really good practices, some kind of okay, practices, that's to be expected. But I think vibes are good, or we've had ice cream. It's been super, super hot. So we've got another kind of stacked week of training up ahead. And it's just, you know, piecing together good workouts and building confidence and building boat speed putting those finishing touches on and then before we know it, man, next week, we get to travel to Serbia, and then we're going to be racing. So it's really exciting. It's a little bit nerve wracking, but overall, like I feel good. And soon I will have a lot more to report. But right now, it's just kind of training grind. Again, I've talked about it the pasta is delicious. And the people at this hotel that work here so nice. And everyone's doing good. It's really, it's been good. Hope you guys enjoy my conversation with Margaret and Daisy. Go Yeah, go whatever you see, can you please introduce yourself? And you can say where you're from, if you went to graduate school, where you did that, and what boat you're racing in, and what your favorite pet name is. Like, like a name for a pet. Oh, either like the your favorite name of a pet you've had or like a name you can't wait to use for a pet. That was like my fun question. Like, you know when you're playing a name game, but I already know your names. Hello. I'm Daisy Malizia Manson. I'm from Wellesley, Massachusetts. I'm seven seat of the US Women's aid. And I wrote undergrad at Yale and for Texas at Texas for grad school. I got my graduate degree in marketing. I majored in global affairs at Yale. Okay, my pet name I've actually put thought into this. I recently got really into cycling. And do you know tattoo Pugacheva everyone calls him Pogi I think that'd be such a good name for like a little mutt dog. Not super little but kind of skinny to look like I'm kind of a name it Pogi My name is Margaret Hedeman. I'm to see of the women's a I'm from Concord, Massachusetts. Very close to where Daisy lives and Christie. And okay. Now it's a competition. And yes, I went to you. And I didn't do anything after that. i Well, I'm here after that.

Unknown Speaker  4:35  
And so I have two dogs. one's name is Cody. And the other one is I really liked the name and her name is Bree. Like the cheese. br IE. She was our COVID dog. And I like her name. That's amazing. Are you worried that people are gonna think that Pogi is like after the rowing gloves? Oh, don't worry

Unknown Speaker  5:00  
For anyone that doesn't row that listens to this podcast when it's cold outside, we sometimes wear these things that are like mittens, but they go around the or in your hand. And they're called pogies. I don't know why that is a good name for. Yeah, it is a good name. So growing up in all in Massachusetts, what do you guys do? Like did you get up to some other stuff? Some other sports, what were your hobbies, your activities? What were you like as a child? As a child, I feel like I just followed my brother around that I would do like any sport that he did. I tried to play football. My parents didn't out of football, which was probably a good move in the end with like, concussions and stuff. But then my brother played hockey. So I started playing hockey, I really loved hockey, but I also did like soccer, lacrosse, field hockey. Didn't really like either of those. But I liked ice hockey a lot.

Unknown Speaker  5:58  
I think it was extremely competitive as a child in a way that was like, not always ideal. But sports helped me channel it. So that was good for me. I feel like growing up, my family was always super active. So you're just be outside a lot. And I tried a bunch of different sports just for fun. Like I did basketball for like one season lacrosse for one season. I played soccer for a while. It's funny I was I was like, good enough at soccer. I was just good enough of an athlete to be on the top soccer team as a kid. But then once like my skill level dropped behind, like everyone just caught up. Basically, I was on the B team for the first time I was like I'm quitting, because I just wanted to be good at it.

Unknown Speaker  6:45  
But I actually ran. I did track and field for a few years and then cross country, like throughout middle school and a little bit in high school, and then started rowing, but also the Girl Scouts.

Unknown Speaker  7:01  
Really, yeah, that was super fun. My goal. I just wanted to get all the badges. I didn't care what they meant.

Unknown Speaker  7:09  
It was like Goldstar I was like, How do I get that? And then I just follow the steps. It was great. Did you watch the Olympics as a child? Do you have any thoughts about that? We were always in Dublin, New Hampshire when the Olympics were on because we would spend all of August there. We were like part of this like Country Club, I guess around this lake. So I have so many memories of just sitting around this tiny little TV with very bad reception. watching the Olympics, particularly the 2008 Olympics. I watched very heavily. I really only watched gymnastics though. I was obsessed with gymnastics, and swimming a little bit. I guess those are two very popular sports, but I never watched the rowing. It just like wasn't.

Unknown Speaker  8:00  
Yeah, I feel like I also the 2008 Olympics were like the first ones that I like, knew what was going on. Like when I think of the Olympics, I think of like that opening ceremonies. But yeah, I feel like my family was like, super into the Olympics, we would watch it all. Definitely. I loved watching swimming when I was a kid. Now I love watching rowing. Honestly, I agree. I mean, I love watching like everything. But as a kid it was it was like swimming, or track and field. I really liked watching track and field. And I think that's what was on like prime time. I didn't watch rowing in the Olympics until I started rowing. So, Margaret, your mom rode at Yale. So can you talk about how you got into rowing? And then how you decided to roll at Yale? If that was something you thought you do or not, I sure can't talk about. She was class of 1987. rode all four years, really loved it. And she wanted all of her daughter's to try rowing. She only has daughters, three of us and I'm the middle child. So my older sister Catlin tried rowing first, she liked it. But she also played volleyball at the time and decided to go with volleyball. competitively. And then I tried rowing and liked it didn't like love I don't think I don't know if anyone really loves rowing when they're like rowing in a barge but liked it enough to keep going with it and kind of wanted it to become my thing. And her Rowling at Yale made me not want to row at Yale, because a lot of people in my life assumed somehow that I would row at Yale even though I was like a novice rower and obviously, at the time not good enough to get recruited to Yale. It was really annoying to me that people thought I would just automatically go there. So then when I was getting recruited to colleges, I kept it in the back of my mind, definitely still email the coaches but was fun.

Unknown Speaker  10:00  
Just on some other schools, and then ultimately, I just really loved my visit to love the team love the atmosphere. And I'm really happy with that decision. Do you now feel like it's like a cool thing that you had this experience that you can share with your mom? Yeah, definitely. I also have some other relatives like great grandparents, etc, that rode at Yale. And that is super fun to seeing their pictures on walls and stuff. I really didn't realize how cool that would be until it happened. I guess. There's a your mom didn't go to you. Where did you go to college?

Unknown Speaker  10:48  
But she did row. And she has like ties to you. So do you want to talk about that a little bit? Yeah. So my mom made a documentary called a hero for Daisy. And that was based on this protest that took place at Yale by the elements crew team. And she found out about it because she also trained at the elite level. And she was training with this woman named Chris Ernst, who was on the Yale team. And I think my mom was in film, school, my glasses. And like, one of the projects was to make a documentary. And she heard this story. And she was like, somebody should make a movie out of that. And then she started making a pretty like, homemade ask movie. And then my dad actually was like, if you're gonna make this, you should, like, go all in and like, make it a real documentary. So then she did. And now it's a real documentary. And she's a professional filmmaker, also, so worked out well.

Unknown Speaker  11:54  
And an Olympian? Yeah. So it was good. I don't think at the time, when I was a child, I like acknowledged how much it influenced me, but I think it's like, really powerful. I was just like a young girl to see such strong women. I think due to like that movie, and just due to like, who my mom is and who she surrounds herself with, I saw a really tight community of strong women within rowing. So I think that probably influenced me to become a rower.

Unknown Speaker  12:30  
And it's just very full circle that your mom like made this movie, and then called it here for Daisy. It makes it more like authentic. Because it is a real story. When did you see the movie Margaret?

Unknown Speaker  12:44  
I think I saw the movie before 40th anniversary of Yeomans crew. Yeah. Because I think I went with my mom. And they had a showing. I'm also realizing we never said our class years. I feel like we should reintroduce ourselves and say that I am close to 2023 but originally 2022.

Unknown Speaker  13:08  
I am class of 2020.

Unknown Speaker  13:12  
Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  13:14  
No, I graduated from Yale in 2015.

Unknown Speaker  13:17  
So what were some of your favorite memories from rowing at Yale? My favorite memories was freshman year, I think our first spring race. I was in seventh seat behind Lydia Keating and I remember we were lined up isn't Michigan. We were lining up against the Michigan boat and their whole was like shorter. And they're in like a resolute or something. So they were like, started what felt like a seat up. And then anyways, the race starts.

Unknown Speaker  13:48  
I think we're down the whole race. But then we have this crazy sprint. And we like sprinter and sprint and then you finish and you're like, Oh, they're definitely a seat up at least. But maybe we got them because like they started up. Anyways, it was like chaos. It was like such a good race. Such a good sprint. Chaos at the finish line. We don't know. Then on our paddling into the shore. Someone from shore screams like cheering that we want and we realized that we won. And then Lydia gets like so excited. I think she starts crying and she's like, that's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. And I was just like the most hype, race ever. Well, your Michigan story reminded me of my freshman year when we went to Michigan and we had a great race. Great for 1750 winning by a lot like decent amount. I think at one point like Coxon was on their bow seat like I think that was the most we had

Unknown Speaker  15:00  
Last year 50 just walked through us completely killed us.

Unknown Speaker  15:05  
But yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad you had a great time in Michigan before that, because yeah, that was pretty brutal. My favorite memory actually, I don't know. I can't say this is my favorite memory. But one of my favorite memories is baseball house for

Unknown Speaker  15:25  
I often bring this up again, just the vibes, immaculate comeback, okay, under this picture this

Unknown Speaker  15:32  
late August, like Yale wanted to rename what they call freshman orientation. And we had a vote. And you could input what you wanted as your vote. So some people were like, oh, we should do camp Yale, like as the official Yale thing. And then everyone voted and people voted for campiello. So now, freshman orientation is called cambio which is epic. Isn't that awesome? So DAISY, can you talk a little bit about doing your post grad year at Texas? How that came to be? And COVID?

Unknown Speaker  16:10  
Yeah, so I, my senior year is 2020. So we basically like COVID, shut everything down. Right when our plane landed, actually for our first race, which was a real bummer. And then after that, I was like, I feel like that was one moment where I was like, okay, it made me feel closer to you kind of and feel like, like really close to the team. And we were we were like all going through this together. But I was like, I will never go anywhere else. And then one of my friends was like, You should think about fifth earring at a different school. And then I was like, No, immediately, my first thought was no. And then I remember I was talking to will about it. Because at that point in time, will was trying to convince us to come back to Yale for a fifth year. And then like, whatever, two weeks later, yeah, it was like you can't come back to once that happened, Will was like, You should go somewhere else for a fifth year. And I hadn't really thought about it. Until he said that. And then once he said that, I was like, okay, and then I just started talking to schools. And it was all super last minute. But it just worked out at Texas that I would be able to join into this marketing program, which seemed like a really good opportunity. And just Yeah, it was a team that had never won a national championship before. But they were super just like on the apps. And just like a really competitive team. And I talked to the coach there. Dave O'Neill and he, how he just sold it so well. I was like, so excited at the prospect of being a part of that team that yeah, it just seemed like the right place to be. So then I went there. It was like COVID it during the fall and a super long, really like Thanksgiving to Christmas off. So then I was home for a while. Then I went back in the end of the winter. And then all the internationals were back. And that was like when we started getting into big boats. And I was like, this is absolutely sick. Because all these internationals are just they were so good at rallying, it was like rowing like I had not seen up to that point. So yeah, I was just having honestly such a good time. And then we won a national championship.

Unknown Speaker  18:30  
It was good. When you went to Texas from Yale, what was like, thinking about the team? What was the biggest thing that maybe took you back? Or was it different from you?

Unknown Speaker  18:45  
Well, this is hard, because I don't know if it's a reflection of Texas or reflection of COVID. But when I got and especially being new, I like didn't really feel especially in the fall like feel a cohesive team. Like I feel like at Yale, it was like, teammates were like so much more than teammates. Like it was like really kind of a family. And I mean, when I first got to Texas, we were in like really small groups. I don't think we could have more than eight people at the boathouse. So like I felt really close to my roommate, because she was also on the team. But like beyond that, I you couldn't really socialize with people. You couldn't really gather you couldn't even really practice together. So I like definitely didn't feel as much of like the team camaraderie when I first got there. I feel like it's so awesome that you got to like have that exposure. Like I think everyone that's gotten to do a post grad year and the IVs because of COVID. Like that's amazing because college rowing and college went by way too quickly and to have some of it taken away from COVID just sucks but it does seem just like crazy to me. I don't know how I would have fit into a different team of people going

Unknown Speaker  20:00  
I will have to race like all of the people, your class, Margaret are going to race you. I feel like that would be weird.

Unknown Speaker  20:07  
Did you consider doing a fifth year, we'll also try not trying to convince you. But it was like, oh, you should consider taking a fifth year. And I considered it for maybe half of a second. And then realize, I don't know, it just wouldn't fit in with what I'm trying to do right now, in terms of rowing, and in terms of what I want to do after rowing, it just didn't make sense to me. And it's obviously a really enticing offer, because it's basically a free year of school. And if you go to a good program, like a potential NCAA Championship, which, which is really cool and awesome. But it just didn't make sense with my professional career path. And you had one year more of school than you like, well, that's a good segue. So outside of rowing, what do you do anything outside of rowing right now, these days, that's okay. You can say now, you can talk about crafts very well, right now, outside of rowing, I did. The school newspaper, which was super fun, made a lot of friends there. And then now outside of rowing, I have a part time job, I do research. And I really like to dogs.

Unknown Speaker  21:25  
But yeah, my research is super fun. That started recently, in this Training Center that I'm at,

Unknown Speaker  21:31  
like this whole year leading up to selection is like this really cool Outdoor Center that's based in Vermont. And it has four different elite teams associated with it. There's rowers and skiers by athalon, and runners. And the way that it's set up is that we all live on campus, and they provide housing and food. And essentially, like all the support that we need, like

Unknown Speaker  22:02  
vo to testing and like massage and stuff like that.

Unknown Speaker  22:07  
And then we work

Unknown Speaker  22:10  
around the center for like 10 hours every week. So I feel like I stay pretty busy up there. And a lot of the jobs that I do, we like run community programs. So we like Teach community members how to row.

Unknown Speaker  22:27  
Um, we host a lot of ski races in the winter. So like, if you need like timers, or stuff like that, we'll do that recently, I was able to set up this speaker series. So we brought in a lot of foresters, and like environmental

Unknown Speaker  22:47  
activists, and brought them in to speak to the local community. Yeah, so it's super cool. I feel like I get to learn a lot of jobs. Like I've learned definitely a lot about sustainability. And I just have learned a lot about like the Vermont outdoors. But then I've also like taken apart sheds, and like built signs and like, have done a lot of work with my hands that I don't think I otherwise would have done. So it's pretty cool. Yeah, crafts really super cool. And learning things like learning how to do things like that, I actually think is a good life skill. Sometimes I'm like, What am I doing with my life? Learning how to install racecourse and fill the dock and do all these things. But I feel like it will come in handy one day. So we're almost to our friend questions. But like, Did you guys know you wanted to keep growing after college for a while? Or were you more focused on like, what was happening in college and then kind of opportunity presented itself? Yes, I think I always thought that I was going to keep rowing after college. I think a lot of that came from, like my parents that they were both elite rowers, and neither of them. They were both on small teams in college, and then really found success like afterwards that I think, in my mind, I wanted to achieve as much as I could while I was in college, but I was like, never satisfied. But I think in my mind, like, real success comes after college. I always wanted to be the best in the sport that I could be I always knew that I wanted to row and be really good at rowing. And my freshman sophomore year of college. I thought to myself, Okay, I could be good on a collegiate level, but I'm really not sure about anything after that. So my goal right now is just to be good at the collegiate level and probably

Unknown Speaker  25:00  
Not row after college. And then I did you 20 threes in 2021. I was in the quad. So I got cut from the sweep team. But I made the quad and Molly Hamrick was our coach that year. We did okay at Worlds we were like, middle of the be final.

Unknown Speaker  25:20  
But after Worlds, Molly said to me something like, oh, you should email, Tom and Laura, the the coaches that that were coaching the women's sweep team at the time.

Unknown Speaker  25:35  
Because Molly said, you should email them and just, I like, I think you could do this after college. And my reaction was, oh, like, really? didn't really think of that. But I'm excited that you just said that to me. And so that's when kind of the gears started rolling in my head, I think potentially pursuing going after college. Okay, on to our fun questions. So if you were to represent another country, which country would you represent, like South Africa because it's a small enough country that I feel like if you were a standout athlete, then you kind of beat the standout athlete and that will be fun. But if you wrote for like, GB just be one of 2000 million amazing athletes.

Unknown Speaker  26:30  
I think as a rower if I were to represent another country, this is just based off of Instagram. But I think the Irish team seems like they have such a good vibe

Unknown Speaker  26:42  
that I think I would love. I'd love to be a part of that vibe. So probably Ireland. Yeah. Big strong girls.

Unknown Speaker  26:51  
What other sport would you have played? If you could be like this good at another sport? And I guess what country would you like to play that sport for? If not, America, I would want to run track for the USA. But I would want my event to be the heptathlon which is like a bunch of different events. It's like Javelin shotput. And then a bunch of different track events, a sponsorship deals out of this world. B.

Unknown Speaker  27:23  
They just seem so cool. Like the track athletes, they just seem like they really have it going for them. And I would want to do the heptathlon because I would, I would want to be good at a bunch of different things with my body. Like I don't want to be just good at the shotput. I want my body feeble to do a bunch of different movements, but very well, I would want to be a hockey player for the USA. Because growing up, I absolutely idolized the Olympic women's ice hockey team. I think they're super cool. And I still to this day, I think they're super cool. They are super cool. But you guys are cool, too.

Unknown Speaker  28:05  
What reality TV show would you choose to be on? I would be on a wipe out because it seems really fun. First of all, like, if you wipe out, that's fine. It's you just go into water. Like that seems fun. And I also think that I would be really good at it. And I think that that's false positivity on my end. But I still feel that way. For some reason. I just think very confident that I would be able to beat the other contestants, because I don't think that they take it seriously enough. And I would take it very, very seriously. I would love to be really good at singing and go on the voice. In my current state. I would not want to go on the voice. I realized I would want to be on Shark Tank. Yeah. Yeah, but the great British baking show is also really fun to change topics. What is your favorite pasta shave? I think? Well, it depends on the sauce, obviously but we don't have time to get into that. I think in a mac and cheese, a large not a super large shell. But a larger size shell is just perfect because then it scoops up the cheese right inside.

Unknown Speaker  29:25  
My favorite pasta shape is I don't know the name of it but I describe it as the a PVC pipe. But the one that goes on the end that makes it like a corner a corner of a PVC pipe. And so it's hollow. It looks like a mac and cheese elbow thing but it's bigger

Unknown Speaker  29:50  
and more fun. And yeah, that like with butter. Perfect amazing. If you asked me this maybe a month ago I would have said guitar but

Unknown Speaker  30:00  
If you're asking me today, the fiddle, I think the fiddle is unbelievably hype. It just brings so much energy. I think it's so cool. They took a violin and they just changed it. I mean, they changed the way they played it and now it's like, so high up. So yeah, the fiddle.

Unknown Speaker  30:21  
That's a good answer.

Unknown Speaker  30:24  
I would play the electric piano. Because I just think when they get their solos, that's a really cool moment. And I feel like they add so much to the sound of a band or, or whatnot. And I took piano lessons when I was younger, as a lot of people do. I feel like hated it cried every second. I feel so bad for my mother. And I really just got

Unknown Speaker  30:52  
basically the first moment she was like, okay, you don't have to take piano anymore. I said, Okay, I'm not taking piano anymore. And I do regret that. I'd like to listen to your band have a piano and a fiddle. Sounds nice. What is your go to snack? I love baked goods of all sorts. But I love brownies. That'd be a good snack. focaccia is a good snack. Croissant. A good snack. Any loaf. Yeah, and practicality though I eat a lot of Clif bars, but I'm not gonna hype that up. I love a loaf. I can only hyper fixate on what I'm eating right now. And that is mots fruit snacks, just because they're available to us and great to have in the bow. So I take like to pack it's in the boat with me. And Emily makes fun of me if I eat them before practice and so does Jozy because he's like, Oh, are you? I guess you're like eating candy before breakfast. And I'm like, no energy. But I really just I eat it because it tastes good. If you were in a different boat class for this world championships, which would you choose?

Unknown Speaker  32:02  
This is a tough one.

Unknown Speaker  32:06  
I

Unknown Speaker  32:08  
I'm having a I'm having a great time. I really do like to eight I think that for people is the perfect number of people to have in a boat.

Unknown Speaker  32:17  
Because I think you don't spend too much time with anybody like there's a group, but there's not too many cooks in the kitchen. So I would love to be in the quad or the straight four, but I am extremely happy and eight. Okay, I also agree with you I think for people in a boat is great. I think straight four is my ultimate boat class. I I just really love StrikeForce. But I'm not trying to step on any toes here.

Unknown Speaker  32:45  
I think my Rogue answer

Unknown Speaker  32:48  
is going to be the single because I think no one would expect anything of me if I were in the single and I could just kind of free for all it. And that'll be super fun. So this week's Ask Christy anything comes from Margaret. During our compensation, she asked me some fun questions. So here they are. So every week on the podcast, we do something called Ask Christy anything. So Do either of you have a question you can ask me for Ask Christy anything? If you had to get a second Olympic rings tattoo where?

Unknown Speaker  33:28  
And okay. And are you happy with the placement of yours?

Unknown Speaker  33:35  
So it's a pretty good story, actually.

Unknown Speaker  33:37  
So when I was a kid, my parents told me that I could get my ears pierced when I was 18. And when I was 13, I was like, No, I'm gonna get my ears pierced now.

Unknown Speaker  33:52  
And I was at my cousin's house in California, and I went and got my ears pierced. And then I think I asked my dad like for permission after I'd actually done it. And he said that it was okay if I got my ears pierced as long as I promised never to get like any other piercings or tattoos for the rest of my life. And I at 13 said, What about the Olympics? What if I go to the Olympics, and he said, If you go to the Olympics, you can get the Olympic rings tattooed on the bottom of your foot.

Unknown Speaker  34:24  
And so basically, the tattoo almost is on the bottom of my foot. So that's why I got it there. And it hurt so badly. Some people have it some people don't I'm, I felt a little self conscious of it at first, actually, because I didn't want it to seem like I was gloating it but I am really proud of myself. And the story is like very meaningful to me. So if I had gotten somewhere else, I don't know. I would have gotten I like this spot because I can like hide it. I think it would be tough to have it like right on your arm like the first thing anybody says about you

Unknown Speaker  35:00  
is like the Olympics. Not because it's something to be embarrassed about that just like, I feel like you'd have to talk about it quite a bit. Well, thank you guys so much. It was so fun. And that's it for today's show. I hope that everyone learned a bunch and had fun and feel inspired, because I know I do.

Unknown Speaker  35:18  
To end the show, here's a few lines from the poem, if by Rudyard Kipling if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors the same?

Unknown Speaker  35:29  
The whole poem is pretty good. And check it out if you haven't. So thanks for listening. Have a great week.

Unknown Speaker  35:40  
I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our Ask Christy anything segment, head to our website, the other three years.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai