Junior Tabitha Brown shows her talents in the water

HOLDING HER OWN: Tabitha Brown and her A4 team take first place at a Faultline event. She and her team carried their boat out of the water after a successful day of competing. In this A4 event, Brown competed with the four best rowers on her team. Photo Courtesy of Tabitha Brown

By Emma Gonosey

Staff Writer

Junior Tabitha Brown is always working hard to better her rowing skills and continues to improve at her new sport.

16 year old Tabitha Brown is a member of the Marina Aquatic Center rowing team and practices almost every day in order to improve. She has already been able to make it onto a club team on which her boat has finished first place six times. Brown spends lots of her free time practicing, both on the water and in the gym.

“This is only my second year rowing,” Brown said. “I have always been a very competitive person, so the aspect of this competition [came] very natural to me, but learning how to row still took time.”

Before she began rowing, Brown swam for Costa’s varsity swim team. She became inspired to row through swim practices after she began working out on the ergometer machine, an exercise machine that is used to simulate rowing.

“I was a swimmer for eight years, and I was really good on the ERG machine, so I wanted to try [rowing],” Brown said. “When I first realized I wanted to row, I was excited to be a part of a team sport, because I felt that swim was missing the component of having a ‘team’ since it was very individualized.”

Brown practices six days every week in order to gain more strength to compete. According to Brown, a typical day of practice is no walk in the park.

“An average day of practice consists of 30 minutes of running and warming up, then an hour and a half on the water, or on the ERG, and finally 30 minutes of putting away boats and stretching,” Brown said.

Rowing competitions require a different level of strength than practices. During a competition, a rower uses every major muscle in its body, making it a very physically exhausting sport. According to Brown, rowers must always be relaxed but should still able to put all of their effort into every competition.

“A typical competition has different events and heats for each boat,” Brown said. “During a race, I try to listen to the coxswain and think about my stroke rate, so I am distracted from how my body feels.”

Since Brown has joined the sport, she has competed in small races and events. However, due to COVID-19, she has not been able to participate in any large races. She was, however, able to race in an A4 event, which includes the four best rowers, and an A8 event, which includes the eight best rowers.

“Our biggest regattas were cancelled because of COVID,” Brown said. “[In terms of competing], I still have a hard time with technique, because I rely on my strength to go fast, which is a bad habit of mine.”

According to Brown, rowing has allowed her to grow stronger mentally and physically. She has become very close with her teammates, and they continue to push her to improve whether she is practicing on the ergometer or competing in a race.

“Swimming at Costa made me realize that the best athletes are the ones who are passionate about the sport they play,” Brown said. “Rowing has had a very positive effect on my life, and I would like to continue with it throughout college.”