Can you start by introducing yourself?

I’m Adelyne. I row for Austin Rowing Club. I live in Austin, Texas, and I’ve been rowing for six years now.

Okay. Before we talk about rowing, who is Adelyne away from the water? What do your closest friends know about you that a college coach might not?

I would say my friends would describe me as someone who’s pretty outgoing and down for anything.  We all like to have fun and hang out.

You spent years playing soccer before rowing entered your life. What first brought you to the boathouse, and what made you stay?

I was in seventh grade, and I was in gym class, and my friend who had been a coxswain was telling me about rowing, and I had played soccer for a really long time. And I was kind of done with it. I didn’t really love the sport anymore, and I had done almost every other sport that I had access to. And so, I told my mom about it and was like, “Oh, I think it’s something that I might wanna try out.” And so I joined the recreational team for the rest of the year, and I really liked it. And then the next year, I did the novice team, and the next year I was on varsity.

Rowing can look repetitive from shore, but it feels completely different inside the boat. What did you discover about it that people who have never rowed might not understand?

I think it is a really repetitive motion. I think that’s something that’s really unique to the sport, because not many other sports are doing the same exact movement over and over again. But I think that’s why I like it so much—because it is the same thing over and over again. So you can perfect that one thing and get really good at it. And then also, off the water, you can improve your fitness and your strength. And there’s so much that goes into the stroke that it is repetitive, but it never gets mindless, you know? Because you’re always mentally focusing on what you can do better on the water.

Do you remember the first practice or race when you thought, “I could become really good at this”?

I don’t think there was a certain practice or race, but, Kate Knifton, who is club manager at Texas Rowing Center, came and talked to us after practice one day, and this is while I was on novice. And she, with one of her teammates, I think, has a business where they help athletes in high school get recruited and teach you how to do it. How to email coaches and everything. And at that point, I think I was the fastest on my novice team, and that’s the moment when I kind of thought that I could do it in high school or in college. And, I think at that point, I just always thought I would do it in college, but then probably at the end of last year when we went to nationals, around that time is when I got really serious about it. I started to realize that if I didn’t do it in college I feel like I would be missing a part of me.

How is it determined you’re the fastest on your team when there are multiple people in the same boat?

So, it’s kind of different. The benchmark test for rowing is a 2K. So, on the Ergometer (ERG), which is the rowing machine, whoever has the fastest 2K time is the fastest on the team. But if you’re the fastest and you don’t have good tech (technique), then you won’t move a boat. So having the fastest ERG doesn’t necessarily make you the best rower because you could have bad tech and then not move the boat. There are some girls on our team that are super-fast—they’re very fast but they don’t know or don’t have the best tech, or don’t know how to adjust or move the boat, so then they don’t win the seat races and get in the boat. So, it’s a baseline for speed, but it’s not the end all.

You have raced in different seats and different boats. Which role brings out the best in you, and what does that seat demand mentally as well as physically?

I really like stroking my four. Stroking is definitely, I think, one of the harder seats in the boat, especially in an eight, because you have you have seven people behind you, and you have to control the rate and slide and everything. So, people behind you are going faster, you’re having to use a lot of your muscle to slow them down and stop the rush in the boat. So I think stroke seat is probably one of the more technically hard positions. In a four, it’s definitely a lot easier because there’s less people in the boat, so you don’t have to stop as much rush if that’s happening. And then in an eight, my favorite seat is probably six seats, so two seats up from stroke.

And the stroke seat is the front or the back?

Technically, it’s the back. But it’s the first person in the boat with the rest behind them.

When a crew is truly in sync, what does it feel like or sound like from inside the boat?

When you have an eight, for example, and everyone’s perfectly in sync and you’re going by, it just feels effortless almost. The boat is just flying. When you’re not in time, every time your blade hits the water, it feels really heavy. And you can feel the boat stopping when you hit, then go to the finish, and then the catch, and it just feels really clunky. But when you have a boat that’s really in sync, it just feels like you’re flying by effortlessly.

What is one small technical detail you have worked obsessively to improve?

Probably my catches. I think for actually a long time I was opening my body too early, on the drive, which I would watch film for probably hours and try and fix it at practice. And then after I finally fixed that, which took a very long time, I started working on my catches, which, again, was watching lots of film and seeing what you are doing wrong and then going to practice the next day to improve on that, and then asking questions on the water too. But those are definitely some things that I spent a lot of time <laugh> watching film on.

And describe what a catch is.

So, the catch is the part of the stroke where you’re fully compressed, and when your blade enters the water. So, it’s like backing in. And to have the perfect catch, you back in and fully submerge your blade in the water, lock on, and then go. So, if you start pressing before your blade is fully locked on in the water, you miss a lot of speed that you could have had. Having a really good catch when everyone is in time makes it a lot more effective.

Rowing asks for months of training for relatively few race days. How have you learned to find satisfaction in the work no one applauds?

I think for rowing, the amount of work and effort you put in shows up 100% in the water and on your ERG tests. If you’re putting in extra work, extra lifts, extra time, doing steady set and everything, it will show up. People might not notice your improvement, but you will be improving and you’ll be getting faster. So, I think doing that, for me especially, is really getting better and doing an extra lift if I have time or coming home and ERG-ing if I have an off period, just knowing that it all is going to make me faster even if it doesn’t show up right away.

Your recruiting profile emphasizes persistence and resilience. Tell me about a difficult stretch when those qualities were tested rather than simply claimed.

Last summer I had double jaw surgery, so I was out for three months. I had the surgery at the beginning of the summer, and I wasn’t able to come back until two weeks into the season. And I was also on a liquid diet, so I lost a lot of muscle, and my jaw was wired shut, so I couldn’t eat anything other than juice and soup. So, it was pretty hard coming back from that, especially because at that point, I was trying to make the boat for Charles (Head of the Charles Regatta race). That was my biggest goal that year. And coming back to the season having not even been able to walk really, and unable to exercise was really hard. And then going to practice and doing seat racing and losing a lot of the seat races because I wasn’t as fit as a lot of the other people on my team because I hadn’t been able to work out.

But then my coach knew that I had been out, and she knew that I would come back stronger, and she gave me the chance to go, believing that I could make up that fitness that I lost. Being able to go to Charles was one of the best feelings.

On the ERG or late in the race, what do you tell yourself when your body wants to back off?

On an ERG and in the race, actually, our coxswains do a really good job at holding us accountable. It’s their number one job is to keep you accountable and hold everyone to the standard that our team wants us to be. So, I think they do a really good job at keeping you in the race, keeping you out of your head. They’re definitely very helpful for me, especially in the last 1K or 500 of a 2K. They’re always behind you, yelling at you on the ERGs, making sure you keep going, especially on the water, and in head races as well. They have to steer the boat, and it’s really important that they do that well, because the better they steer the boat, the less meters you have to go, which gives you an advantage in the race. So, I think they’re a really big contributor to that part.

Rowing rewards individual strength, but the boat only succeeds through complete cooperation. What have you learned about being accountable to other people?

I think rowing is definitely one of those sports where everyone has to want the same thing in the boat. Even if you have eight of the fastest girls in the country in the same boat, and they all don’t have the same goal, it’s not gonna go as fast as it could. I think boat chemistry is a really big thing you need to have for it to work, and having 100% trust that everyone in your boat is giving everything that they have. I’ve definitely been in boats where I didn’t think people were trying as hard as they could and that it doesn’t make you wanna try as hard as you can because it just feels like it’s not going anywhere. But if you have full faith in everyone in your boat that they’re giving their all, you’re gonna give your all too, and I think that can make or break a boat.

What kind of teammate are you when someone else is struggling, and what kind of teammate do you need when you are struggling?

I’m a teammate who stands up for anyone who’s struggling, and I’m always trying to be an open hand or an open ear. If my teammates need anything, knowing that I’m always there for them and can help them with anything I’m able to. I think when I’m struggling, I look for the same things in a teammate. I try to be someone who I would wanna go to, so someone who’s gonna stand up and give me good advice and everything. So, I think I try to be someone who I would look for when I’m struggling.

You raced at the head of the Charles, surrounded by some of the deepest rowing history in the country. What image or moment from that experience has stayed with you?

That was one of my favorite races I’ve ever done. It was pretty crazy. I think it’s the biggest in the world maybe, or it’s one of them. It’s huge, because it’s collegiate, club, and masters, so it’s like you have every level of competitive rowing. And you can only race one time—that’s in the rules—so you can’t race more than once, you just go down the course one time. And it’s like a pretty unique course. You go through bridges and there’s lots of turns, and it’s also a head race which is different from races in the spring. They release one boat at a time, and so you can walk up on other boats, and if you get top half, you keep your bid. So the top half boats from the year before will have their place. They’ll start off in what place they made the year before, and then the other half are just raffle. So the last boat going could be the fastest boat in the whole race and win it. I think that’s something really cool about head races, and especially at Charles, because you can pass boats, and it’s pretty fun to do.

Did competing on that stage change the scale of what you believed was possible for you?

I think Charles definitely was an eye-opener. I talked to a lot of coaches there, and it kind of made me realize that I really wanted to row in college, and I needed to start stepping up and reaching out more. Seeing all the colleges compete there and seeing teammates that were on collegiate teams competing there just really made me realize that this is something that I really want in my collegiate experience.

You were receiving serious attention from major college programs. When did the recruiting process begin to feel real to you?

So, June 15th, I think, is the date. Your junior year, right after your sophomore nationals, I think you can start talking to them. And at that point, I wasn’t super serious, but I wanted to row in college. But it also wasn’t like I need to do this. And I think as I’ve gone through the process more, I’ve realized that rowing is something that I couldn’t see myself not doing. I think if I didn’t do it I wouldn’t be having the experience I want from college.

Beyond a famous name or a winning record, what are you looking for in the program, coach, teammates, and school where you will spend the next four years?

I think having a good team culture. Team culture is definitely a huge thing for me. There have been years where our team culture wasn’t great, and that’s just not an environment that I wanna row in. Having been in a place where everyone lifts each other up and is competitive and everyone’s wanting to race each other and get faster is one of the biggest things I’m looking for in a program. And then also a program that’s competitive and wants to be in the NCAAs and wants to make it to their conference and win their conference. And a program that’s always reaching to be better is something also that I really wanna be in.

Recruiting asks a teenager to market herself while making a very personal life decision. How do you stay connected to what you actually want amid the attention and expectations?

I think at first, I didn’t know how to do that, but now, as I’ve gone through the process, I’ve kind of seen what I wanted. I think at first I was just telling people what they wanted to hear, just because I wanted to be likable to a coach or a college. And now I’m being truer to myself and not changing my values for a college.

You have said you want to row D1 and study business. What interests you about business, and what kind of life do you imagine building beyond rowing?

In my high school, I’ve been in the business track for the last three years, and this is my fourth year. So, I’ve taken quite a few business classes and learned about business. And then this year, for my class, I have a double blocked period to have an internship, which I’m doing at a steakhouse downtown, and I get to do payroll, invoices, and then event planning and some social media stuff. But I’ve really grown to be interested in it, and I think it’s just something that I see myself enjoying learning about more in college. I pretty sure now I wanna major in advertising or maybe marketing, maybe a double major. Not exactly sure yet, but something in that realm, because, through high school, that’s mostly what I’ve been doing through internships.

Because you mentioned that you are interested in advertising and business. Do you think that you would potentially want to combine your passions in getting sports marketing or business behind sports teams or an athlete representation sort of thing?

Yeah. I think that’s actually a really common route for a lot of collegiate athletes, and it’s not something that I thought I would do at first. But now talking about it with a lot of other people I’ve met, I think it’s something that I’m definitely becoming more open to and something that I would now see myself doing a lot more than I did, like, a couple months ago.

What part of your game, physical, technical, or mental, must grow most before you arrive on a college campus?

I think all of them equally. Most club teams, don’t have as much volume as collegiate teams. I don’t know when they switch, but they start with 8 hour weeks and then go to 20 hour weeks. And most clubs aren’t doing 20 hour weeks consistently through the year, which most collegiate teams are. So, I think that is a thing which is going to take a toll on you mentally and physically. Being open to more volume is something that I think I’ve heard from a lot of athletes that I’ve talked to—that’s one of the biggest things that they didn’t expect.

Has rowing changed the way you understand strength or the way you feel about your own body?

I think it showed me that being stronger is good. Embrace being stronger because it makes you faster. Want to get stronger and lift more. Trying to be as fast as possible.

What would you say to a girl who is athletic and competitive, but has never imagined that rowing could be her sport?

I would say you should try it out because I probably did 15 sports before rowing, and I didn’t really stick with any of them until I found rowing. Once I found it, it really clicked with me, and I’m so grateful I started doing it because I don’t know what I would do without it now.

Your younger sister, Wren, has now moved from lacrosse goalie to rowing. What has it been like watching her enter a sport that has become such a large part of your identity?

I think it’s been fun, getting to see her at practice. We’re not on the same team right now, but next semester, we will be. And so, I’m excited for that. That’ll be fun. And just kind of having a sister rivalry, always competing with each other.

So, do you feel more protective, competitive, or proud, or some combination of all three?

I would say some combination of all three, yeah.

What has rowing revealed about you that you do not think you would have learned anywhere else?

I think it’s shown me that I really seek to find advice from others, especially from my coaches. I really value someone telling me what I’m doing wrong and how to fix it. And I think that’s not really something that I did before. I wouldn’t reach out to a teacher and ask for advice, but now that’s something that I do a lot, and I think rowing really showed me that having someone critique you is really beneficial.

If the younger Adelyne who first walked into rowing could see you now, what would surprise her most?

Probably that she is a lot faster than she thought she would be. <Laugh>

Favorite food? .

Oh, pad Thai, chicken pad Thai

Favorite color?

Green, pink, and yellow.

Favorite movie?

Goodwill Hunting.

Dream travel destination?

Maybe somewhere in South Africa.

Morning or night?

Morning and night. Actually, wait. I don’t know. <Laugh> I would say morning.

Sweet or salty?

Sweet.

Song that gets you ready to race?

Oh, what’s the song called? Oh, it’s by Frank Sinatra.

Really?

Yeah. I listen to it, like, before every race. Wait, what is it called? <Laugh>

Oh, “That’s Life.”

I feel like that goes with, like, rowing.

Yeah, I know. I have to listen to it, like, five times before every race.

One thing always in your bag.

Tape for my hands.

Perfect day off.

Maybe going to the lake on a boat, doing some wake surfing with my friends.

Beach or mountains?

Beach.

A person who makes you laugh?

Maybe my mom.

What do you hope people understand about you after seeing these photographs and reading your story?

I hope they see that I am a determined athlete, but also someone who is always working to be better, not only just in their sport.

Finish this sentence: “Respect my game because…”

Because it’s something that is really important to me, and I think other people should know that rowing especially is such a cool sport and can show you a lot of things that otherwise you would never know about yourself.

Great, thanks for your time.