Of all UFV’s various sports teams and clubs, the Cascades rowing team is often one of the most underappreciated. With larger sports teams often garnering more attention, the UFV rowing squad has quietly become one of the Cascades’ most competitive teams.
Just last December the team went to the Canadian University National Championships in St. Catharines, Ontario. On that trip was third-year rower Michelle Olive, who has had a competitive and fun-filled career with UFV. It may surprise you to know that Michelle’s start to rowing did not come in high school or prior, but right here with the Cascades.
“I started in university, actually,” said Olive, who placed fifth in her category in the 2018 Canadian University National Championships. “In my first semester, I decided that I wanted to get into some sort of sport or athletics, since I’ve always kind of been active in my life. I saw this poster in the bookstore about rowing and I was like ‘Oh, that looks kind of cool.’”
As it turned out, though Olive was starting from scratch, the environment of rowing wasn’t too much of a shock. “Didn’t know much about it, but I have always liked water sports. I grew up at the lake … Water sports sounded cool and [UFV] had a learn-to-row program starting up in the fall. I just emailed the coach and got started.”
Any time you start a sport, there’s a learning period where you grow and develop, but there’s also a period where you noticeably improve and get better. For Olive, this came in her second year, after seemingly taking every possible opportunity in her first year. “In my first year I wanted to go to as many regattas as possible. I told my coach, ‘I just want to learn, get as much experience at this as I can,’ and she put me into multiple races, some of them even ones the team wasn’t necessarily going to but I chose to go, kind of on my own, to gain the experience.”
When it comes to different sports there is no doubt that they all usually involve a high level of competitive drive. In terms of intricacy, rowing isn’t too different from other athletic ventures, according to Olive. “In a way it’s probably similar because you have to push yourself to keep going and keep working harder, and you’ve got to have that inner motivation.”
“With rowing there’s kind of an individual aspect as well as a team aspect to it. You’ve not only got to have that inner motivation to keep going and going even when you feel like you can’t go anymore, which happens quite often … You’ve also got to work with each other in the boat.”
Unlike other sports, rowing has factors outside of the players that can affect performance. When it comes to conditions, Olive says they play a massive role in how a race can go. “The boats are very light … The smaller the boat, the worse it is. Sometimes when the water is too rough and there’s too much wind and too much waves, they’ll actually not allow the small boats to go out.”
There’s no doubt that when it comes to rowing, there’s a lot more to it than the expected physical demands. Olive, who graduates after this semester and has put in four years total with UFV rowing, knows that better than anyone. For more of this compelling interview (with video) be sure to check out The Cascade on YouTube as well as the official website ufvcascade.ca for more sports interviews and content.
Image: Dan Kinvig/UFV Athletics
