Ronnie Coleman is the originator of some of my favorite exclamatory statements. I think you have to hear him to appreciate:
I feel that the most intimidating opponents are the ones with an eerie bleak and directed focus. The who stare blankly past you. All the important things to be said are already understood by their boat-mates; "all together. we move as a boat, we win as a boat."
As the school year draws to a close and I hand down the reigns of the rowing club, I have stumbled across this year old journal entree:
"I find comfort in the increasing occurrence of encouraging and positive displays from my team-mates. We're a small team but I remain optimistic; we will compensate for what we lack in size with what we have in will. We will find our victories, the most important of which will not be counted by the medals we win, but by the smiles, laughs, and friendships. I will look back on these days and not remember the anxious weekends and sleepless nights, but I will remember the way we felt as a team, a family. I will remember the calm assurances that sooth my turbulent mind when things appeared the most bleak; the soft smile of a friend, the concerned inquiry of a team-mate looking for a way to help, the youthful spirit of a new rower brimming with excitement when they feel as I have felt. I will not be able to remember the pain that filled my body; I will be too distracted by a knowledge unparalleled: the pledge of a teammate, a brother, putting in his all because he knows i am too."
"ain't nothing to it, but to do it" - ronnie coleman
