Author: Vreni Hommes

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
First medal – corporate novice 8+ at Head of the Ohio.  I had won trophies for debate and extemporaneous speaking in high school, but never for sports!

How has rowing shaped you?
Until I was 47, I never thought of myself as an athlete.  Now, because of rowing, it is central to who I am.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
Blending competitive rowing with my career.  What I’ve found is that when I establish and clearly articulate my boundaries, people respect them. 

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
There is no “perfect,” only building a foundation then working toward a goal, brick by brick. 

What inspires you to keep rowing?
From my first time in the boat, I have been hooked.  The feeling of swing in the boat, the peace of a single row, the camaraderie of my teammates, Craftsbury, meeting other rowers from around the world, the achievements of our adaptive and First Row athletes at Three Rivers, watching junior rowers grow, race fast, and return to the club as coaches. . .  (how much space do I have? 🙂 

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
Three Rivers Rowing in Pittsburgh 

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
They complement one another.  The single gives me immediate feedback that I can incorporate into team boats.  There is nothing that compares with the harmony and speed that happens in a great row in an 8. 

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
Currently training for head season, and my first Head of the Charles (with Avalon Rowing).

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Keep showing up!  And reach out to other women rowers if you see they are struggling. 

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
I have had such fantastic moments in rowing, both 30 years ago and now, in the last three years, when I got back into the sport. A few that stand out are winning the Frostbite Regatta as a freshman in the Novice 8, being selected Captain of the Notre Dame Women’s team by my teammates my senior year and recently, earning my USRowing coaching certification and being able to coach adult Novice rowers this past summer.

How has rowing shaped you?
I was not a very confident young woman or athlete in high school. Rowing in college challenged me physically, emotionally and socially, taking me out of my comfort zones. The schedule…those 4:15 am alarms, two a days, travel…forced me to become very proficient in time management and organization, developed my confidence, leadership and communication skills as well as how to truly collaborate and work with others through positive and challenging experiences.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
My size! I am, and have always been, pretty small (think the old flyweight division!).  I always feel like I have to prove myself, that I can, and do, pull my weight, that I deserve to be in the boat. Changing that mindset is something I continually work on as well as working on strength and endurance through my other athletic endeavors. 

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
Rowing taught me that success comes in many forms, but always necessitates commitment and hard work be it our athletic, professional or personal lives. Life is not an easy thing….Rowing helped me realize at a young age that we don’t have to go through it alone, that we can trust others to be there for the high and low points. 

What inspires you to keep rowing?
I feel like my life would be incomplete without being able to be on the water in a boat and making it move through sheer physical and emotional determination. There is something so powerful, spiritual about this sport which no other activity has even come close to accomplishing for me. I don’t want that to ever end. 

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
The “Notre Dames” and South Bend Community Rowing.

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
The ability of like-minded individuals working as one to make a boat powerful and fast. There is nothing like hearing the water run under the boat, feeling that swing! The trust that is involved to make that happen is pretty awesome in the truest sense of the word. 

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
As an individual rower, always technique, but also, because I am smaller, increasing my power. I want to be an asset to my boat, to my teammates! As a competitor, I want to be able to walk on other boats in races, to help my crews achieve our goals of racing well and, hopefully, earning some hardware in the process.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Work hard, enjoy the journey, have your teammates’ backs and, most of all, love the power and strength you have as a woman and athlete!

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
Coxing the Hudson River Rowing Association’s Men’s 8+ safely to the end of the Hudson River Challenge 25K course, basically between the old Tappan Zee Bridge to the George Washington Bridge. We used a special cable to connect my iPod to the coxbox, playing inspirational music of each rowers’ choice to keep us focused and high-spirited. We were the only 8 to finish and the following year we became a mixed boat because it was so much “fun.”

How has rowing shaped you?
“Shape” shape? I am always at my physical peak in the heart of the summer season. Spiritually, it has introduced me to like-minded individuals who have become mentors and friends, both on and off the water

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
Accepting each rower as an individual and learning to adapt to the particular personality of each crew, each season. 

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
As they sing in “Hamilton,” ‘Talk less, smile more,’ unless, of course, you’re the coxswain. 

What inspires you to keep rowing?
The impossible ideal of perfection. This wonderful sense of sync’ing up with other individuals to make a boat run. I LOVE the repetition, not unlike the unrelenting practice of a musician. 

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
New Haven Rowing Club. 

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
When I rowed on the Hudson, I loved rowing my single to be one with nature, for the extraordinary glimpse of a bald eagle, the challenge of taming the Mighty Hudson. Also, as coach Bill Davies would say, to achieve “quiet rowing,” with the blades dropping in and driving through the water without a sound. When rowing with others, again, that idea of synchronicity, matching up with the rowers in front of you, which, in my case, is usually everyone as I’m usually in bow. I proudly accept the Hudson River Rowing Association label of “Bow Princess,” coined especially for Christine Mulvey. 

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
I have found the “perfect” doubles partner in Laura Nowacki. I have the utmost respect for her, again, on and off the water. In some ways we are total yin-yang, but in others we are exactly alike. Above all, we are the little engines that CAN. We earned the right to take out our club “restricted” lightweight shell, The Hummingbird, and we just adore rowing her. We are fortunate to have a terrific coach in Dave Vogel who challenges and inspires us at every practice. We are looking forward to head race season as we are both more long-distance competitors than sprinters. I am also learning to “toe” a quad, i.e., steer with the use of toe rudder. We are matching up with another doubles team at our club to make a lovely “mature women’s” quad.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Be kind. 

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
I think my proudest moment was as a rowing coach. I was in my second season of coaching, and had started earlier with exactly four experienced rowers. We had some folks returning from abroad, and a very talented group of novices moving into their first varsity season. We entered the Club 8 at the Head of the Charles, and won! I was proud of myself for having coached these women, and I was extremely proud of them for believing they could do that.

How has rowing shaped you?
I think it has made me honest with myself. At the end of a race, it is not some tactic or strategy that wins. You put your absolutely best effort out there, and the results speak for themselves. There are no style points or participation medals. Thus, setting standards for myself, in nearly all things, has clarity.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
I have had some injuries, and had breast cancer twice. These things made me doubt that I could keep training and competing. But I have surrounded myself with people who encouraged me, and led me forward. So the challenge, in the end, was really not the injuries but the self-doubt. 

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
I have always paraphrased Vince Lombardi on this one. There is no “I” in Crew. I love being part of a group that pulls together. The goal is clear. And the trust and love you must have for each other to throw yourself into it without fear is what makes rowing a special sport, and a great metaphor for life.

What inspires you to keep rowing?
I just love the challenge to make a boat go fast. The other stuff ….staying fit, having a social group. Just noise. I want to go fast. And I don’t care if I am 90, I hope to God I still want to go fast. 

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
I organized and regularly row with South Bend Community Rowing. I am also part of an alumnae group of Notre Dame rowers who meet, train, and compete a few times per year.

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
I prefer to row with others. I really enjoy the camaraderie. 

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
I am preparing for some upcoming sprint races, and will soon transition into endurance work for head races in the fall. I am specifically trying to attain my pre-injury erg scores. My hope is that the work will result in some medals in the Fall.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Accept coaching. 

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
My bronze in the single at Nationals in 2018. I had a terrible start, floundered and was behind the first half. Then was determined not to let her beat me, so kept up the power and just managed to nip her at the line. It was my first year racing a single, and had only been sculling for just over a year. 

How has rowing shaped you?
Physically: I am in the best shape of my life – since rowing in college in 1983-1985. I row lightweight, so I follow a diet my coach suggested, and it has made a massive difference in how I feel and look.

Mentally: I am focused on rowing… like all the time. Pictures everywhere. Kinda obsessed I guess. But it has also brought out the best in me. I have made so many friends, from the Pocock Rowing Center to the ambassador team of JLRacing, where I have made friends all over the world. I have a plan, goals, and work to follow the plan and achieve the goals. My coach is integral to this.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
Fear. It’s totally outside my comfort zone to be all alone out there in that skinny tippy little boat – in deep water. I have the fitness, the competitiveness, the drive, dedication and discipline. It’s the fear factor, that fights with achieving comfort in the boat so that you don’t have a death grip on the oars. I need to relax and just let the boat do its thing. 

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
It depends. Literally. Everything “depends.” How is the racing going to go this weekend? It depends – on wind, on who signed up for what event. What shape are they in? Did I eat right? Warm up enough? Am I going to practice tomorrow? It depends on wind, tide, water temperature. Am I going to workout? It depends – is my body telling me to take a break? That’s the other HUGE lesson. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. I’m not 25 any more. My body gets tired faster, and takes longer to recover. I have to take a complete day off once a week, and now and then, take two. And sleep. Sometimes it’s ok to skip a practice, even when the conditions are great, just to rest. In fact, it’s essential. 

What inspires you to keep rowing?
I love it. The feeling of the boat gliding under you… those rare moments when everything works well and you feel like an expert. And just being out there on the water on Penn Cove or the Harbor – so quiet and I can just “be.” Rowing is a sport where you can work a lifetime to achieve your goal. There is always something to learn. So I work with my coach to make a plan for the year, and work towards it. I have years of goals left, so there is no reason to stop. 

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
I currently row with the Masters Sculling Team at Pocock Rowing Center. Also I am starting a club: Rowing on Whidbey. 

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
Each boat has its own character. An 8 is the ultimate team – when it is in sync, it’s like singing perfect harmony in a huge choir. A 4 is a balance exercise, and you all have to be in tune with each other. Quads can be tricky because as scullers, many of us row alone a lot, so putting 4 scullers together you really have to adjust what you do to fit in with the other 3. A 2x is a sweet spot for me. I love that feeling of being in sync with the other rower. Like we are connected. A single is a special animal. You are cox, stroke, bow person, power, and coach all at once. You can only point fingers at yourself if you screw up. It’s very challenging, and also very rewarding. And when rowing alone on the cove it’s also very relaxing. I can do any workout I want, do whatever drills over and over. 

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
As a rower my current goal is to get my technique better. I’m really close to being moderately happy with it. It still comes and goes. Competitively my goals this year were to 1) win a gold in my boat (achieved at Northwest Regionals); and 2) start head racing. This latter is definitely outside my comfort zone. I have just managed to make it down the lane and not hit a buoy. And now I’m going to try and row hard and follow a curved course? Yikes.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Don’t stop making dreams and going after them. 

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
Winning gold in 1980 at the Head of the Charles for Women’s Club 8’s when I was Notre Dame. Women’s rowing at that time was a Club sport and we were a bit of a rag tag but very determined crew!

How has rowing shaped you?
Rowing has shaped me in so many ways. It has made me determined, dedicated to hard work, and grateful for the camaraderie you get from teammates.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
I’m grateful rowing was a club sport when I started because I truly believe my height would have precluded me from making the team. Even today I find myself apologizing to teammates about only being 5’4” but I try to compensate by sitting up straight and taking a nice long hard stroke. 

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
Rowing is quite literally the best example of teamwork there is – there is no better illustration of the fact that if you all aren’t pulling together, you will get nowhere. 

What inspires you to keep rowing?
The quick answer is the people I get to row with! In both of my crews I love the diversity of people – by age, size, background, interests, etc. It’s inspiring. Also I just love continuing to challenge myself physically. 

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
NDames as well as  Western Reserve Rowing Association Masters in Cleveland, Ohio (rowing on the mighty Cuyahoga River!).  I should also mention that I came back to rowing after many years being away from it, when I got a call from one of my former Notre Dame crew mates saying they were trying to put a boat together to race in a Head race. (Truth is, she said they were trying to get some of the “younger girls” in the boat and that was me – who was 53 at the time, so of course I was in!). These women seemed to come back into my life at just the moment when I needed them. So I, like the other NDames, joined a local club and now we all belong to two crew “families”.

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
I love the feeling of being on the water and the feel of the boat running underneath me – I find something spiritual about being on the water. 

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
I want to continue to improve my technique and my level of fitness. I don’t want to let my teammates down.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Be the best you you can be by working hard and giving your all. Don’t beat yourself up about things you can’t control, like your height, or a bad practice or whatever. 

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
The rowing moment I’m most proud of is winning the Gold at the 2006 FISA World Masters Rowing Regatta in a D (50-54) coxed four. I had never trained so hard! I was so excited to be picked for the boat and the three other women in the boat were people I loved. It was truly an amazing moment when we finished and I saw the number 7 (our lane) held up!

How has rowing shaped you?
Rowing has taught me about discipline, dedication and working as a team.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
The biggest challenge would be getting older. I belong to a small club and most of my contemporaries have either retired from rowing or moved away. I’m actually the oldest rower in the club! It’s difficult to compete for a seat with people 10 to 30 years younger than you.

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
Never give up, just show up!

What inspires you to keep rowing?
The beauty of the Hudson River, the work out, and the friendships.

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
Hudson River Rowing Association.

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
I love the comradary of rowing in a four or eight especially those magical times when the water is right, the rowers are in sync and you can hear the bubbles under the boat.

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
I’m working on keeping fit and strong. When in a boat I’m working on technique. In rowing, there’s always room for improvement.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
Show up – never give up. There’s always the next stroke – let the last one go.

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
After more than a year of coordinating the effort, gathering with my college alumnae team for our first race in 2013 at the Head of the Charles after most of the team had not rowed in a race in more than 35 years. It was so gratifying that these women who had rowed together years ago, and who are now scattered across the country, supported the idea of making this happen and were willing to spend the time and energy to train and row together again. We have continued to train and race together every year since. Our numbers keep growing and every year our gatherings for training and racing are a delight. 

How has rowing shaped you?
I started rowing in college and through it I learned discipline, focus, goal setting and to push myself much harder than I would have thought I would have been able. These lessons paid dividends throughout the rest of my life. 

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
Time is always an issue. Since I prefer to row with a team it is challenging to find a team schedule that meshes with my work schedule and other commitments. Some training inevitably requires work that I do on my own and motivation in that situation can be a challenge for me. I have a love-hate relationship with racing, but I know if I have the goal of a race I will train much harder.

What are the biggest life lessons you have learned from rowing?
Humility. I found this especially true as a master rower. In college I was a fairly successful rower, but back in the 70s there really wasn’t a lot of stiff competition in women’s rowing and you could do very well if you just trained hard. I’m really not built for rowing and now there are so many good masters women rowers that I realize I am not such hot stuff. There are those days when I just can’t seem to get in the flow and fixing one flaw results in amplification of another. It always comes back to being humble about my flaws, what I still have to learn and what I can improve upon.

What inspires you to keep rowing?
I enjoy the feeling of fatigue after a hard row and the feel of a boat moving across the water but the real inspiration is the (fleeting) joy of a perfect stroke and everyone in the boat moving as one.

What club or team are you currently rowing with?
Locally I row at Pocock Rowing Center and with Montlake rowing club, a group of masters women within PRC. At least once a year I row and race with the “Notre Dames”, a group of rowers from the first years of women’s rowing at the University of Notre Dame, when it was a club sport.

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
I prefer rowing with others. I love the challenge of matching. I row starboard and rarely stroke a boat, so matching the rest of the boat is always a little different depending on who is stroking and who is between me and the stroke. It requires focus. I also enjoy the speed of bigger boats, the camaraderie and energy of a team and sharing the experience of rowing with others.

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
As a rower I am always challenged by the need for core strength and overcoming a tendency to lapse back into aspects of a style of rowing that I learned decades ago, one that really is not a good choice as an older and aging person. And always I need work on moving a boat faster and smoother. When I was graduating from podiatric medical school, we were asked for a long term goal. Mine was unrelated to my profession. It was to row in the Masters Nationals when I was 70. It’s looking like I will be able to make that a reality.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
You can drift away from the sport over your lifetime, but you can always drift back in. There are as many reasons for rowing as there are rowers. Know your reason and find the situation that honors it as much as possible, whether it is sculling alone on a still bay or racing in an eight through the Montlake Cut.

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.

What rowing moment you are most proud of?
Does anything compare with the Head of the Charles Regatta?! In the 12 years that I have been rowing, I have had the good fortune to compete in that incomparable fall classic for the past eleven years in both sweep and sculling events. My proudest moments — sharing the HOCR podium with Sara Sargent after winning the Women’s Veteran 2x in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

How has rowing shaped you?
I was 61 when I found rowing — a sedentary 61 who had always tended to opt out of situations that involved competition or that might put me in the spotlight. Being overweight for most of my life no doubt contributed to this lack of confidence. I had never been involved in a sport, but on a whim, I signed up for a Learn-to-Row class because I’d seen adults rowing 8+ in Princeton and it looked like fun. I still remember, however, the apprehension I felt at the beginning of the 2006 Learn-to-Row class. I was the oldest and least fit in the group of 40 trainees. From the first session, however, I felt encouraged by the coaches and mentors in the program. That support, and the magic of being out on the water at dawn touched me and I took the next step by joining Carnegie Lake Rowing Association. Little by little, I came under the spell of rowing. It didn’t hurt that in my first race, our 8 won, and I got my first hint of the bonding that can happen with shared effort and why rowing has been called the ultimate team sport.

Feeling I had little time to waste, I soon bought a double and then a single. I became “coachable”, then focused, fit, and finally competitive in my age group. Winning gold for Carnegie Lake in the WG1x at the 2013 Masters National Championship and being recognized as US Rowing Fans’ Choice Masters Athlete of the Year in 2014 further boosted my self-confidence. Shortly after that, I was invited to join Vesper Boat Club as a member of the masters women’s 8+ and Fairmount Rowing Association where I train in the double. In all, I’ve competed in six FISA World Rowing Masters Regattas with Masters International.

Rowing has not only transformed my lifestyle but has also helped me achieve and maintain a healthy weight. More than that, rowing has given me priceless experiences and innumerable bonds forged on and off the water with new friends here and abroad. I developed my passion for rowing later in life and now at 73, I take every opportunity to encourage and mentor other women, especially those of “a certain age” to do the same.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to row your best?
I have advanced osteoarthritis in both knees that has worn away the joint cartilage. While this makes getting into and out of the boat challenging, the rowing stroke helps strengthen the knee muscles and keeps the joints from becoming unstable –another reason to get out there as often as possible.

What are the biggest life lessons you’ve learned from rowing?
Life is now. In my relatively short time as a rower, I have lost more than one teammate to an early or sudden death. Others have become incapacitated by disease or age. Today is the day. Enjoy every stroke. To succeed you must be fearless. (That goes double for the single!)

What inspires you to keep rowing?
Rowing is an interest I share with my husband. Besides the physical advantages of continuing to row as we age, there are other rewarding aspects of the sport. It has become a central part of our social life. Our teammates, partners, and competitors continue to motivate us to set goals and train hard. Among the most inspiring relationships are the friendships formed with several elite senior rowers, many of whom stay with us whenever they are in Princeton. Their dedication and mental toughness are really motivational.

What inspires you to keep rowing?
What club or team are you currently rowing with?
• Carnegie Lake Rowing Association in Princeton
• Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia
• Fairmount Rowing Association in Philadelphia

What do you like most about rowing a single or with others?
As a sculler who most often “coxes from the bow” in doubles and quads, what I like best about the single is the ability to focus without talking. No other boat class is more challenging or more rewarding. The 1x is the ultimate test of mental toughness. By comparison, in the team sweep boats I am inspired to give my fullest effort for the common goal. Both are thrilling.

What are you currently working towards as a rower? as a competitor?
Inspired by older teammates who are still amazing rowers, I am working on maintaining my strength and aerobic fitness to be able to continue to row for years to come.

As a competitor, my goals are:
• be an asset in every team boat
• show up and do my best in single sprints
• row another thrilling 2x race at HOCR
• compete at the 2020 World Rowing Indoor Championship in Paris next February
• row in a “parent/child” event with my 14-year-old granddaughter who will be joining us in June at Craftsbury Sculling Center for her first rowing experience.

What advice do you have for other women rowers?
• Find a mentor — someone who is doing what you aspire to do.
• Maximize your boating options — learn to sweep both sides, scull, cox.
• When learning to scull, use a mirror early on, you won’t regret it.

If you’d like to share your story in our “Amazing Women Masters Rowers” series, please email contact@whywerow.com.