“We’re here every day, and we’re getting on the water and we’re putting in meters, probably more than every other team in Minnesota,” she said. “And I think just getting together as a team is very important, even off the water.”
Monica Schmidt, 15, is the coxswain — the person who faces forward, steers the boat and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers. She doesn’t pull an oar but helps set strategy and motivates her teammates.
“You want your coxswain to be the lightest, and so I was kind of thrown in there because I was light,” she said. ”But I actually really enjoyed it,” she said. “I really like motivating people, yeah, especially during these intense, intense races.”
Carly Buzzell and Elena Metzger (in front, left to right) and Noah Holst and Andrew Vizecky (in back, left to right) rowed their boats during Lake Phalen Rowing practice at Gervais Lake in Little Canada on Wednesday. (Ayrton Breckenridge)
Rachel Brings, 15, is “the stroke.” What’s that? “Basically, it’s just the person that, like, sets the pace for the boat,” she said. “So you decide how fast we’re gonna go, and then everybody follows you.”
And how does she decide that? Schmidt will decide on the rate, she said, “and then we have to figure out what pace works best for us, depending on how hard we can pull at certain speeds.
“So we’ll do like a sprint at the beginning. … settle in with a little bit of a slower rating throughout the middle, and then a sprint at the end.”