Call To Action

If you have a rowing story to tell or an experience to share that had a positive impact on you as a rower, coxswain, or coach...email me at therowingpodcast@gmail.com.

With everyone stuck at home right now, this is a time for positive stories that can help to keep the rowing community strong.

Matt Rung

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hi everyone, my name is Matt Rung. I'm a former lightweight rower. I rode lightweight at uh Westside Rowing Club in Buffalo, New York, and rode for lightweight crew at uh Cornell back in my undergrad years. And I was a coach for a number of years as well, coached Cornell and Princeton, and uh did even did some coaching at Westside too before all that, and then eventually was the um first assistant and recruiting coordinator for uh UW with uh Mike Callahan and the Huskies. And I've been out of rowing for a while, but you know, I think that we're in a time right now where I think we need positive stories, I think we need positive news out there. I think we need community, we need a way to come together. Well, a lot of people are trapped at home, and it can be difficult to stay in touch, and I think it's very important right now that we find ways to stay connected to keep the to keep our relationships going and to keep the celebration of rowing in particular to keep that momentum going. You know, there aren't any races happening right now, teams are dispersed all over the country, and so I want to start this really as a service, I think, to the rowing community, which even though I'm not, you know, an active coach or a rower anymore, I still really love rowing, and I still am very much a fan of the community and all the the great things that come out of it, and I want to serve that community in in some small way, and I feel that this podcast can do that. So if you're listening, uh this is a call to action. Central to this podcast will be the idea of story and experience. And what I want to do is bring on guests to have them share stories and experiences that were inspirational to them through their run career that enabled them to progress and move forward in a positive way. For me, you know, the the medals and the winds of rowing were fun, but I find that the long-lasting positive effects of rowing are really the experience, the memories, uh, the friends that you've gained along the way. And that's what I want to talk about. This is a call to action. Through your own rowing career, whether or not it was in the past or you're you're still actively involved with the community now. If you have an experience that you want to share with other people that you think would have a positive impact on them, because it had a positive impact on you, I want to have you on the show. I want to talk to you about that. I want to provide a platform for you to share that story with all of us, whether or not it was a win or a loss or a boat that you were in or a teammate that you met, somebody had that had an impact on you. We've all got lots and lots of stories, dozens from our own personal experiences in in our rowing journeys. And all of them had an impact on us, and I'm positive that they would have an impact on other people too, especially for the younger athletes, younger coaches, younger coxswains out there who may be stuck at home right now and they can't be actively involved, as actively involved as they want to be. They can't really further their rowing journey in the ways that they normally do, but they can still get better. And I think that some of these stories could help to provide inspiration, motivation so that people can, in fact, keep progressing, keep getting better, so that when life does return to something of a normal state, they can come out of the situation better. We can all come out of the situation better. And that's the best response I think we can have. I think the worst response would be to hunker down and just kind of wait. I think the best response is to get active in a very different way, to find a way to get better, stronger, smarter while you're in this new state, so that when you come out, you you're truly a different person. You're a bit transformed in some little way, or maybe even some big ways. I feel that that's something that we can accomplish with this. So if you're interested in being on the show, or you know of somebody who'd be a fantastic guest on this show, email me at the rowing podcast at gmail.com. Again, my name's Matt. Thanks for listening, and I hope to be hearing from many of you soon.