To be a great athlete, one needs four qualities: talent, work ethic, dedication, and a love for the sport. However, to be a member of a rowing team, one needs only one quality: obsession.

Do you have any idea what the Sac State rowers, on the crew team, put themselves through every day to get faster, stronger, and ranked in the nation?s top 25? It?s an insane way of life.

They get up before most Sac State students go to bed and drag themselves to the lake, to practice for two hours before they have to go to class. And that word “practice” can easily be substituted with the word “torture.”

We?re not talking about a morning shoot around, a light jog, or game of catch before heading into the locker room for a sit in the whirlpool. This is hardcore rowing.Hard, painful rowing at six in the morning every day.

Imagine sitting in a boat, staring at somebody?s back for two hours, and stroking in strenuous repetition, at the holler of somebody else?s command. It sounds more like slave labor than a sport, and when the day of competition comes, it?s rewarded with a race that lasts about seven minutes.

So why would anybody put themself through this? How could the pain and suffering of that everyday routine possibly become fulfilling?

Those questions are as difficult for most of us to answer as it is to wonder how Pythagoras came up with that theorem of his. But for those like Sac State women?s crew members Mieke Boynton, Breanne Hart or head coach Bill Zack, the answer is simple: It?s an obsession.

An obsession that just happens to result in constant pain for every day that they put themselves through it. It?s an attitude that you wish every sport should have.

How good would athletes in other sports be if they put themselves through the type of everyday ritual that the rowing team does? Would they even be able to participate in their sport once they put themselves through a workout that was even half as hard as two hours in the middle of a lake, putting every ounce of strength that they have into each stroke they take?

The rowing team does it all, and yes, some of them are here on scholarship, but they certainly aren?t getting any recognition for their efforts in any other fashion from any other direction. They only receive the self-gratification that comes within themselves when they complete a race or finish a workout. It?s the type of determination that we all should have. Could you even fathom putting that type of determination into getting good grades?

This type of effort really needs to be appreciated. If you?re interested, you should take the opportunity to go out to the Aquatic Center on Lake Natomas and watch a rowing match. It?s actually a nice way to spend an afternoon. The weather is getting nice, so take a picnic basket and a couple friends for some fun in the sun and support the Sac State rowing team. Take your girlfriend.

Take your dog.

All are welcome.

And if you?re really into the competition thing, they win most of the time, too. Questions or Comments? E-mail [email protected]