Team Sports and Leadership

I don’t keep many trophies or mementos from youth sports, but I’m often reminded of what I learned as a competitive swimmer and rowing athlete.

Swimming is, for the most part, a solitary and often repetitive sport during training. You spend hours alone in the pool, swimming lap after lap, building endurance and refining technique but on meet day, there’s an energy that cuts through all of that monotony.

The anticipation builds as your events get closer, and the feeling of cheering on your teammates, and being cheered on in return, makes the months of silent grind feel worthwhile. The relay is always the highlight. Even though you’ve trained independently, in that moment, you’re racing as a team. There’s something electric about that shift—suddenly, your personal effort contributes to a larger goal, and your adrenaline carries you through. Everyone’s faster, sharper, more locked in. If one person’s had a rough day, the team can lift them up. If you’re the one off your game, someone else carries the momentum. You get to shine in your specialty, but you're never doing it alone.

Rowing had many similarities but somehow managed to be even more grueling. Training on the erg was tough, mentally and physically exhausting in a way that few things are. But once the crew got on the water and found our rhythm together, something changed. It was still exhausting, yes, but the sensation of everyone in the boat pulling in sync, each person filling their specific role with maximum effort, created a kind of shared intensity that was genuinely powerful.

I started out rowing, but when it became clear that five-foot-four was as tall as I was going to get, switching to coxswain made more sense. Having rowed myself, I understood what it felt like to be in those seats. That experience allowed me to lead with more empathy, to know when to push harder and when to hold back, and to sense what each person needed in order to give their best.

These days, I don’t swim laps anymore, and I doubt I’ll ever choose the erg for fun, but the lessons stuck. I learned what it means to put people in the best position to contribute and how crucial it is to understand where someone might be excelling or struggling, even if they’re not saying it out loud. I’ve carried that awareness into everything I’ve done since: how I approach team projects, how I lead, and how I think about success. Winning together, feeling that alignment between individual strength and group momentum, is something I still chase. I’ve just found new ways to do it—and ideally, ones that keep me a little more dry.