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In this undated personal photo, Bermudez digs into the surf during a practice session on Mission Bay in San Diego. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHLEY BERMUDEZ / February 18, 2013) |
Last August, Imperial High senior Ashley Bermudez took a gamble. She’d always known that she wanted to go on to play collegiate sports and as a letterman in basketball, volleyball, track, and cross-country, she felt confident of her chances in continuing in at least one of those pursuits.
Bermudez has since accomplished her goal of making a college team, but with a twist—she has gone from courtside to portside, from the desert to the drink, sitting in the second portside seat of a sweep boat for the San Diego State University rowing team, and she loves it.
“I was hesitant at first,” Bermudez, 19, admitted. “I had no lakes or rivers to practice on at home, but (after SDSU contacted me) I looked into it a little bit more and read about it. I had a one-on-one with the coach, we discussed it, and I decided to go to tryouts.”
Bermudez says that her high school athletic background indirectly prepared her for tryouts, which entailed all would-be rowers to be dressed, alert and on the water at 4:30 in the morning, only to go through a number of grueling exercises, all designed to push the limits of one’s cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. Out of some 50 applicants, Bermudez was one of the few to make the cut.
Nowadays she has a more reasonable practice schedule. Three days a week, she and her teammates hit the weights and twice a week, they undergo what is known as “erg-training”—in layman’s terms, stationary rowing in the gym. On Saturday afternoon to after dark, the Aztecs take to Mission Bay for a more hands-on workout.
“(At first) it was very hard for me,” said Bermudez. “I really questioned myself, but the support of my family and friends helped me stick with it. I’ve seen a lot of improvement in my splits, in my times.
“I really enjoy it,” she added. “(Rowing) not only makes you physically strong, but mentally as well. When you just want to give up, you know that the person in front of you is pushing hard, that the person in back is pushing hard, so you step it up. It’s the most intense sport I’ve ever done.”
The rigors of the sport have also made making new friends not only easy, but inevitable.
“It’s nice to have teammates who motivate and inspire me,” she concluded. “The older rowers are phenomenal athletes and make you want to be just like them.”
Bermudez’ team is tentatively scheduled to scrimmage the University of Southern California in the Port of Los Angeles in a few weeks, while their next actual competition is slated for Mar. 9, when they will host UC San Diego.
Until then, Bermudez plans to just keep on pushing.
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