UT rower Rachel White, right
photo by University of Tennessee
While many of her University of Tennessee schoolmates are heading to the beach for spring break this week, Chattanoogan Rachel White is on the water as well.
But her work is a little more serious in nature.
Miss White is one of the standout members of the UT women’s rowing team, and she and her teammates are going through the equivalent of preseason training camp this week.
But the daughter of Jon and Patte White does not seem to mind and hopes all the work pays off.
“This year we’ve been working very, very hard and we’ve set a lot of goals,” said the sophomore. “We’re ready to compete as a team and see where that takes us.”
Miss White rows in the premier varsity 8 boat No. 1, which took part along with the other Tennessee boats in an early season Oak Ridge Invitational meet last Saturday on Melton Hill Lake. The Lady Vols – which have qualified for the NCAAs most of the last 10 years -- rebounded from a morning loss to Virginia to beat Alabama and several other schools in the afternoon races.
Miss White, a former home-schooled student who was also active in the Chattanooga Youth Orchestra, was admittedly quite reluctant to take up rowing when she was 14 years old.
"I had played soccer my whole life and my dad had seen rowing on the Olympics on TV one summer, and he just drove me to the boathouse and said, ‘You are going to learn how to row,’ ” she said. “So I went in and learned how to do it.”
Now she is a little more eager to take part, even during the early morning UT team training sessions on Fort Loudoun Lake.
“Going out on the water in the early morning is something,” she said. “It’s so peaceful and so beautiful, even though we are working really, really hard.”
She also now gets some enjoyment from the sport after developing well enough to become one of the Lady Vols’ top rowers.
Her coach, Lisa Glenn, has nothing but praises for her.
“Technically her training is good,” coach Glenn said. “Her blade work and her skill are good. And this year her work ethic is very solid. She’s a leader in that way.”
Also on the UT rowing roster this year are Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences graduate Mary-Hannah Daugherty, Red Bank graduate Anita McLure and Payton Smith of Ooltewah.
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