Maya Lain '21 Recruiting Profile

One of the greatest challenges I’ve experienced throughout high school is balancing sports while maintaining a rigorous academic course load.  During these past three years I have pushed myself to compete in two sports while taking honors and AP/IB classes. Freshman and sophomore year, I attended high school swim practices before school and club swim practices every evening, including Saturday morning practices and meets which took place over the weekends - both in and out of town. Following some serious introspection, I decided to switch from club swimming to club rowing beginning at the start of junior year. This meant that I also would practice most evenings and sacrifice my weekends for in and out of state Regattas. Switching to rowing was a major change for me as I transitioned from a truly individual sport (swimming) to arguably the epitome of team sports (rowing); rowing requires precision, synchronicity, and focus on the whole (of the boat) as compared to only bettering myself as a swimmer. Rowing has taught me what truly being a part of a team is all about. While being an athlete most of my life has required an extensive time commitment, I have gained so much from my participation in team sports that has helped me deal with the results of having so much on my plate academically. Although both academics and my sport choices are demanding and time consuming, I truly love being busy as it gives me a sense of self-fulfillment. 

Joining the varsity women’s rowing team in college is important to me because being a part of a team boosts my physical and emotional well-being and provides a fun way to keep fit while allowing me to make a new network of supportive friends. Being petite, I have to work harder than my teammates to achieve the same goals. The inclusivity of rowing lets me be judged objectively by my effort and not by my race, religion, or income. When rowing with seven of my teammates, our synchronicity and competitiveness enable us to function as one unit regardless of the labels we carry outside of the boat.

My rowing community, consisting of girls from all over Central Texas, introduced me to people from all walks of life and differing points of view. Joining a university's rowing team will help me utilize the open-mindedness and adaptability I cultivated in high school to build a more tolerant campus community while satiating my desire to compete in the sport I love.  

As I mentioned above, I am not your typical athlete - I am petite but my height does not get in my way. In both swimming and rowing, height is a major advantage. In swimming, I overcame this obstacle by perfecting my technique and working extremely hard at practices. In rowing, I started off competing in the openweight category with girls of all heights. My varsity coach noted my commitment and effort during this as we both knew I was at a disadvantage. As the season progressed, I improved my technique and times to the point where my coach selected me to participate in a special out of state training trip which culminated in a regatta and the lightweight season. Moreover, my switch from swimming to rowing was unique in that because of my years of competitive swimming, the head coach for the women’s team decided to have me skip rowing for one year with the novice squad and placed me immediately into the varsity squad. This meant that I entered this new sport and joined women who had not only been rowing longer than me, but had started off as novices. I had a huge learning curve to (1) prove to my boatmates that I was ready to row with them and (2) prove to my coach that she made the right decision in placing me with the varsity women. I am proud to say that I earned my place in the varsity boat and have kept my place with consistent hard work and dedication.