
1 minute read
Achieving swing
Having thalassophobia — fear of deep water — as an integral part of my psyche, “ e Boys in the Boat” is not a book I ordinarily would’ve read. But after a couple of literary-minded friends highly recommended it, I decided to give it a try. I’m thrilled I did because the story is far more than a historical account of the University of Washington’s eightoar rowing crew’s quest for gold in the 1936 Olympics. It is a tale of grit and determination of working-class young men who struggled and experienced most challenging times throughout their lives but refused to be fated by their circumstances. It’s also a deep dive into the complexity of and philosophy behind the sport, which leads to the most telling aspect for me: It’s an allegory for reaching mental and emotional ow, the point at which all seems to be in perfect harmony, all resistance vanishes, and you feel completely whole and perhaps moving on an ethereal plane.
After reading the prologue and rst chapter, in which the author, Daniel James Brown, paints the background — Seattle during the Great Depression replete with Hoovervilles — and introduces Joe Rantz, the heart of the crew, I knew how much of my waking moments over the next week would be spent.
Four years into the Great Depression, conditions remained bleak for many Americans, 25% of whom were jobless. Soup lines and shanty towns were regular features across the landscape. e tolls taken on the people weren’t only economic, they were also personal and psychological. Millions were reduced to survival mode. For the downtrodden, how one looked or what they wore was irrelevant. But shabby dress accompanied with an unkempt appearance was a badge of shame and source of ridicule for young men like Joe, who through their nevergive-up approach to life, managed to matriculate in a college or university. And that is where we meet Joe as he ambles across the University of Washington campus wearing a rumpled, hand-me-down sweater on his way to try out for what many considered to be an elitist sport in which he had no skill. Making the team wasn’t for Joe an athletic feat to boast about. Failure would’ve meant having to abandon school. And the alternative was not palatable. us, began Joe’s quest. But unbeknownst to him and his cohorts, their undaunted e orts would remake them in ways unfathomable to their young adult minds and elevate them to the nation’s and ultimately the world’s attention.
Rowing in absolute tandem with precise strokes at the exact moment is an art unequaled in sports. As I read, I searched my mind for equivalent competitions or situations. I thought of the “runner’s high” I got,