Rollercoaster – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Sept. 15, 2003
Becca Brinker, a senior rower from Cincinnati, Ohio, was destined to be a Buckeye. Her parents, sister and brother all attended Ohio State. So being a Buckeye is something old, but rowing was something new.
“I didn’t know anything about rowing when I started the fall of my freshman year,” Brinker said.
She saw the rowing team was recruiting on the Oval and thought that it would be something interesting to do. In high school, Brinker competed in track, softball and soccer, so she wanted to participate in sports in college. Brinker missed the rowing informational meeting, because she got lost on campus. Luckily, she had some friends that went and found out what rowing was all about. She was one of 50 women, out of the 100 that tired out, to make the team.
She spent her freshman year as a novice. She felt that she had improved a lot during her first year and she knew she had the potential to do better. So Brinker decided to try out for the varsity team.
“I was so intimidated and I didn’t really think that I was going to make the team,” she said.
She made the varsity team as a sophomore and rowed in the first and second varsity four boat. The first varsity four finished the season 24-13 over all and 5-1 in duals. The second varsity four went 5-7 overall in the season and 1-0 in duals. Brinker went to the 2002 NCAA championship as an alternate.
After her sophomore year she returned home and to her job at Paramount’s Kings Island. She has worked at the amusement park since she was 16 years old. Brinker started working there with her sister, Sarah, to make money to pay for college. She began working at an ice cream stand in the park and worked her way up to food service support staff area manager. Brinker spends not only her summers at Paramount’s Kings Island but her weekends during the school year as well.
“I don’t want to have to pay back loans for the next 10 years, so I chose to keep working at Kings Island so I wouldn’t have to,” Brinker said.
During the season Brinker’s day begins with practice at 5 a.m. followed by a full day of classes. Once Friday rolls around, work provides a bit of a break for Brinker. That break is just enough time to get her schoolwork done. She gets up Saturday morning for practice and then after practice drives down to Cincinnati to work until the park closes. She gets up at 6:30 a.m. Sunday mornings to work the early shift and then leaves home about 7 or 8 p.m. to drive back to Columbus and start her week all over again.
Sometimes Brinker has to drive home on Friday to work at Kings Island and then has to come back for Saturday morning practices. After her Saturday practice she drives back down to Cincinnati to work until the park closes
“I love my teammates and I love the people I work with, so I am able to maintain sanity doing both at the same time,” Brinker said.
As well as things were going with the team, Brinker was about to discover rough waters back home. Before beginning her junior year, she learned that her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“It was so hard to get that kind of news and then have to come back up to Ohio State for pre-season training two weeks later. My heart wasn’t in it,” she said.
Brinker was very close to not going back to rowing or to Ohio State because she wanted to be with her mom and family. Her mom insisted she return to her life at college.
“I used my mom’s courage to get me through all the hard times at rowing, in classes or at work,” Brinker said.
The combination of her mother’s courage and the drive to be a better rower is what got Brinker back into the boat. She wanted to prove to herself and to her teammates she was better than the previous year. Brinker went back to her rigorous routine of getting up early for practices, full day of classes and work on the weekends. While she was at school, her mom was going through several surgeries and chemotherapy. Brinker’s mom is in remission now and is expected to make a full recovery.
Through all of this, Brinker managed to have the best rowing season of her career. Brinker was part of the crew that beat Michigan at regionals. The race had a photo finish with varsity four beating Michigan by 0.4 seconds. The win sent Brinker and her boat to the nationals where they finished fourth, which tied the best finish in the program history. The varsity four boat finished the season with a 33-9 record.
“I will never forget that day, those moments. It still gives me chills every time I think about it,” she said.
Winning regionals and placing fourth at nationals was a big accomplishment, but so was the whole season. She reached these milestones and finished the rowing season despite the difficult times she has faced.
“Starting the season with almost not coming back to ending the season first in the region and fourth in the nation was a big personal accomplishment for me,” Brinker said.
Brinker did not attain her goals on her own; she had the help of her teammates. She has a lot of respect for her them because of the physical and mental demands that are put onto them. She not only thinks of them as teammates but as friends.
“The bond between us is so strong that 20 years from now, they will still be some of the best friends I have,” she said.
The influence of assistant rowing coach Robbie Tenenbaum has also helped Brinker become a better rower. Tenenbaum, who coaches the varsity four boats, has a motivating attitude that helped Brinker and her teammates get through the season.
“When we are going to pieces on the water it doesn’t matter who else is out there, he makes it feel like we’re ring in the middle of the grand finals at nationals,” she said.
Not only has Brinker excelled on the water, but also in the classroom. With all of the ups and downs that she faced, she was still able to do well academically. Brinker is a three-time OSU Scholar-Athlete and is two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Even with working, rowing, school and dealing with her mother’s illness, Brinker has still managed to have a successful year.
“I don’t think that I have begun to accomplish anything big in my life yet,” Brinker said. ” But I would say that thus far, being able to work, row, and go to school at the same time and be somewhat successful at all three is a big accomplishment for me.”
