Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMROW | O'Shaughnessy uses experience with Canadian team to help SU
By Matt Levin
Posted: 5/10/06, 7:45 PM EST Section: Sports
It is not often a Syracuse student finds himself spending the first week of school in Japan. Of course, it is also rare to find a student like senior Dan O'Shaughnessy, who last year raced for the Canadian national rowing team.
O'Shaughnessy, a member of the eighth-ranked SU rowing squad, will join his teammates this Saturday in the race for the Packard Cup against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.
O'Shaughnessy refused to be discouraged after finishing last out of the sixty rowers at the Canadian national team camp. Soon, spectators were amazed to find this kid from Syracuse pushing himself alongside the top rowers in all of Canada.
When all the racing had finished, O'Shaughnessy had improved his ranking so much that he was chosen to train with the Canadian national team.
This is where the real work began.
"It was ridiculously hard," O'Shaughnessy said. "I've never done anything so hard in my entire life. Everything was competitive; they never took the pressure off us the entire summer. It kind of tested my boundaries."
This was the type of intense rowing he expected since his team was preparing to travel across the globe for the World Rowing Championships.
The trip to Japan seemed surreal. O'Shaughnessy was used to traveling a couple of hours for a rowing regatta, now he was on a plane traveling to Asia. O'Shaughnessy said the importance of the event dawned on him when his coach reminded the team they were all there to represent Canada. A small handful of athletes and coaches were to stand for an entire country. O'Shaughnessy could sense a great deal of pressure.
O'Shaughnessy and his teammates did not let the pressure hinder them. His team had raced well enough throughout competition to have a chance to medal on the last day of the rowing championships.
O'Shaughnessy was confident his team could at least snag the bronze medal. It appeared they would until there were 100 meters left in the 2,000-meter race. At the final moments of the race, the German boat squeaked in front of the Canadian rowers for third place.
O'Shaughnessy, a member of the eighth-ranked SU rowing squad, will join his teammates this Saturday in the race for the Packard Cup against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.
O'Shaughnessy refused to be discouraged after finishing last out of the sixty rowers at the Canadian national team camp. Soon, spectators were amazed to find this kid from Syracuse pushing himself alongside the top rowers in all of Canada.
When all the racing had finished, O'Shaughnessy had improved his ranking so much that he was chosen to train with the Canadian national team.
This is where the real work began.
"It was ridiculously hard," O'Shaughnessy said. "I've never done anything so hard in my entire life. Everything was competitive; they never took the pressure off us the entire summer. It kind of tested my boundaries."
This was the type of intense rowing he expected since his team was preparing to travel across the globe for the World Rowing Championships.
The trip to Japan seemed surreal. O'Shaughnessy was used to traveling a couple of hours for a rowing regatta, now he was on a plane traveling to Asia. O'Shaughnessy said the importance of the event dawned on him when his coach reminded the team they were all there to represent Canada. A small handful of athletes and coaches were to stand for an entire country. O'Shaughnessy could sense a great deal of pressure.
O'Shaughnessy and his teammates did not let the pressure hinder them. His team had raced well enough throughout competition to have a chance to medal on the last day of the rowing championships.
O'Shaughnessy was confident his team could at least snag the bronze medal. It appeared they would until there were 100 meters left in the 2,000-meter race. At the final moments of the race, the German boat squeaked in front of the Canadian rowers for third place.
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