Costa girls row to US Rowing Youth National title
The lure of the water was too much for Rochelle “Rockie” Curdes to ignore. A recent graduate from Mira Costa, Curdes played ice hockey, softball and basketball during high school but admits she was captivated by what she calls a “love-hate relationship” with rowing at the Marina Aquatic Center (MAC) in Marina Del Rey.
The decision to focus on the aquatic sport not only earned the 18-year-old from Manhattan Beach a record-setting national championship for her crew, but a college scholarship to San Diego State University.
“Some of my friends who were in Junior Lifeguards introduced me to rowing and I thought it would be easy,” Curdes said. “But it turned into a love-hate relationship. Rowing six or seven days a week from September through May is extremely hard work, but I can’t get enough of it.”
Curdes admits it took some adjusting getting used to carpooling for practices but it turned out to be a rewarding experience.
“I’d leave right after school and not get home until about 7 p.m.,” Curdes said. “But the drive gave us time to bond as teammates and the ride home provided an opportunity to wind down to get ready for homework and family dinner.”
Curdes was the stroke on the Women’s Youth 4 Boat team that recently won the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championship in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the girls broke the national record by approximately 12 seconds, completing the 2,000-meter course in 7 minutes, 8.59 seconds.
The team pulled away 750 meters into the race for a 2-length victory and the first for a MAC women’s crew.
The stroke’s responsibility is to establish the crew’s rate (number of strokes per minute) and rhythm. Because of the great responsibilities, the rower in the stroke seat will usually be one of the most technically sound members of the boat.
Serving as coxswain was Curdes’ Mira Costa schoolmate Chloe Kojima, who is entering her senior year. Both played vital roles in the record-setting performance which included teammates Maureen O’Hanlon (El Segundo), Grace Riccardi and Chelsea Shannon.
The coxswain steers the boat, motivates the rowers, and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rower’s strokes and is usually the “eyes and ears” of the boat.
“I’ll let the crew know where we are in the race,” Kojima said. “I’ll yell things like ‘We’re on their third seat,’ or ‘We’re one boat length ahead.’ When I watched the video of the race, I realized we could have coasted for the win, but during competition you just keep going strong. It was a great experience and very special to get the record. We slammed our hands in the water at the end. We were so tired but beaming with smiles. We were told that our time would have been second at the collegiate level.”
Curdes and Kojima were particularly proud of how the MAC crew overcame adversity, including a four-hour delay because of lightning and thunderstorms. Kojima said the team waited for the weather to clear by playing “stupid games” inside a van.
“We were not huge girls,” Kojima said. “We average maybe 5-foot-6 in height while other teams had girls that were 6-foot-2. It shows that good, clean rowing and mental toughness can win.”
While Kojima prepares for her senior year of high school and another season of rowing at MAC, Curdes begins her collegiate career majoring in international business and as a member of the Aztec rowing team.
“I had wanted to go to college in the Midwest, but changed my mind,” Curdes said. “San Diego State has a beautiful campus, has a good program in Division 1 and all the coaches are women, which I like.”
Curdes added, however, that she wouldn’t be there without the tutelage of her MAC coach Zohar Abramovitz.
“I love my coach at Marina. Zohar is such a good coach. He’s very low key, but gets his point across. I owe him a lot.” ER