I am currently reading a fascinating book. It’s called The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their epic quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It’s written by Daniel James Brown.

I haven’t finished it yet, but when I do it will be in the Library. Excuse me the Fraser Library. The story is how nine young men, 8 oarsmen and one coxswain – (the person who steers the boat and calls cadence). The coxswain is the smallest person in the boat and the only one who faces forward.

The crew were all students at the University of Washington Seattle.

It’s important to know how popular boat crew racing – called a regatta – was in the 1930’s. For example, on the west coast, there were no major league professional sports. No NFL football. The NFL didn’t exist. No major league baseball. The Dodgers and Giants didn’t move to California until the 1950’s. No NBA basketball. College sports were entirely amateur – as were all Olympic sports. And rowing was the most popular sport in America. Tens of thousands of people would line the river banks to watch a regatta. The contests were broadcast by nationwide radio hoolcup, in itself a major undertaking. And television had not yet been invented. One would think it is a simple matter for 8 men to row a boat. The fastest rowers would win.

But it was much more complicated than that. These young men were financially poor; the reason they rowed was to get a scholarship. And the competition was fierce. Once chosen, the training was close to torture. Every day for hours in all kinds of weather, they trained. They were big men, usually 6’3 or taller, with obvious excellent upper body strength.

But they were also individualists – intelligent but independent. They had to row together in precise and complicated movements. Each oar had to enter the water at the exact same time at exactly the same angle, and exit the water exactly the same time at the rate of +/- 30 times a second. They were fast, 4 miles in 20 minutes.

The psychology is complex. Crews were carefully balanced blends of personality and physical abilities. Each oarsman has to adjust to the strengths and weakness of 7 others and perform as one unit.

Good crews are a careful blend of personalities.

Except for the first two oarsmen, they could see nothing except the back of the man in front. They could not see other boats, and if they lost concentration – just one person who might be distracted for less than a second – could lose the race for the whole crew.

Then there was this mythical, spiritual moment that came only after mounts of physical and mental effort. Remember, they were also college students who were going to a high-standard university. That moment is called a “swing,” or we might say “in the zone.” It happened when all the men in the boat were in perfect synchronization, thinking of nothing about themselves – in fact thinking of nothing except rowing. When it happened, they were unbeatable. They were entirely unconscious of everything, but acted as a single unit. The boat would seem to glide across the water as if on its own.

Then there was the boat itself. Entirely hand crafted with the finest cedar, which breathes as if human. It was very long and these big men barely fit inside its narrow width.

The book is a manual for working together as one crew, one team. Mentally, physically and spiritually as one – one with each other, one with the boat.

These were years of the depression when jobs, if available – paid 25cents an hour. These men had to work logging jobs, working with jackhammers, hanging from ropes and making holes in solid rock on projects like the Grand Coolie Dam on the Colombia River. They lived in shacks, worked after class and training, janitor jobs, all while keeping their first class academic standing.

It’s an inspirational story, and the connection to team sports is obvious. The connection with life skills is also obvious.

These young men had the enormous honor of winning the Gold Medal in Berlin, right in front of a furious and angry Adolf Hitler. I haven’t finished the book to find out what happened to the German Racing crew who lost.

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