2,000 METERS to VICTORY

By David Campbell

"Don't worry about the other boats," our coach said. "Just row this one as hard and fast as I know you can."

The big day. "This is it men, this is the race we've been shooting at for three years.

"Just remember what I told you: 2,000 meters is a long race, and the last 500 meters will be won in your head and in your heart. Now let's get out there and row."

We knew if we won this race we would go on the Princess Elizabeth Cup in England. We also knew that the competition was strong, especially the teams from British Columbia and from a local high school. It would be a tough race.

We hefted the boat onto the dock and into the water.

A man who lived sportsmanship

My rowing coach from 1966 to 1968, in my high school days, was the best example of true sportsmanship I have ever had the privilege to see. His name was Neil Campbell.

Neil Campbell never lectured us about sportsmanship, he lived it. He coached a novice team of oarsmen into National Champs in three seasons. Along the way he taught us true sportsmanship and he taught us to be men.

Despite being the lead oarsman, or "stroke," of the Canadian Olympic Rowing Team in 1964, he was a humble man. He'd say, "If you lose, say nothing. If you win, say less." That set the tone. If we bragged or showed off after a win he would chew us out.

He worked us hard. Training began in January, as soon as we came back to school from winter break. He had us run five miles before breakfast. After school we lifted weights and did calisthenics in an unheated building on the edge of campus.

Everything he told us to do, he did--and then some. Once he thought we were getting a little too full of schoolboy bravado, so he challenged us all to a push-up contest. He was about 35 years old at the time.

We all pumped away until only our stroke, Neil and I were left. Moore Newell, our stroke, and I collapsed together at 112. Neil went on to 125!

Rowing in the eight-man shells could not start until early April when the ice was off the river. Even then, it was bitterly cold with an icy wind blowing in off Lake Erie.

Neil would be in an aluminum boat alongside us, freezing and shouting correction and encouragement through a megaphone.

He wouldn't let us get too proud. If we thought we were rowing well because we had just overpowered another team, he would arrange to have the local men's team, who were the Canadian Olympic Team, race against us. They would beat us by five lengths going away. It hurt, but it made us row better. Neil made us dig deeper daily.

The day finally came for the big race, the Canadian National Schoolboy Championships. We remembered him telling us to stay loose; to dismiss the crowds, bands, television, parents and girl friends from our minds. He wanted us to think rowing and nothing else.

Stay loose and row tough

He called us together in the boat house. "Men [it was never 'boys'], you've been taught everything I know about this sport [not, 'I've taught you everything there is to know']. I've seen you get better for three years. I know you can win this race. Don't worry about the other boats. Just row this one as hard and fast as I know you can."

He never lectured us on sportsmanship--he lived it. He made us dig deeper every day.

He gave us some last-minute encouragement as we rowed slowly down toward the starting gate.This was it. The wind was on the beam (a crosswind), which would make it hard to steer and keep the boat level.

"Think over the race in your mind," I could hear Neil saying. "Stay loose and row tough."

We approached the starting gate, and began to turn the racing shell around. Moore Newell pulled out a banana he had brought on board. He calmly peeled it down a bit, took a bite and handed it back to the number seven man. He took a bite and handed it to me. I nibbled and handed it back. The banana went all the way down the boat, much to the distraction of the other boats lined up in the gate. We laughed. We were ready.

The gun fired. We exploded out of the gate and poured the power on. We hit the catch with all we had and bent the shaft to follow through.

It was close. The team from British Columbia was beside us to the 1,500 meter mark. Now our strategy was to sprint home--to take it up to 42 strokes a minute.

We hit 42 and they hit 42. It was still close.

But our 42 was faster than their 42. We broke their hearts by gaining about a foot each stroke.

Finally our conditioning paid off. We won going away. What Neil had said about the last 500 meters was true. Several of us (including me), leaned over the side and threw up. We had nothing left. We had set a course record and we were going to England!

The next day Neil had us out rowing again. When we got to the rowing club, the Olympic team was waiting for us. They beat us by a lot, of course. But it brought Neil's lesson home:

"If you lose, say nothing. If you win, say less."

Taken from Youth 90 magazine

DRIVING EVERYONE CRAZY

Remember these tips on your first day behind the wheel.

By Susan Quinn

Fasten your seat belts, everyone. Today's the day.

It's your first day behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle. Exciting, yes, but not the easiest thing you've ever done.

When I learned to drive it was a pitiful experience at first. My early attempts were a source of laughter to friends and family alike. Even the neighbors got into the act with jokes and anxious looks as I backed out of the driveway.

I'm not sure if it's possible to learn to drive a car without some of these experiences. But to help you get safely on the road to driving success, I have put together a few points that I hope will make your first days of driving at least a little more humorous than painful.

When you practice in an empty parking lot, make sure it is absolutely, completely empty.

When I drove for the first time, I used the parking lot at my high school. It had seemingly miles of open space with nothing for me to hit, smash, maim or mutilate. Ideal conditions.

Learning to drive a car can be exciting, challenging--and humorous!

What a thrill it was to drive for the first time! And I was doing well at it, too, until I decided to try going in reverse. What happened then defies all mathematical odds but is completely in line with Murphy's Law of Driving in Empty Parking Lots: If there is even one small object in an empty parking lot, you will find and hit it, and in the process put several dents in your car.

Our parking lot had small movable signposts for marking off no parking zones. When I shifted into reverse gear, I backed into the only signpost in the entire lot. It fell back. But I went so far over it that the concrete base got stuck under the car. When I stopped and pulled forward again, the sign came with me, crashing down onto the truck where it bounced several times, leaving several nice dents.

That brought my first driving lesson to a quick end.

Avoid driving with an overcautious parent.

Many parents get worried when teaching their teenagers to drive. Folks who under ordinary circumstances react in a fairly normal manner suddenly begin to do strange things.

You have surely seen your parents ride in cars before, sitting relaxed, perhaps talking or listening to the radio. But the first time you are the one operating the car, be prepared for a radical challenge.

A friend of mine described her normally calm father teaching her to drive. Heading down a deserted country road, during an otherwise quiet and uneventful drive, Dad suddenly yelled "WATCH OUT!!!" She slammed on the brakes immediately, nearly sending her father head first through the windshield.

"What's wrong?" she asked in surprise. Her father explained, "There's a little child right there! Didn't you see him? You might have hit him!"

She looked around in confusion. "I'm sorry, Dad, but I just don't see a child here."

Practicing driving with a parent can make both of you nervous wrecks. Remember to keep your cool because your parents are having nightmares like these.

"Well, he's right there on the porch of that farmhouse, plain as day," was the reply.

When she looked closer, she saw that indeed a child was on the porch of a house well back from the road. "Oh, you mean that little boy there, holding his mother's hand?"

She conceded that it was possible she might have hit the child, but only if she had run off the road about 50 feet (15 meters) and driven directly onto the porch.

Her father, who had nearly suffered whiplash, after some consideration saw the extreme unlikelihood of this event and let her drive on.

So beware. Even the most calm parents can become overcautious when their teenagers are driving. But give them time. They'll probably grow out of it.

Don't use other motorists as an example of how to drive.

A couple of weeks into my driving lessons, my mother thought it was time I learned how to put gasoline in the car, and in the process I could have the experience of driving through the gas station car wash.

Knowing my driving abilities better than my mother did, I was a bit apprehensive. But, with a great show of bravery, I went ahead and filled the car, spilling only a small amount on my shoes. That was the easy part.

I then drove toward the car wash, where several cars were waiting. My mother was confident. "This is going to be really easy," she said. "Just watch the people in front of you carefully, and do exactly what they do."

So I watched carefully, noting exactly how the driver in front of me positioned his car. Then the unbelievable happened. I watched as he completely missed the conveyor belt, his wheels going over the metal bars that were supposed to guide them directly into the car wash. The car ended up in a flower bed.

As if this wasn't enough, he had to back up and try again, this time heading in the opposite direction and going over a concrete island back toward the gas pumps. Finally the station attendant came out to help.

I looked at my mother. "Just do what the people in front of you do? Right." It was several weeks before I ventured near a car wash again.

Keep this in mind next time you try to use the example of other drivers. There are some strange people out there.

Don't practice in a truck with an open tailgate while your brother is sitting in the back.

Most of you will never be in this exact situation, but I'll relate the story so you'll know to avoid it.

A friend told me about his sister's driving practice sessions. They lived in a neighborhood where there was a communal garbage dump everyone had to take his or her trash to. My friend's sister used these "garbage runs" as a time to practice her newly acquired driving skills. As her brother sat in the back of the truck near the open tailgate, making sure the garbage stayed inside, she would drive through the neighborhood, heedless of bumps and potholes.

One day as she sped over a particularly large bump, her brother lost his grip and flew out the back of the truck, landing in the middle of the road.

When his sister arrived at the dump site, she called to him to unload the trash. She went around to the back only to find that the garbage was there and her brother was not.

"I knew it! It's just like him to skip out at the last minute and leave me to unload the trash by myself." She emptied the trash bags, annoyed at her brother and plotting revenge.

Halfway home she realized her mistake when she saw him limping beside the road. When she stopped, he carefully got in the front seat and securely fastened his seat belt, glaring angrily the whole time.

So unless you feel like injuring your little brother (which I realize may be a tempting idea at times), avoid this mistake.

Seriously, though, driving is a lot of fun, but a real responsibility too. Enjoy yourself, but don't get carried away. If you are able to avoid the things I have mentioned here, maybe your first driving experiences will turn out a little better than mine. I sure hope so.

If not, at least you'll have plenty of funny stories to tell your kids. (Just remember to go easy on them when it's your turn to teach!)

Taken from Youth 90 magazine