Summary

Chapter Three opens with a description of the physical toll that rowing takes on the body, saying that “Physiologists, in fact, have calculated that rowing a two-thousand-meter race – the Olympic standard – takes the same physiological toll as playing two basketball games back-to-back. And it exacts that toll in about six minutes” (Page 40). The sheer physical drain of being a part of the crew team would end the dreams of most of the rowing hopefuls, as few had the physical stamina required not only for races, but for the hours of training and practice. Despite the exhausting physical toll, many of the boys hung on thanks to Coach Bolles heart rendering speeches about overcoming adversity, the life-transforming experiences of crew, and how rowing brings one closer to God: “He held out the prospect of becoming part of something...