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| Wilson will give Olympic aspirations a rest By Mark Foyer [ markf@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 2:10 PM PDT After traveling the world, representing the United States in junior rowing competitions, Elise Wilson will be staying home this summer. The Montara resident is in the process of completing her freshman season at UCLA. She ended up rowing for the Bruins’ varsity team. She and her teammates will contend for the PAC-10 title Saturday in Sacramento. A good showing there, and its off to the NCAA in two weeks. Both events take place in Sacramento. Whenever the season ends, that will be it for competing until the school year resumes in the fall. “I want to keep rowing fun,” Wilson said. “I don’t want to burnout.” With all eyes on the Olympics this year, her under-23 national team doesn’t have much to do — other than train. The top rowers from that team are involved with the Olympics. “It felt like the best summer to do it,” Wilson said of the break from competition. “I’ll go back next summer. I’m not done with the national team. I’m just getting started.” The Olympics are definitely on her mind. She says she’s gunning for the 2012 team. “If not that, I want to be at least in the national team system so I can definitely go for 2016,” Wilson said. In the meantime, she’s focused on rowing for the Bruins. “We want to peak at Pac-10s,” Wilson said. “Our biggest goal is to get a team into the NCAAs.” Wilson has had more than her fair share of adapting. Not only is she getting used to life as a college student, she’ getting used to being a freshman rowing for the varsity. “When all the other freshmen were working out together and bonding, I was with all these other girls who were already friends with each other,” Wilson said. “It was like the middle child. You’re not like the little young one who doesn’t know what they are doing. But you’re not like the old leader.” She says that once the race starts, there’s no discussion about who’s the freshman and who’s the senior. “In our boat, the ages are arbitrary,” Wilson said. School is also school, though there is a difference between a class of 30 people as she had while attending St. Ignatius in San Francisco and a class of 350 people at UCLA. “It’s a little harder to get the professor’s attention,” Wilson said. “It’s a big school. But that’s exactly what I wanted. I got what I asked for.” Between practice and class, Wilson said she has very little time for anything else. She does her homework between practices. “It’s a matter of balancing academics and athletics,” Wilson said. “That’s been the hardest part.” Being an athlete at UCLA carries some prestige. No matter what the sport, the pride is there. However, the attention is different between rowing and, say, men’s basketball. “Those games are televised,” Wilson said. “It’s a higher profile sport than rowing. But my pride is not any less than theirs.” |