14 I THURSDAY, OCT. 28, 2010
Former rower Dell realizes dream of representing U.S.
By Christine Newby
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
After 'naming day' was complet
ed on Sept. 20, Natalie Dell never
experienced a longer 20 minutes
of putting away rowing boats.
Dell, Class of 2007, vividly
remembers her coach approach
ing her after practice, saying he
needed to talk to her.
- At this point, I didn't even know
what planet I was on," Dell said
about waiting to speak with her
coach. "He shook my hand and
said, 'You did a great job.
Congratulations. You've made it.'
Consequently, Dell, 25, will rep
resent the United States in the
2010 World Rowing
Championships with the U.S.
Senior National team from Oct. 31-
Nov. 7 at Lake Karapiro in New
Zealand.
The process
When Dell hits the water and
begins racing, her parents pop
into her head.
- You are pushing yourself to
the absolute limit," Dell said about
competing. "A lot of things come in
and out of your mind, and you
need something to keep you moti
vated especially when you're
really in the heat of it. One thing
that I always think of is my par
ents. I think of my mom and dad,
and I just keep pushing."
Without the continual, strong
support from her parents, Richard
and Karen. Dell said she wouldn't
have made the U.S. Senior
National team.
Richard and Karen recently
made their first trip to visit their
daughter, who graduated from
Penn State with an advertising
degree, at the USRowing Olympic
Training Center in Princeton. N.J.
- It was a very emotional
moment." Dell said. "My mom
said. 'We didn't know how to
dream big like this.' -
For Dell, years of dedication and
persistence were wrapped into
the family-sharing moment. After
three years of preparing on her
own in Boston, Dell became the
first Penn State female graduate
to train at the USRowing Olympic
Training Center.
Dell, a Clearville native, said the
first step to being on the Senior
National team is receiving an invi
tation to train in New Jersey.
According to Dell. 40 women train
at the center full-time. In order to
be asked to join the USRowing
Olympic Training Center, Dell
Natalie Dell rows on the Charles River in Boston. Dell, a former rower for Penn State, will
represent the United States in the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand.
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attended tryouts known as the
National Selection Regatta for
three consecutive years, in the
spring of 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The third attempt proved to be a
relieving victory for Dell.
"You just keep showing up and if
you show improvement, they
might let you in," she said. "[The
National Selection Regatta] is the
best way to put your face out
there."
About 30 women participate in
the tryouts each year, according to
Dell, who was the lone rower invit
ed into the training center from
the regatta this spring.
"You should have heard my
family when they found out [I
made it]," she said.
The women's U.S. Senior
National team consists of approxi
mately 20 out of the 40 full-time
rowers training at the center, Dell
said. Tryouts for the national team
take place during the summer.
According to Dell, the group of
about 20 women compete in the
annual World Rowing
Championships, or Olympic
games, if it is an Olympic year.
"I had accepted the fact that I'll
probably be [training at the
USRowing Olympic Training
Center] for two years [before mak
ing the U.S. Senior National or
Olympic team.] On Aug. 20, I
thought, 'Alright I'll shoot for 2012.'
On the day she found out she
made the Senior National team,
Dell said the women were still
rowing at 9 a.m. when the final list
had to be submitted at noon.
"You race your heart out," she
said. started getting put in the
selection group which is the
lineup. I was taken out and put
back in. And I'm thinking to
myself, 'This is not happening.
There is something wrong.' I kept
thinking, 'Tomorrow I'm going to
be switched [out of the selection
group] so I need to be ready'
Dell surpassed her goal of rep
resenting the U.S. in 2012 by being
named this year to compete in the
women's quadruple sculls.
The event consists of four
female rowers holding two oars,
one in each hand. Dell said the
U.S. Senior National team depart
ed from Princeton Oct. 21 and
have spent this week practicing in
New Zealand before the race
begins Sunday.
On the current women's U.S.
Senior National team, Dell is the
only woman who rowed for a colle
giate club crew program.
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SPORTS
The majority of the rowers have
roots in prominent rowing univer
sities. Rowers who derive from
these universities get fed right
into the USRowing Olympic
'Paining Center, Dell said.
"The best way to get in is if you
go to a school that is known for
rowing," she said. "At Harvard and
Princeton, rowing is like football
[at Penn State.]"
Coming from Penn State's club
crew team, Dell had to claw her
way onto the U.S. Senior National
team.
"I'm thrilled, - she said. "It is
very hard to do coming from an
unfunded program. It says a lot
about Penn State's program."
Dell wants to somehow show off
her Penn State pride while on the
national team.
"I'm still trying to figure out how
I can sneak in some sort of Penn
State memorabilia onto my uni
form," she said, laughing.
College career
Dell was a competitive track
athlete at Everett Area High
School and seriously considered
competing at the collegiate level.
West Virginia, Temple and
Pittsburgh were all after Dell for
track and field. She was a 400-
meter and 4xBoo-meter relay state
medalist in high school.
However, a series of injuries
and becoming burnt out from four
years of competition were factors
against participating in track at
the collegiate level. Dell said she
was very interested in walking on
to the Penn State track team, but
decided not to.
I'm one of those people that if I
really want something, I will go
after it," she said.
Dell said she wanted something
more than going to the White
Building to workout daily. so she
looked into rowing.
Dell's first taste of the sport
occurred during the spring
semester of her freshman year in
2004, when she started to get
involved with Penn State Crew.
"My initial thought about
Natalie was her tremendous
strength," said John Biddle, for
mer Penn State women's crew
head coach from 2000-07. identi
fied her pretty quickly as just a
powerhouse of tremendous
strength. She really stood above."
Biddle trained Dell with the var
sity women instead of the novices
during her freshman year.
"Looking at her scores on the
[erg] machine, I knew that she
1:4 4
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Audition on Saturday, October 23rd
3pm in the Bryce Jordan Center
PA announcer must be available to work all home games.
(PA announcer and Emcee are both paid positions)
had great potential," Biddle said.
"I knew her history as an ath
lete could drive her forward. She
arrived with a sense of an athletic
ability"
Practices began at 5 a.m. at
Stone Valley, about 20 minutes
away from State College, or Bald
Eagle State Park, 40 minutes
away, according to Dell.
"I thought I was pretty fit before
going to crew," Dell said. "After
the first crew practice, basically I
couldn't do daily activities. I could
n't laugh because my abs would
hurt. I've never been so sore.
"[Rowing] was a challenge that
I just never encountered before
and that's why I stayed with it."
Almost gone
Going info Dell's spring sopho
more season, universities began
recruiting her for rowing.
Connecticut, Cincinnati, North
Carolina and Kansas all offered
her scholarships to transfer.
Dell narrowed her choices to
North Carolina or staying at Penn
State.
"[UNCI was the only school that
was tempting enough," she said.
It has a beautiful campus, but it
wasn't Penn State. It had water
very close to campus, and every
body had Nike gear
"I couldn't leave Penn state. I
loved it so much, and I loved my
team."
Biddle wanted Dell to do what
was best for her.
"I didn't want to pressure her to
stay," he said. "I knew that I could
n't provide her with all the neces
sary coaching that other schools
had. I'm reasonably sure that she
had greater success here than she
would have had at UNC."
Dell's decision to stay at Penn
State meant she still had to pay
about $4OO a semester to row,
along with roughly another $3OO
for the annual spring break row
ing trip, rather than taking a schol
arship at a different college.
The decision came with a
reward for Dell: going undefeated
her junior year at Penn State.
"In spring 2006, nobody came
close to us," Biddle said.
Life after Penn State
Dell attended Boston University
from fall 2007 until December 2008
for a masters in public health.
Dell said neither of her parents
went to a four-year university or
went after a master's degree.
"They were so excited for their
daughter to get an undergrad and
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Auditions will begin around 3:3opm
following the PA/emcee auditions.
Please email Bonnie Clarke with
Penn State Sports Marketing at
bncl @psu.edu
if you plan on auditioning.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
a master's," she said. "And then I
decided to row. I know that they
were concerned about making
money in the sport They were
there every single step of the way.
Sometimes they were shaking
their heads, but saying, 'OK. We
are here."
Dell said she wasn't ready for a
full-time job after graduating from
Penn State because she wanted to
keep training. The Penn State
alum trained for three years in
Boston at the Riverside Boat Club
on the Charles River. Dell compet
ed in the women's high perform
ance group, comprised of 10-15
women who had aspirations to
race on the U.S. Senior National
Team as well. Tom Keister, who is
in his fourth year as the women's
high performance head coach,
said he definitely knew that Dell
had the potential to make the
national team.
"[Dell] brought a very competi
tive spirit right from the start," he
said. "She brought a lot of intensi
ty and focus. She immediately
started to make a lot of progress
physiology and on the water."
Dell said Keister and his wife,
Liane, the assistant coach, were a
big reason she made the team.
"They are two people I really
attribute to me actually making
the national team," she said.
"They are tremendous people."
After graduating from Boston
University, Dell was employed by
the U.S. Department of Veteran
Affairs as a research health scien
tist, specifically with mental
health research.
"I told them right from the get
go about my training, and they
loved the whole rowing thing,"
Dell said.
Dell's daily schedule consisted
of two training sessions at the
Riverside Boat Club from 5:30-7:30
in both the morning and evenings,
while going to work in between
and running during lunch.
"U.S.A. on your chest"
Dell compared making the 2010
U.S Senior National rowing team
to three well-known sport movies:
"Rocky, "Invincible" and
"It's the feeling of your dream
coming true," Dell said.
"I can't really describe it. It
comes with a lot of responsibility.
You allow yourself to be happy for
a day or two. But now, you are rep
resenting your country. You have
U.S.A on your chest. I'm so up for
it."
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