ATHLETICS

ATHLETICS HOME [IS A] TEAM

A COACH/ROWER CONVERSATION

Rowing captain and economics and philosophy double major Henry Ross ’22 has trained with head men’s rowing coach George Munger since he was a first-year student. Here, they discuss their love for the sport, the Tufts student-athlete experience, and the importance of mentorship and discipline.

BY VALERIA VELASQUEZ ’23

How did you come to be at Tufts? George Munger: I came to Tufts sort of accidentally. I moved out to Boston to do a post-grad program specifically catered to rowing and coaching education. One of my best friends in the class was working her practicum at Tufts. That friend told me that she really liked what was going on at Tufts and that it lined up well philosophically with our goals, coaching-wise. There was an opening in the position so I applied and things kind of fell into place. When I arrived, what I liked so much about coaching at Tufts is that the students here are an ambitious group of people without clawing over one another to get what they want. They’re really competitive but not at the expense of others. Henry Ross: I ended up at Tufts kind of last minute, as George will attest. I’m from Brookline, which is twenty-five minutes away. When I started looking at schools, I had it in my mind that I wanted to get out of Boston. Tufts is the last school I visited. Right ahead of the Head of the Charles Weekend, I was sitting and watching rowing and thinking, “I don’t think I can give this up quite yet.” The schools that I looked at didn’t really have rowing programs and George was one of the three coaches that I was talking to. At the end of the day, he, and a lot of the guys on the rowing team, really sold me on the team and Tufts. I realized that if that was a thirty-person sample of what Tufts was going to be like, then it was the kind of place that I wanted to be at too. What makes athletics and rowing at Tufts unique? HR: At Tufts, athletics and academics go hand-inhand. We practice at 6:00 a.m., and having those two hours to exercise and focus makes me a way better student than I would be otherwise. Tufts is unique in that it offers such a high level of competition and practice at a school of its size, with the resources that we have. It makes it a wholly unique experience. The team has become my best friends, my coaches are important role models and mentors, and it’s a community unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. GM: The Athletics Department here is full of really, really great people. There isn’t one priority team that gets everything. When I try to boil down what my job is, it’s to present the team with pretty serious challenges, but give them the tools necessary to overcome them. There are personal development and life lessons available only when you’re really seeking out mastery in one thing. Rowing is such a distilled version of this and because the barriers for entry are so low, I want to give that opportunity to anyone willing to put in the work. What impact has your relationship with Coach Munger had on your Tufts experience? Have there been any specific highlights or moments together that stick out to you? GM: We talk to prospective students and figure out who is going to positively contribute to the program. His first year, I figured out he had a pretty good intuitive sense and a pulse on what was going on with the team; he had a knack for figuring out people who were going to fit into our culture really well. That’s been insanely valuable because he’s gone above and beyond the call of duty to help facilitate the creation and building of [a] positive team culture. It’s about the way we interact with each other at practice and outside of it. Doing that type of cultural management is not only time-consuming but hugely energy-intensive—it’s hard, it’s draining, but it’s worth it. It requires constant maintenance and the work is never, ever done. HR: It’s truly made my Tufts experience, and I don’t say that lightly. I spend more time [with] and talk to George more than I see my family. He cares, and what I’m doing on the water is as important to George as it is to me. That level of personal investment and support and the sheer amount of caring is something I’ve never experienced—and I’ve been doing competitive sports since I was eight. It’s so important to have people like that in your life. George is truly a special person to me, and I know that every single person on the rowing team would say the exact same thing. I probably wouldn’t have come to Tufts if it weren’t for George, and him being a part of my experience is top of the list for what I love about this place. Rowing is the most rewarding thing I do. You have to make a lot of sacrifices to the traditional college life, but I would absolutely have it no other way.