From LBPOSTSports.com:
Victoria Draper was having one of those days.
“Something was out of balance,” says Draper. “Nothing felt quite right, but it never occurred to me that it was the rowing that was missing.”
After graduating from the University of California, Davis in 2000, the Oakland-native returned home to work at Smith Barney. At Davis, Draper- a former swimmer- had been turned onto rowing by her roommate.
“I was addicted right away. Rowing attracts a certain type of person. Passionate. A perfectionist. A little OCD because it’s just perfecting one stroke. I had that need to perfect it. When you get that one perfect stroke that feels so good, its like, oh I need to do that again.”
Draper’s college mornings were spent on the water dodging barges in the Port of Sacramento. During the day she studied Communications at Davis, and at night she attended the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. When she graduated and returned to Oakland, rowing was left behind.
And that brought with it “one of those days” at an office job she wasn’t passionate about. Draper’s direct supervisor, Janet Alexander, noticed Draper’s sour look. “It started as a venting session, and then she asked me ‘what ever happened to rowing?’”
Alexander, who was involved with the local Lake Merritt Rowing Club, gave Draper her rowing jacket and insisted she get back on the water.
“That was it. Rowing was what had me excited to wake up in the morning.”
Draper started racing again in 2003, and to her surprise, she started beating people. “My coaches were telling my that I had a shot to take it to the next level… and that’s when I moved to Long Beach.”
Click here to read the rest of the story by J.J. Fiddler…