The 2023 Senior Perspectives is the 18th in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of teams at Harvard have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Harvard.
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Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
Sport: Men's Lightweight Rowing
Concentration: Economics
House: Adams
As I reflect back on my four years as a member of the Harvard Varsity Lightweight crew team, the first word I associate with HVL is family. Moving 14 time zones and 10,500 miles away from my biological family in Melbourne, Australia was always going to be a challenge. However, my chosen family, my HVL family, made the transition seamless.
My HVL teammates have been by my side for both the glorious highs, and the numbing lows of my college experience. We shared in rituals such as "pint night," where we would enjoy a pint of ice cream every Friday night after a long week of training and school work. They were by my side in my first year when I felt lost and homesick, after I was deemed ineligible and unable to race. They shared in my joy when my Australian Rules football team made the championship playoffs, waking up at 3 a.m. to cheer with me. They even sat by my side when I lay in a hospital bed after dislocating my shoulder for a third time.
Like a good parent, my HVL family has always wanted the best for me, and each other. Wanting the best for your family doesn't necessarily mean that the seas are always smooth sailing. The best parents are friendly with their children, but aren't necessarily their friend. Sometimes it's a parent's job to discipline and provide "tough love" for their children in order to foster and develop characteristics in their child. This year's HVL senior class, led by the exemplary captain, Greg Cain, have acted as good parents. Tough truths have been told, and high standards were set. It was the relentless and unwavering pursuit of excellence that enabled HVL to come within a few feet of winning both the 1V and JV events at the Eastern Sprints. Only 12 months earlier, we were embarrassed by our opposition at Eastern Sprints, rowing in the petite final, and failing to qualify for the National Championship regatta - an event that HVL has won more than any other lightweight team.
Our success this season was in spite of the fact that we lost a handful of previously key contributors to the team on the eve of the Fall season. With the tough times of last season looming in the forefront of the team's mind, we made a commitment to flip the script. We did it as a whole team; a family. I'm eternally grateful for my HVL family. Rowing for Harvard was always a dream of mine. Due to COVID, I've only had two full seasons on HVL. I would've left college unfulfilled without a season like this year. Instead, I'll look back on fond memories, shared with my HVL family - memories which will only become rosier with time.
