by Ursula Grobler James

Shortly after 2009 appeared on the calendar, I boarded a plane heading for Spain (Barcelona, to be more precise, but the rhyming is carrying me away!). Home for me is Seattle, and the last winter months can be depressing if you train or compete in an outdoor sport like rowing, my main sport.

Home is a curious word for me, since I have only been five years in the States, but have way more years in South Africa. The weather there compared to Seattle is, well, how opposite can you get? In South Africa we never talked about the weather because it was always sunny. I found it very strange when conversations in Seattle were based solely on the status of the sun, or lack thereof. And I now better understood Jane Austin: “If you can say nothing appropriate, limit your remarks to the weather.”

Spain training would be a 6 month process. I had a few quick week turn-arounds to Seattle to see my husband, dog and house, but then got in the focus again to perform in Europe. Six months was long enough to have me remember the feelings I had when I first came to the States; those of fitting in and trying to find your own in a new country — understanding the culture and the speak, and the journey to rebuild your identity within new parameters. It’s like you are the driver of a great car with all these roads in front of you and don’t know which one to take, but you are driving anyway. Then you get lost and frustration sets in; frustration about wasting time, lack of knowledge, and missing the understanding. Even though I could stop and ask for directions — because I had many friendly people that I was training with in Spain — I still wanted to just maneuver in a way that was confident.

There were many moments when the language barrier was so thick, like a concrete block. Luckily performance is a universal language, and I always had that to speak for me. My body and its voice. In this time, where my own voice became increasing quiet, my body started taking tone. And this was so new for me. I started to really understand what my coach in Seattle spoke of when he said, “Your body is like an investment, and you have to learn all you can about it and take care of yourself.” I thought at the time, I know my body, I’m in it every day. But during this time in Spain, where I had fewer distractions, I really got to bond with my body, understanding how I can get it to perform at maximum when needed. I am also in a weight-restricted sport. I row in the lightweight category, so there are weigh-ins before each event and you have to weigh 125lbs for the doubles event. So there was another increased body and diet learning moment for me — to make weight!

The grand finale of my Spain training ended with my first World Cup.

We raced the heat on Friday and did very well, qualifying us direct to the final on Sunday. At noon on Sunday we dashed down the 2000m course trying to catch the Germans who took a good lead on us in the first 500m. I remember crossing each 500m thinking of my motivation markers to get my body to give more and keep pushing. Having motivation markers replaced the moments my brain wants to think of the pain.

Within the whole seven minutes of the race duration, I’m so focused on these markers, my technique, the position we are in, that it’s like being in a vacuum of that space in your lane. Nothing else before or after. Living only in one moment, and then moments of seconds.

We didn’t catch the Germans in the end. We missed the gold by a few seconds.

Now I’m back in Seattle and summer here is gorgeous! Training continues, but I’m glad it continues here. Training in another country is exotic sounding. But when you are pushing yourself so much every day, it’s really good to have the comforts of home around you. You relax more, and to be fast, you need to really relax. This is also strongly coupled with confidence: More relaxed, more confident, better training. These past six months I learned and realized a lot! Mostly the grass, really is greener where you are standing!

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