(soft upbeat music)
- Good start here. Right through the water,
right through the condition. I've been coaching at Harvard
for the last couple of years with the men's heavyweight team, and I help out coaching
the PR3 4+ for US rowing. It was definitely a dream for me to be involved in some way in US sport, especially the Paralympic side of things. One more time and close. The athletes are great. They've committed to competing
at the Paralympic level. All but one are either in college or just out of college in the last year. So there's two men and
two women in the boat, and then a coxswain. - Row.
- Alex goes to Tufts and he's from little,
just west in the state. Emily is obviously at MIT. Ben went to Williams College
on the other side of the state, moved to Cambridge. Gemma took a semester off of school to come up here and train, and live with some host families. And then Sky's come up as well. She finished out the semester at Virginia and then came up this way and joined the group at
the beginning of May. (suspenseful music) - We have such a unified vibe together, and that I think is
just incredibly special. That's not the case for every single crew. - It's great to row with this team. I really enjoy everybody on the team, really love hanging out with everybody. So it's just a joy to show
up to practice every day. And it kind of needs to be when you're putting in so
many meters with everybody. - When you are in that final race, it's gonna be the most
painful moments of our lives. And you're fighting every single stroke. And there comes a point in that fight where all you have is the other people sitting in that boat with you. And if you don't trust them 100%, why are you gonna fight
for that extra inch? And so, getting to be in a boat where I know each person
is fighting for each other and I'm fighting for them, and I feel like even
though I can't grab an oar, I feel like we just have
this unified front together. It's incredibly special. - It's been a huge honor to be
picked as the coach for this. And I think that the athletes
are just so motivated that it's sort of the
perfect situation for me, for the coaching staff. They allow me to hold them accountable and I think they also hold me accountable and feel comfortable enough to do that. Not your fault, just the conditions. It's not a top-down system. - Tom is just incredible in
every way, shape and form. I'm so grateful for everything that he teaches me on a daily basis. To be working with him in
his first years at Harvard and first years with the
PR3 4+ is very exciting because I know that he's just gonna become one of the greats. - Really, really good practice. - He's like super knowledgeable,
super experienced, and definitely is, you
know, really into it and super supportive of our goals, and has been there every step of the way, through our silver medal last year. (gentle instrumental music) Boston is one of the rowing
hubs of the United States, so it's so cool to be part of
such a large rowing community where you can go out there and you just see so many other
people doing the same thing that you're trying to do. - The river, the Charles
is just incredible. There's boat houses up and down it, people up and down it
that are super supportive. - It's exciting to be out there and hear someone say, "Go USA!" To just go out and wear
red, white, and blue and be able to represent something that's way bigger than me and say thank you to everyone
that's gotten us here and the country that's gotten
us here is very special. - I'm really excited to see what we can do on the biggest stage over in Paris. (gentle orchestral music)