Caroline Hickey always believed in herself, but even she caught herself off guard with her accomplishments this year.
Hickey, a Holtville graduate, recently wrapped up her first season as a member of the University of Alabama rowing team. She joined the team in the fall after never having rowed before in her life, but she quickly took to the sport and excelled.
Following her first season in a shell, Hickey was named the team’s Freshman of the Year.
“If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that I was going to be Freshman of the Year, I would have laughed in your face,” Hickey said. “It means a lot to accomplish this. It’s not easy balancing academics and athletics. It doesn’t seem real, but at the same time all the effort I put in really pays off.”
When Hickey first joined the team, she was under the impression she would be on the novice team for her entire first season with the team. She was wrong, and she got the chance to get promoted after just one semester in Tuscaloosa.
Following Christmas break, Hickey was given the chance to take the team’s standards test. The test consists of reaching a specific time in two distance races and holding a plank for a specific amount of time. She had to row 6K, equivalent to 3.7 miles. She then had to run a 2K, equivalent to 1.25 miles.
Team members are given multiple chances to pass the test, but Hickey needed only one.
“By the grace of God, I passed it on my first attempt,” Hickey said. “Once I passed that, I got my gear and my water privileges. Getting the opportunity to be on the water during practice was a cool opportunity and means a lot because you really have to earn it.”
Even with her water privileges, Hickey couldn’t do much with the team this season. Only upperclassmen travel with the team, so Hickey and her freshman teammates were left in Tuscaloosa for the majority of their races.
Alabama had only one home regatta Hickey raced in, and she made the most of it when she got her opportunity.
“I got to row at home and we actually placed first in both events,” Hickey said. “We got first in the 6K and the 2K race and that was a big accomplishment. It wasn’t just me though. It takes nine of us to row the boat and I was proud of all of us for doing that.”
Her path to Freshman of the Year hasn’t been an easy one. When she first got to campus in the fall, she realized she wasn’t even using the rowing workout machines, called ergs, correctly. She was quickly corrected but never missed a beat.
Being a star soccer player in high school helped her with her endurance, and she’s seen massive improvements in all areas of her rowing.
“I’ve gotten so much better with my techniques and just stronger,” Hickey said. “The weight room is a big part of rowing. I’ve gotten a lot stronger while my technique on the erg machines has improved. I needed a lot of critiques early, but I’ve improved. They’ve done a great job of correcting me and getting me on the right course.”
Hickey and the rest of Alabama’s rowing team is done until next fall, and now she is focusing on her academics as the school year comes to an end. She is going into athletic training, and actually just landed two big opportunities to advance in that field as well.
After practices, Hickey has been attending clinicals and shadowing athletic trainers. After doing that for the majority of the year, she earned a position with Alabama’s athletic department during her sophomore year.
She will be assigned a team to work with at the end of the summer.
“It’s really cool that I get to play a Division I sport, but just being part of a college team really puts your toes in the water with athletic training,” Hickey said. “Whenever I came to school to do athletic training, I wasn’t sure what it really consisted of. But just being around the facilities and the weight room has helped prepare me some.”
In the meantime, she has landed a summer internship with Holtville athletic trainer Samantha Yates. The two are close, and Yates has been one of the biggest supporters of Hickey joining the rowing team.
“I don’t think I’d be able to do both rowing and athletic training at the same time without Sam,” Hickey said. “We talk every single day. She’s told me that she knows it's hard to balance it all, but she’s proud of me and the experiences that I already have are what's going to make it worth it. That’s what keeps me going.”
