Education is Crewshell
I began my rowing adventure in the summer of 1982 at the Wakefield Fitness Center, now the home of Bagelz in Wakefield, Rhode Island. One day I noticed an interesting rowing device (a Gamut Ergometer) in the back room of the fitness center. It was kept there in the summer so the local rowers could train. Bob Gillette, the Head Coach of the URI Crew at the time, was working at the fitness center and was happy to let me give the gamut a go, particularly because I was an incoming student at URI! I was instantly hooked and my life would never be the same.
I devoured every bit of the URI crew experience. I loved the atmosphere, the people, the workouts, the rowing… but most of all, I loved the culture: the Do It Yourself Club Sport culture. I dove in with everything I had, eager to be an integral part of the organization. I loved the special projects only unique to a club sport… we built what needed to be built, fixed what needed to be fixed, and raised the money needed to be raised. This dynamic fit me well as I grew up in a small family business (ed: Sweenor’s Chocolates, now headed up by Jeff’s brother, another URI rowing standout, Brian Sweenor) with plenty of entrepreneurial spirit. This was part A.
Photo Oct 20, 2 38 35 PMPart B… I had immediate success in rowing, earning my way onto the varsity eight as a freshman. I was
competitive and wanted to be the best that I could be. I worked hard and made every effort count. I gained confidence that I never had in high school as a mediocre athlete. I learned humility as I was surrounded by great athletes; quiet confidence was the unwritten language. I learned to let my actions do the talking and not my mouth. This was a habit I would carry with me for life and has been one of my pillar traits in all that I do, and a virtue I try to instill in my children (now 19 and 21 years old).
In 1984, our eight set a goal to win the Dad Vail National Rowing Championships. This was a very lofty goal and eight months later, against many odds and 64 teams, we achieved it. This changed the course of my life… not because we won but because we accomplished the goal we had set. It was not just a matter of setting goals; you had to write them down, create a step-by-step plan you’d use to achieve them, reevaluate periodically, make adjustments to the plan as needed, and, lastly, be prepared to work as hard and as smart as possible to get there. That is what Bob Gillette taught us. All nine of us in that boat bought into it, believed in it, and executed it. Over the next few years of rowing at URI and in my quest to row on the U.S. National Team, I set goals, wrote down daily progress, worked as hard as anyone could, made adjustments along the way, and, repeated that. Over and over. This became the fabric of my character.
So now comes the interesting part for me and my takeaway from URI Crew. Remember Part A? Combine it with Part B, and that is the degree I earned: the entrepreneurial, roll up your sleeves, gritty kind of get ‘er done, figure it out along the way attitude, coupled with a relentless pursuit of excellence through clearly defined goals. That is what URI crew taught me: Education is Crewshell.
After URI, my rowing career was short and sweet. During my first year after college, I was hired to be the head coach for the University of Michigan crew. I found that it got in the way of my training, so I left coaching behind. In 1987, I made the U.S. Pan-American Team as an alternate. In 1988, I was one of the last cuts for the US Men’s Lightweight Eight that went on to win a silver at the World Championships. That was a memorable experience: going toe-to-toe with some of the world’s best every day for six weeks at camp. Many of my friends went on to win World Championships and Olympic medals, including my brother. I am very proud of them all and sometimes wish I had the patience to continue my rowing career. But I was too eager to start the next chapter in my life and left competitive rowing to pursue a career in construction.
Jeff_050I wasn’t formally trained, knew nothing about it, did not go to school for it, and had no experience. Pretty much the same scenario I had when I walked into the boathouse in 1982! True to the recipe, I have gone on to build a successful construction business. I want to leave a legacy of everything I do, and that’s what I love about building… and rowing.
I have continued to be involved with the URI Rowing program since the day I left some 30 years ago. I dabble in sculling and you might find me erging at the boathouse, or working out with the team, running stadiums at Tootell on cold winter days. I am always willing to give back to the team that has given me so much. As we approach the momentous 50th year celebration, my commitment to the team, and to URI, is that the program remains sustainable for the next 50 years.
The author, Jeff Sweenor (‘85), rowed on the 1982-85 URI Crew. During that time, he took away life lessons that he still carries with him today. He credits his success as a high-end residential builder in Rhode Island to his experiences as a rower. Sweenor has completed well over 1,000 houses and projects, and though he’s won numerous awards for his work, his take-away is that the awards aren’t what matters… it’s the satisfaction he feels when people he’s worked with approach him 10 years later and tell him how much they enjoy the high quality homes he’s built for them. What’s that got to do with crew? “I want people to come back 10 years later and say how much their URI rowing experience meant to them.” This post is a tribute, in Jeff’s words, about how his rowing experience impacted his life.
Pictured: Jeff Sweenor (far left) and the gold-medal-winning lightweight eight boat at the 1984 Dad Vail Regatta. The author and his son on site. Jeff sculling today.
