Aparajita Chauhan calls herself the quarterback of the boat.
As the coxswain, her job is to execute the rowers’ race plan during regattas: calling out the rowers’ moves, keeping an eye on their stroke rate and motivating them. She sits at the front of the boat, facing the rowers and communicating with them via a headset microphone. Her voice booms through a speaker during the races.
The 17-year-old Redmond resident did a first-rate job last month when her United States junior women’s crew eight boat won the gold medal at the 2016 CanAmMex Cup at Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla. On July 18, the crew notched a time of 6:45.722 to defeat Canada, 6:51.081, and Mexico, 6:52.641.
Chauhan also served as the coxswain of Mexico’s men’s eight boat, which took silver, behind the U.S. gold boat. She called out the race plan in Spanish for the squad that didn’t travel with a coxswain to the event.
Halfway through the women’s CanAmMex race, the United States was a boat length ahead of Canada and the Americans turned it up a notch and finished with open water between the two boats.
“Canada was not giving up. They were on our tails the entire time and they pushed us until the end,” said Chauhan, who will be a senior at Holy Names Academy in Seattle in the fall.
Chauhan gave rowing a shot at a two-week Sammamish Rowing Association camp the summer before eighth grade and later joined the Holy Names squad as coxswain. She’ll enter her fourth season competing for the Cougars.
While she wanted to be a stellar rower, she possesses a self-described petite body and moved into the coxswain position. She’s good at management and is competitive, so she perfectly fit into the role and has made an impact on her boats.
“I like to think I’m buff, but I can’t row the boat as fast as they can,” she said with a laugh.
Chauhan said she’s a novice rower and does land training with the rowers to “earn their respect.” Training includes running, doing ergonomic and core work and lifting weights.
During water training, Chauhan said their goal was to mesh everyone’s styles, get the rowers flowing and establish their own boat identity. She said they accomplished their mission despite only having two practices under their belts due to storms in Sarasota before the CanAmMex regatta.
In late June and early July, Chauhan was among 40 athletes, including four coxswains, who tried out for the U.S. Junior National Team at Connecticut College. She didn’t make that squad and moved onto the CanAmMex team. She’ll try out again for the junior team next year and aspires to row in college and maybe in the Olympics.
Yale University is first on her radar for college and she plans to major in business or management in the technology realm. She may follow in her father’s footsteps and start a business someday.
“My leadership skills have improved through coxing,” she said.
