HPU Freshman Races with Ukrainian National Rowing Team
HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 9, 2023 – Arianna Ording wore a High Point University baseball cap with her blue-and-yellow uniform as she competed with the Ukrainian national rowing team on Oct. 8.
Ording, an HPU freshman and a member of its rowing club team, served as the coxswain for the Ukrainian team during its races at the High Point Autumn Rowing Festival on Oak Hollow Lake.
The coxswain is like a coach sitting inside the boat during a race, steering it on the water and giving orders to the rowers who sit facing her.
Ording, a computer engineering major from Ridgefield, Connecticut, said it was an honor to race with the Ukrainian national team – especially since her grandparents immigrated from Ukraine during World War II.
She also understood the significance of the moment. The Ukrainian rowers have been living and training in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, while dealing with the impact from the country’s ongoing war with Russia.
“It’s such an amazing thing. I never ever imagined that I’d be able to do this,” Ording said. “Coming from what’s happening now in Ukraine, it’s like I’ve been able to represent a part of where I come from. It’s beyond words.”
Ording can speak some Ukrainian, but she said there was still a language barrier as she spent several days practicing and racing with the national team. She can’t speak Ukrainian fluently, and some of the Ukrainian rowers are limited with their English.
Ording adjusted and used Google Translate in the days leading up to the regatta to learn how to say several common rowing phrases in Ukrainian, such as “bow” (the front of a boat) and “stern” (the rear of a boat).
“I could count in Ukrainian, so that helped them count the strokes while rowing and made sure they could actually get the right amount of strokes,” Ording said.
Burt Whicker, the coach of HPU’s rowing club team, said he didn’t know about Ording’s Ukrainian background when he asked her after practice one day if she would be willing to serve as the coxswain for the Ukrainian national team.
It was just a coincidence.
Ording started practicing with the Ukrainians on Oct. 5, only three days before the regatta. She then helped guide them to a win in the 5-kilometer Lenny Peters Cup race, crossing the finish line in 15 minutes, 20 seconds.
Ording ended up having a busy day of racing on Oct. 8. Since she also serves as a coxswain for the HPU rowing club team, she raced early in the morning with the Panthers, then competed with the Ukrainian national team before quickly changing back into her HPU uniform to race again with the men’s team.
“I’m so blessed and so grateful that I got this opportunity,” Ording said.