Senior Rowing profile: Whitney McMahon

Like many of Texas' rowers, senior Whitney McMahon never pulled an erg before graduating from high school, but she used her past experience from track, soccer and volleyball to find a new passion during college. Likewise in her academic career, McMahon's interest in international business is preparing her for a new life after college.

"I didn't come to UT planning on rowing, although I played sports in high school. I just wanted to stay active," McMahon stated. "I thought I might join an intramural team or a club team, but I attended one of the rowing info sessions, started rowing and I have been rowing ever since."

"Rowing is much different than anything I've ever done," she continued. "Like track, you have to be individually motivated for rowing, because you need to be disciplined to train on the erg and cross-train."

Also different from anything McMahon had ever experienced was her required internship and study abroad program in Madrid, Spain in 2007.

"It was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be to pick up on the language, since I have taken Spanish classes and I can read, write and even speak the language to a certain extent," McMahon recounted.

"I worked with Corporacion Internacional and it was a really great company," she stated. "The people there were really kind, and I felt like they helped me out a lot more than I could help them. My internship was in Spanish, so that limited the extent to which I could help on certain projects."

Just as her coworkers helped her along in her internship, so too does McMahon help her rowing teammates.

"I think rowing is the perfect example of teamwork because everyone has to work in sync moving with the other people in your boat. That part of it is different than the other team sports I have played because although you have to play as a team, you are not working as a perfect unit, matching each other's movements stroke for stroke."

As a senior graduating in May, McMahon is busy with school work and waiting to hear from law schools where she hopes to study international law in the future. Interestingly, that experience will probably prove to be just like a statement she made about her own sport of rowing:

"It has definitely been challenging, but also a lot of fun at the same time."

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics