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Olympian Shares Life Lessons

2012 Olympic rower Sara Hendershot visited Westminster Feb. 27 to give a presentation about her experiences as a rower competing at the highest level in her sport. She also shared lessons she learned during training and competition, saying, “I hope these will be lessons you can use to prepare for important steps in your life.”
 
Sara shared videos of herself and her partner, Sarah Zelenka, competing in the U.S. Olympic trials for the 2012 Summer Olympics and their fourth-place finish in the Olympic finals in London, barely missing a medal. “In the end, I became an Olympian and almost won a medal,” she said.
 
Wanting to continue her Olympic quest in Rio in 2016, she decided to make an unconventional decision and train outside of the official training center. Her training cycle involved visiting seven different cities and working with different partners. “I chose to forge my own path,” she said. “I 100 percent did the right thing.”
 
Although Sara and her partner ended up not qualifying for the 2016 Olympics, Sara said she learned six important lessons from the experience: how to take control of your life, how to nail down your team, the 90/90 rule for partnerships, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, needing less than you think and trusting your gut. She discussed how she learned each of the lessons and how they made an impact on her. “Now I know what I want,” she summarized. “The improvement I saw in myself, I want to pass it on to others.” Currently, Sara is co-founder and chief operating officer of Rowfficient, working with other rowers and other athletes.
 
Sara began her rowing career at Simsbury High School and continued at Princeton University where she earned a B.A. in psychology. She was a 2011 Senior World Champion in the Women’s Four for Rowing and a 2010 U23 World Champion in the Women’s Four for Rowing.
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