Michael Carroll

Hi, my name is Michael Carroll and I row for The Rowing Team at the University of Georgia Incorporated. Believe it or not that is the actual team's name displayed at all competitions. It's quite amusing to hear referees call out our team's name as such, "University of Tennessee lane 1, the University of Florida lane 2" followed by "The Rowing Team at the University of Georgia Incorporated, please proceed to lane 3..." etc. Unsurprisingly, most people don't know that UGA has a rowing team, I didn't even know, until a friend told me I should try out. Anyone can tryout and join with no experienced required, however, due to the demanding hard work and time consuming nature of the sport, over half of the new recruits will quit. Rowing is a sport that requires a lot of time and hard work. If you are not willing to give it your all one-hundred percent of the time then you are not crew material.

Other than crew, which takes of most my time, I am a full-time student at the University of Georgia who is constantly unsure of his future. I just continue to row my boat gently down the stream till I can hopefully and finally find a port where I can pull the boat into and find success.

Part of my problem with trying to find a place to "fit in" is I hate the idea of falling in line with a normal 9-5 job. I feel somewhat trapped by the options presented before me and I hope to one day start and own my own business that allows me to do something I am passionate about, like rowing.

It doesn't have to make a lot of money, although that would nice, but if I can be in control of my own destiny I will work as hard as I can, no matter difficult it may be.