Magazine-Winter-2025 - Flipbook - Page 45
R O L L T I DE
could do all day. Sometimes, they will work on race
pace or sprints. They also have occasional afternoon
practices and weightlifting.
“I love when we practice in the morning because
the river is quiet and beautiful, and we get to see the
sunrise,” Lewis said.
She asks her athletes for their full attention for the
90 minutes that they practice and emphasized that the
athletes are rowers from 5:40 to 8:45 in the morning,
and then they get to be students.
Lewis’ unique coaching style also includes
compassion for the individual rowers on the team. She
says she can understand the rowers and listen to them
when they need someone to talk to.
“It’s extremely important that we have women
coaching women,” she said.
As a fairly new coach, she said that she often relies
on her team of assistant coaches for support and
insight. “I feel very fortunate that I have a staff that’s
extremely supportive and also really competitive,” she
said. Her assistant coaches include Ashley Ball, Bianca
Arrington, Erin Hayes and Zach Johnson.
Their goal for this season is to gain the trust of
the team and bring them together to succeed. Lewis
believes that they will win but says that even if they do
not, they should be proud of their hard work.
“I’ve always wanted to be a head coach,” she said.
“From my first phone call about this opportunity,
I could feel how excited the University was about the
program.”
Alabama Rowing will be celebrating its 20th
anniversary in 2026. Lewis said, “It takes a whole
community to build up a team. It’s really fun to support
teams when they’re winning, but I think the true show
of support is when teams are still working their way
up.” She said she has always seen the University as a
“sleeping giant.” With two of the best rowing programs
in the country under the SEC umbrella, Texas and
Tennessee, she sees the potential for this team.
“These girls are so frickin’ excited to work hard and
figure out how to make these boats go fast,” she said.
Lewis asked fans to come out and support the
rowing team to see what is new and different. She
said she is extremely grateful for the opportunities that
the University has given her and excited for the next
season.
“You can be pregnant, you can move across the
country, take over as a first-time head coach,” Lewis
said. “The fact that I get this opportunity is really
special.”
WINTER 2025
43
