USRowing Spotlight: Warren Anderson

Since dominating the men's single sculls competition at the first national selection regatta, Warren Anderson is one step closer to accomplishing big goals. The California native and two-time national team member can now focus his attention on world cup racing this summer, but not before returning to Mercer Lake to test himself in the double at NSR #2. In the interview below, Anderson gives readers a little insight on what it means to dedicate your life to the sport of rowing and go after what you want.

USROWING: You started your rowing career as a senior walk-on at Loyola Marymount University. What inspired you to take up the sport late in the game, and what continues to motivate you to stay involved now?

ANDERSON: Well, you probably wouldn't be surprised that I was into football when I was in high school. After a few years, I realized that it wasn't really the sport for me and stopped. By the time I stopped playing, I was really overweight and just unhealthy, so I started to focus on fitness to lose weight. By the time I got to college, I wanted to pick up a new sport to stay in shape and meet new people. I thought I was going to join the rugby team but ran into the rowing coach at orientation. He told me about the sport, and I thought I'd give it a try. By the time my first year ended, I had had so much fun, gotten in such good shape, and made better friends than I ever had. I still talk to most of the guys from my freshman boat regularly. I couldn't have imagined quitting or rowing anywhere else. By the time it was all over, I thought I'd give it a try on the national level and what I've found now is how empowering challenging yourself on this level can be. Every day I get to push myself, and I gain a sense of satisfaction that I think most people never get to experience.

USROWING: Describe your final's race at the first NSR, where you won by almost four seconds. What were your expectations going into competition?

ANDERSON: I was very excited to finish first at NSR #1. Almost everyone there, I have known and trained with or competed against for years. I know how hard they work and just how plain tough they are. The day before I left for Princeton that weekend, I was still thinking how any one of my teammates from California Rowing Club could beat me because I see how much they push themselves every day. I know that they are a group of truly driven men. As for the race itself, I just gotta thank my training and coaching from Tim McLaren. I was trying to keep myself calm at the start, but was very excited. When that light turned green, instinct took over. What I had practiced in California over and over again just came out, and by the time I was thinking for myself again, I was a length up on the pack.

USROWING: What are your training and racing plans for the next few months?

ANDERSON: I am definitely going to take the single to the first world cup stop. Racing the single internationally is something that I have wanted to do since I first started sculling, but no matter the result, I am going to keep in touch with the rest of the team. I am planning to race in the second national selection regatta this weekend. After I get back from Spain, my next step will be really played by ear. If we decide to focus on the quad and I can make that boat faster, then that is where I want to be. If my doubles partner and I can go and bring home some gold, then that is what I will do. Don't get me wrong, I love racing the single and would love to race it at worlds, but this year I want to focus on making America as strong a team as it can be.

USROWING: Racing at a world cup this summer won't be your first international rowing experience, after serving as an alternate on the 2008 Olympic Team and winning a bronze medal in the men's quad at the 2007 Pan American Games. What long-term and short-term goals do you hope to accomplish in your rowing future?

ANDERSON: Really, my personal goal at this point would be to race the single at the Olympics. I love this event for a couple of reasons, but mostly because when you are on the line in the single, it is almost as if the race is a battle of will against the other person. If it is a tight race and you manage to pull ahead by the end, you can tell yourself afterward, "Yes, I wanted it more, and I fought harder for it." And it is not just that day that you fought harder for the win, but all the days leading to that point. When it is all over, that is an indescribable feeling.

USROWING: After graduating with a biology degree, you decided on a career in education. What made you choose this path, and what are you doing now?

ANDERSON: Well, I have taught some classes and through my time training have worked as a professional tutor for things like high school math and S.A.T. prep. Right now, since I have moved to California for training, I have stopped any teaching and am working for a biotech company doing research in DNA technologies. My work varies from day to day though, as I am basically an assistant to three PhD's who are doing research and development on a new cutting edge product in DNA detection. Also, I do normal day-to-day office-type work that is inescapable and somehow seems to pile up on me when training gets really hard. One day, I want to go back to teaching, hopefully 10 years from now and post-Olympics, and then take the time to get my PhD in molecular biology. Back in college, I was given the chance in my senior year to be a teaching assistant, which included teaching my own freshman-level biology class. I had a blast doing that. I love talking science and me being, hopefully, a little bit as cool and hip as I think I am, helps me relate to kids in a teaching sense. Plus teaching is just fun. I have worked a lot of jobs (my first job was as a garbage man), and I don't think there is anything that feels more rewarding than teaching.

Click here to watch Anderson's victory in the men's single sculls at NSR #1.