Ignoring the doubts:
Paralympic rower Emma Preuschl going for the gold in Beijing
Emma Preuschl, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis and one of the five members of a rowing crew that will represent the United States in the 2008 Paralympic Games. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)
By John Shaughnessy
She had heard the doubts and the words of caution too many times in her life, and each time Emma Preuschl found an easy way to deal with them:
She ignored them.
Yet this time was different for the 23-year-old Preuschl, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis.
This time, she was in the midst of five intense, grueling days of tryouts in Philadelphia to determine if she would represent the United States in an international athletic competition in Beijing, China. And this time, the doubts and words of caution were her own. She started to wonder if she was good enough to make the team.
While battling those doubts in May, she drew strength from the message of a greeting card she had received earlier in that month when she graduated from Purdue University. The message encouraged her to put her trust in God, let him handle her problems and allow him to guide her on her path.
On the last day of the rowing trials, she rowed her smoothest and strongest race. Hours later, she heard her name announced as one of the five members of a rowing crew that will represent the United States in the 2008 Paralympic Games, the equivalent of the Olympics for people who have physical disabilities. The opening ceremonies are Sept. 6.
“I cried, I was excited,” Preuschl recalled. “I really didn’t think I was going. My life completely changed overnight. But there were others who didn’t make the team who were naturally sad. I had to subdue my emotions because of sportsmanship.”
No excuses, just opportunities
Preuschl is eligible to compete in the Paralympic Games because of a physical disability she suffered when she was born. Doctors stretched her left arm while trying to deliver her, damaging the nerves that run from the neck to the hand. The daughter of Lynn and Kirk Preuschl eventually gained movement in her left arm, but it’s five inches shorter than her right arm, with less mobility and strength.
“After it happened, my parents decided to focus on the healing process rather than the injury,” she said. “They focused on what I could do rather than what I couldn’t. That was a good thing.”
Preuschl didn’t seek excuses, she sought opportunities. A 2003 graduate of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, she ran cross country for the Irish. At Purdue, she was a member of the rowing team for four years and served as an assistant coach in her fifth year as she completed a double major in dietetics and nutrition fitness and health. She also ran a marathon in her last semester at Purdue.
“I wanted to prove everybody wrong,” she said. “That sounds silly, but I heard a lot of times, ‘You won’t be able to do that,’ or ‘That’s not a good idea.’ I wanted to prove to myself and others that I could do it, that you can’t stop me.”
During the interview, Preuschl sipped tea from a traveler’s mug marked with the words, “Life is good,” on the front side and “Do what you like. Like what you do,” on the back side.
“It’s a good motto,” she said. “Sometimes in society, people think everything is hard and bad. Some people are so negative. Sure, you go through hard times, but you always get through it. Maybe we’d all be a little bit happier if more people had that attitude.”
That attitude flows through Preuschl, her three fellow rowers and the coxswain who form the crew that will compete together in Beijing. One of the two male rowers in her boat is Jesse Karmazin, who has a prosthetic leg. He will be attending medical school at Stanford University. The other male rower is Jamie Dean. Blind, he’s pursuing a law degree and a master’s degree in business administration at Wake Forest University.
“Sometimes, we forget he’s blind and we leave him places,” Preuschl said. “He says it’s the biggest compliment you can give him.”
The other female rower is Tracy Tackett, a city planner who has cerebral palsy. Simona Chin is the coxswain, the person who directs the boat and the crew. In the rowing competition at the Paralympics, coxswains don’t have to have a physical disability to participate because they don’t physically row the boat. Preuschl is the only rookie to international competition among the rowers on her team.
“Emma is extremely dedicated, very idealistic and, boy, does she work hard,” said Karen Lewis, the coach of the U.S. Rowing national adaptive team. “She has the potential to change this boat to a medal boat. We were fifth the past two years in the world championships. The team from Canada won medals the past two years, and we’ve raced them twice this summer and beat them both times. Emma really helps. She’s a super person to work with.”
Jake Hatch knew that from coaching Preuschl at Purdue. He helped her improve her technique by giving her a shorter oar and a special seat to increase her power. The changes paid dividends in her last race as a collegian, during the 2007 Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, the largest college rowing race in the country.
Reaching beyond the limits
As a member of Purdue’s junior varsity boat, Preuschl had never made it past the first heat of the regatta in previous years. In 2007, her boat won the first heat. Then she and her teammates won the second heat. In the finals, they finished third, earning a bronze medal—a result that left her in tears, of joy.
“It felt like a gold medal. It really did when they put it around my neck,” she recalled. “I felt like a superstar. It was something I trained to get for four years. I was so happy.”
After that race, Hatch became emotional, too. He told Preuschl’s father, Kirk, “Take that medal and show it to every doctor and every person who ever said she couldn’t because she did it.”
“Do you want them to have a full life or do you want them to be careful?’ Hatch said. “It’s a testament to her. Rowing is good for her. It’s made her stand up for herself a little more.”
Now, her rowing is leading her to China where she will represent her country in an international competition.
“It’s one of those things I couldn’t ever imagine,” Kirk Preuschl said. “But here she is. She’s feeling blessed, and we’re proud of her. I hope everything goes smoothly for her. She’s in it to win. She’s definitely going there to win a medal.”
This time, she’s dreaming of a different color medal when the rowing competition takes place on Sept. 9-11.
“The only thing I visualize is winning gold,” she said. “You can’t visualize yourself as a bronze medal winner. It doesn’t work. At this level, visualization is a key part of your training.”
So Preuschl sees herself and her crewmates in perfect unison, gracefully and powerfully slicing their oars through the water in what she calls “the most important 3½ minutes of my life.” She sees them all smiling together on the podium, holding their gold medals, the American flag draped across their shoulders.
“If you limit yourself, you limit your opportunities,” she said. “It’s a good lesson for people who say, ‘I could never do that.’ Yes, you can.”
Now is not the time to doubt her. †
