Often times regarded as an “international city,” Miami is a multicultural mosaic of different cultures. The University of Miami feeds off of that, as 12 percent of the student body is comprised of international students.

Despite the welcoming environment of UM, there is still an adjustment when international student-athletes first arrive on campus.

“One of the biggest adjustments was the language,” Chardin said. “English isn’t my mother tongue, so it was rough at first to live in an environment where I could only speak English. I thought it wouldn’t be as hard because we do learn it at school, but having classes all day and practices in English it was an important adjustment.”

For senior Loretta Brueckner, being in a big city like Miami was drastically different than the small town that she grew up in.

“Miami is a new city that has so much to offer and there was a lot to take in at first, especially not having been in the U.S. before.” said Brueckner.

Not only do the international students have to get used to a new culture and language, but also they often times have to adapt to a new style of rowing. While clubs in the United States tend to focus on big-boat training (eights and fours), places outside the country spend more time on small-boat training (singles and pairs).

Each type of training has its advantages. In big boats, rowers learn how to cohesively row as a team of eight, while in small boats, rowers have more of an opportunity to focus on their technique and the fundamentals of rowing.

In addition to the technical aspects, the practice schedule is different for Chardin.

“Back home, I could only train after school, but here we can adapt our schedule to also have morning practices,” Chardin said. “We have a very supportive coaching staff and I’ve learned a lot here.”

Chardin was one of 11 international rowers on the 2019-20 Miami rowing team. Three of those 11 student-athletes just completed their freshman year as a UM rower. But how do incoming student-athletes find out about Miami?

The international recruitment process is slightly different in that, most times, there are many more logistical hoops to jump through. On a rare occasion, the coaching staff may never actually meet the rower in-person before they arrive on campus.

“A lot of times we discover them through international race results and research online,” Sanderson said.

Following the initial discovery, the staff walks through the evaluation of not only their rowing skills, but also their academic eligibility and if they are an overall fit for the program. At the end of the day, that fit is one of the most important parts as the Miami rowing team is a family.

“My favorite part of rowing at Miami is the team and the place where we get to row,” Brueckner said. “Getting up early in the morning was worth it every single day and knowing that we can see the sunrise and row in beautiful Miami Beach. Over the course of the years, I was able to witness a new team culture evolve and have all these hard-working athletes around me that I can trust and call my teammates.”

Being a part of the Miami rowing team is a “lifetime opportunity” in the words of Chardin and, no matter where they hail from, when they step into a boat on race day, they are all Canes.