“I don’t think that I would be who I am today and where I am today if I hadn’t been exposed to rowing,” Hayes said. “Rowing requires discipline. You don’t succeed in the sport unless you are putting a lot of effort into it.”
With hopes of returning the Harvard team to success on the national level, the freshman will face one of his biggest tests this weekend when he participates in his first Head of the Charles Regatta as a member of the Crimson team.
This weekend, the college rookie will take his mere eight years in the sport to the stroke seat of the Varsity Lightweight 8 boat for Harvard.
“Sean is a terrific rower,” said sophomore lightweight coxswain Annina Kennedy-Yoon. “But he also brings a good attitude to practice every day and has stepped up to handle his role with grace.”
Despite experience in high-stakes international races, Hayes’ inaugural Head of the Charles may yet get those butterflies moving once again.
“I’m not too nervous now,” he said. “But when I’m sitting there, waiting for the race to start, and Yale is on my left and Princeton to my right, I think there’s going to be a lot of adrenaline coursing through my veins.”