Over the course of July, the Iowa rowing team has trained day in, day out.

The select group of athletes has been preparing to represent their school, state, and country at the Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catharines, Ontario, from Aug. 6-13.

Fortunately, I’ve had the privilege to be part of the countless hours that have been logged on the water and on the indoor rowing machine, the ergometer.

Coming off our breakthrough season, finishing 15th at nationals, my teammates and I have seen greatness, instilling a hunger among the rowers.

Preparing to race internationally is an opportunity we are grateful to have, because we know it will allow us to hone our technique and hammer the basics to make us even faster come the spring of 2018.

Since our training began at the beginning of July, we have made strides, and the rowers have begun to see progress they hadn’t seen before.

Our focus has mainly been working in small one-person and two-person boats, which are harder to stabilize. Any foul-up in technique is exposed 10-fold in the boats, which is why they are great teachers and especially helpful.

Though the days get long and occasionally may seem monotonous, the team atmosphere and culture is like no other.

The buy-in and commitment across the board is something special that not many teams achieve.

With two to three practices daily, we are normally around each other for four to six hours. Our team culture has flourished to a point where we find ourselves spending time together outside of training.

This component of our team is something that cannot be taught in a classroom.

We are competitors, and we challenge each other relentlessly, but above all, the women on this team are selfless. When the workouts get tough and the days get long, we turn to each other rather than against each other, something that makes our team truly one of a kind.

The atmosphere on the water, in the locker room, and outside training comes from a respect for one another and the work being put in daily.

We pull hard for each other and we do our absolute best for the other women in the boat, rather than reverting to the “what’s in it for me?” mentality. Racing in Canada is an incredible opportunity that we Hawkeyes will take full advantage of.

Every training session poses a new challenge, forcing us to adapt to being outside our comfort zone — an environment my teammates and I thrive in.