Rowing a special part of Wendy Wilbur’s life

The 1990 East Bridgewater High graduate, a world champion rower and former assistant collegiate coach, is now the director of the United States National Team athletes services.

Her association with the sport of rowing began on a club team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst nearly 30 years ago.

Little did Wendy Wilbur of East Bridgewater realize at the time the path she would go on through rowing as a world championship competitor, assistant coach at the college level and an administrator.

“When I was in college, you focus on the here and now and don’t really think ahead of where it’s going to take you,’’ said Wilbur.

Where rowing has taken the 1990 East Bridgewater High School graduate since starting out at UMass in the 1992-93 academic year has been a thrilling experience.

She was part of the first varsity program at UMass, helping the team reach the NCAA Championships in 1997 where it lost to the University of Washington in the final competition.

From there, Wilbur was part of the United States National Rowing squad from 1997-2003, winning gold, silver and bronze medals while competing overseas.

Her rowing career complete, Wilbur was on the coaching staffs at Boston College (2005-09) and Harvard University (2009-14) before becoming the director of rowing operations at the University of Texas.

That led Wilbur to her current position as the director of the U.S. National Team athletes services, a job she began two years ago this month.

In that role, Wilbur was supposed to travel to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics last July with the rowing team, but that trip has been changed to next July because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The national team now will be training for another year, and the 48-year-old Wilbur is happy to again be part of the organization where she was once a rower.

“It’s great,’’ said Wilbur, who is based in Princeton, New Jersey. “I really think this is a job I’ve been working towards in my career. I’m really excited to be a part of it and be able to give back a little bit.

“At some point when I was on the team, somebody was doing this job for me and I’m hoping I’m able to provide for them the support they need in order to succeed.’’

Wilbur attends daily practices and also provides support for the athletes to help meet their needs away from rowing.

This year has been a busy time due to the pandemic that has forced rowers to train on their own until the summer.

“I think the team had a hard time initially adjusting to the fact that we were postponed for a year,’’ said Wilbur. “Some of the athletes had understood this might be their last go-round and wrapping your head around a whole other year for that one goal is really hard. But I think the team is in a very good place right now.’’

Wilbur, who was on the basketball and track & field teams at East Bridgewater, was a novice to the sport when she signed up for rowing at UMass.

“I was approached on campus because I had some physical attributes that helped in rowing, just being tall and having an athletic background from basketball and track at East Bridgewater High School,’’ she said. “That was part of it. I had some physical gifts that helped me to excel in rowing.’’

UMass transitioned from club to varsity rowing while she was earning degrees in communications and then sociology. Wilbur, who also received a Master’s degree in labor studies, excelled at rowing is in the UMass Athletics Hall of Fame.

Not long after her final event at UMass, Wilbur was chosen for the national team in 1997 and began a memorable seven-year run with the United States squad.

She won gold at the 2003 World Championships in Milan in the women’s four after receiving a silver medal in 1998 in the women’s eight in Germany and a bronze in 1999 in the women’s four in Canada.

“Winning a world championship, that was a really great experience,’’ said Wilbur. “The teammates I competed with, we did something that was really special and a memory I’m so, so glad I have for the rest of my life.’’

After she was finished with rowing as a competitor, Wilbur wanted to remain close to the sport and became involved in coaching.

It represented a chance to give back to rowing after all that Wilbur had accomplished for a decade in the boat.

“Having the opportunity to row for the national team after college was a really huge privilege,’’ she said. “The whole reason I got into coaching after I was done with my elite rowing career was because I didn’t really know what else to do with myself at the time.

“At that point, my college degree was seven or eight years old without any work experience under it. I think that’s part of the struggle for the athletes on the (national) team now.’’

With that in mind, Wilbur has constructed a plan to help rowers plan for their futures after they are finished with the sport.

“I put together this program for professional development and educational resources and a way for them to make connections with former national team alums and other connections we have to help them with jobs when they’re done with their careers,’’ she said. “I think that’s one of the things they struggle with most when they’re finished.’’

The managerial position that she had while at Texas sent Wilbur in a different direction after she had been coaching.

“I liked coaching a lot, and with my job at Texas, I got into a non-coaching role and into operations and management and I seemed to enjoy it just as much,’’ said Wilbur. “I really do right now love riding in the launch with the national team coaches and watching the athletes improve every day and seeing how the coaching affects the rowing, watching them improve. That’s been really fun and I’m learning a lot, too.’’

Wilbur, who won championships at the Head of the Charles Regatta in 1999 and 2001, went to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when she was an athlete representative.

The Olympics dropped women’s rowing as a sport after 1992, but it will return to the Summer Games next year in Japan for the first time since then. Wilbur said that there has been so much improvement in women’s rowing since the time she was competing on a world stage nearly 20 years ago.

“I’m most excited to just watch the athletes compete after watching them train day in and day out and knowing what they’re going through as an athlete myself understanding what they’re going through,’’ said Wilbur, who will also be with the U.S. National team at the Paralympics in Tokyo next August. “That’ll be special to be able to be there (at the Olympics) and support them and watch them compete and be cheering them on.

“Back in the day, I was very competitive within the team. But if I were to try to compete for a seat now, I would not be in the ball park. The team is just so fast, and they’re so talented. It’s great to get to know them.’’

Wilbur’s job with the national team has given her the best of both worlds as she has an up-close view of the training that rowers go through and she is also there to make their preparation easier.

“As I got into coaching, I really enjoyed helping the athletes improve,’’ said Wilbur, who said that contributions to the national team can be made at natrowing.org. “The other thing I enjoyed about it was you have this outlet to be able to provide for athletes in college so that they’re able to stay healthy and have something physical that they do in addition to all their studying.

“I like to think the rowing experience helps to shape the person that I was coaching. There’s a lot of life lessons that are learned through rowing. That was also part of the enjoyment of it, watching these young athletes develop, both athletically and as people.’’

It is all part of the ride Wilbur has been on with rowing for nearly three decades, and she sees no end in sight.

“Yeah, I think I’m a lifer,’’ she said.

Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.