L'Italo-Americano

T h i s J u n e , a s n e a r l y 7 , 0 0 0 s t u d e n t s received diplo- m a s f r o m the University of Wash- ington, two young Italian women were among those who celebrated. Valentina Iseppi and Carmela Pappalardo are not just new degree-holders. They are also elite athletes, rowers who have competed on both national and inter- n a t i o n a l l e v e l s . T h e p a i r h e l p e d t h e U W w o m e n ' s rowing team secure national championship titles, and as if that weren't impressive enough, both women trained as part of the Italian nation- al rowing team with an eye on competing in the 2020 Olympic Games. T w e n t y - f i v e - y e a r - o l d V a l e n t i n a I s e p p i i s f r o m G a r d o n e R i v i e r a o n t h e s h o r e s o f L a k e G a r d a i n Lombardy. Her crew mate is C a r m e l a P a p p a l a r d o , 2 6 years old, from Salerno. The two met in 2013 as teenagers when they earned spots on the Italian rowing team. At a world championship meet in 2017, they caught the eye of Yasmin Farooq, who had just become head coach of UW women's rowing. Both Iseppi and Pappalar- d o k n e w a n o t h e r I t a l i a n rower, Chiara Ondoli, who w a s a t t e n d i n g U W a t t h e time. Ondoli encouraged the t e e n s t o a c c e p t F a r o o q ' s offer, pointing out that that kind of opportunity is not common in Italy, particular- ly for women athletes. I s e p p i a n d P a p p a l a r d o arrived in 2016 and took to Seattle right away, excelling i n a t h l e t i c s a n d i n t h e i r classes. Their language skills were pretty good, too, which t h e y a t t r i b u t e d t o m a n y hours watching TED talks online. Pappalardo was a communication major and Iseppi followed an econom- ics track. Both women started row- ing as young girls. Iseppi had her first rowing experi- ence at the age of 10 when her family was on vacation at the beach. A coach from a local rowing club asked if s h e w o u l d l i k e t o t r y t h e sport. What seemed like a fun challenge quickly turned daunting. "I wasn't even able to take one stroke because I was too afraid to fall in the water," she recalled. Vowing n e v e r t o r o w a g a i n , s h e changed her mind later that fall when the same rowing club offered free lessons. When some of her friends signed up, she did, too, and had a completely different experience. By the time she w a s 1 6 , s h e h a d w o n t h e national championship in her age category in the sin- gle. P a p p a l a r d o a l s o w a s exposed to rowing early – her father is a rowing coach. As the only girl on her club's team as a teenager, she got used to being persistent and working hard. She also prac- tices karate and dance. W h i l e a t t h e U W , b o t h rowers participated in the p o p u l a r W i n d e r m e r e Cup races. Co-hosted by the UW and held the first week- end in May, the event marks the official opening of the local boating season — a tra- dition at the UW since 1970. The Windermere Cup is open to international teams which makes for interesting competition. In 2018, the Dutch women's team was invited to race. Although the UW led for most of the way, the team could not hold the p a c e a n d c a m e i n l a s t . Despite the loss, Iseppi had positive memories of that day. "We were so competi- tive that we didn't take into account the idea of losing," she said. "Even though we lost, I have never felt that atmosphere of cohesion and self-belief that we created w i t h i n o u r b o a t a n d w i t h each other." After their junior year, Iseppi and Pappalardo took what they thought would be a year off to train for the Olympics with the Italian national team. Because of t h e p a n d e m i c , o n e y e a r turned into two. (The 2020 Olympic Games were held in T o k y o i n s u m m e r 2 0 2 1 ) . Although Pappalardo did not make the cut, Iseppi did, representing Italy during the games in Tokyo where she p l a c e d f o u r t h , n a r r o w l y missing out on a medal. With that event behind them, both rowers returned to the UW for their senior year. "I was pretty scared because we had been away for two years," Pappalardo t o l d T h e S e a t t l e T i m e s recently. "We only knew a few people but from the first moment, I felt so welcome." Their return as seasoned veterans was a benefit to younger teammates, as well. "A lot of wisdom has been handed down over the years; the seniors and fifth years o n t h i s t e a m a r e r e a l l y t h o u g h t f u l l e a d e r s , " s a i d coach Farooq. "Especially coming off of the isolation of Covid, I see them actively working to engage our fresh- men and sophomores." Before long, Iseppi and P a p p a l a r d o w e r e b a c k t o their rigorous schedule of a c a d e m i c s a n d a t h l e t i c s . Both women were named to the 2022 Spring Honor Roll by the Pac-12 Conference, an honor reserved for student- athletes who earn a cumula- tive grade point average of 3.3 or above. Although Iseppi missed much of the season nursing a torn hamstring tendon, she had healed well enough to take part in several key races this past spring. One w a s t h e P a c - 1 2 c h a m p i - o n s h i p s , w h e r e t h e d u o helped row their team to a second-place finish overall. A t t h e N C A A C h a m p i - onships Varsity 8+ race in F l o r i d a , w h i c h t h e U W women's team had won in 2 0 1 7 a n d 2 0 1 9 , t h e t e a m took a fourth place overall. W i t h U W d i p l o m a s i n hand, Iseppi and Pappalardo are back in Italy, training a g a i n w i t h t h e I t a l i a n national team. When asked w h a t t h e y w o u l d s a y t o young rowers who want to f o l l o w i n t h e i r f o o t s t e p s , t h e i r a d v i c e w a s s i m p l e : have fun! Don't take it too seriously. "Persistence and consis- tency are going to be key fac- tors if you want to succeed at rowing," Iseppi added. " G i v e y o u r s e l f t i m e t o improve and don't get dis- couraged if you don't see results right away." Two Italian rowers help win national titles for University of Washington RITA CIPALLA Carmela Pappalardo, in front, competes in the UW Varsity 8+ race at the Windermere Cup (Photo: Scott Eklund/Redbox Pictures) SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano

• Cover