As the sun barely rises in the sky, Kathryn slices her paddle through the clear water again and again, propelling herself forward. Racing ahead faster and faster, she glides toward the finish line.
Kathryn Zaloom, who graduated CHS in 2019, started rowing at a young age. Given that her mother, Michelle Zaloom, entered the Olympics twice for the same sport, she has a qualified legacy and mentor to look up to.
“My mom rowed, and so I rowed a little bit when I was in middle school,” Zaloom said. “I actually went to university to go do volleyball and I didn’t really vibe with the coach, so I switched schools, started to row more, and started emailing coaches, and that’s how I got into Berkeley.”
Though there are many different types and ways to row, Zaloom primarily focuses on ocean rowing. This type of rowing is split up into two different categories: coastal and beach.
“Coastal rowing is where you start in the middle of the water and race there, meanwhile beach rowing is where you run down the beach and get into the water and row, and then when you’re done, you have to race back up the beach.”
Zaloom is currently living abroad in France, practicing and training for rowing while also teaching English to residential French students. As a comparative literature and French major, she has a lot of experience on the two topics and is eager to share her knowledge with other students.
“The US and France are similar but also pretty different,” Zaloom said. “The culture is very different and you can tell when you speak to someone that you are in France. They live very differently than the people in the US.”
She claimed that France has a lot of unique culture and history to unpack, as well as other great amenities and features that may not be available to people in the US.
“I really like just their lifestyle, their healthcare, and their standard for education is really good, so everything is just really cool and different here,” Zaloom said.
Other than being a rowing superstar, Zaloom has played and excelled at many different sports during her lifetime, two of which she practiced and competed in collegiately.
“I played indoor volleyball, beach volleyball; I played beach volleyball for one year competitively and then I switched over to rowing on flat water,” Zaloom said. “Now I’ve been doing coastal rowing and beach rowing.”
Zaloom gives specific advice to young athletes, stating to go out and explore the world, find yourself and experience other cultures in the process.
“I would just say get out and explore the world; don’t confine yourself,” Zaloom said. “Just get out of California!”
