Ep. 14: Aisyah Rafa’ee - Obsession, Reality, and Finding the “Why”
Aisyah Rafa’ee, rowing at the Southeast Asian Games. She went on to represent Singapore at the 2016 Rio Olympics, in the LTWT 1x.
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In 2016, Aisyah Rafa'ee became the first rower to represent Singapore at the Olympics. She was an athletic and competitive kid, finding her way onto Singapore's national netball team before being handpicked in high school to train in a 2x for the national rowing team. She eventually fell out of love with sculling, retired, and found herself in Boston, rowing sweep with masters women.
Aisyah's honesty about how rough training could be both mentally and physically is humbling, and refreshing. Today she's interested in mental skills and growth mindset, and is pursuing an athletic counseling degree.
TIME STAMPS
Short on time? Jump to what interests you:
00:00 - Intro
03:20 - CRI’s Institute for Rowing Leadership
07:20 - Playing netball, the transition to rowing
12:00 - Olympic dreams
20:40 - Athletic identity, obsession, balance, masters
27:50 - 2016 Rio Olympics, retirement
33:40 - Finding a new “why”
37:30 - Rapid Fire Q&A
42:50 - Best Part of Your Rowing Week: Kadee Sylla
EpISODE 14 Mentions:
Asian Games
Boston University Rowing
Community Rowing, Inc.
Harvard Rec. League Rowing
Hydrow
Institute for Rowing Leadership
Joy of Sculling
Kim (Crow) Brennan (AUS, 1x)
MIT Women’s Lightweight Crew
Netball
Orange Theory
Coach Sara Nevin
Created & Produced by: Rachel Freedman & Tara Morgan
Hosted by: Rachel Freedman & Tara Morgan
Edited by: Tara Morgan
Website & Social Media by: Rachel Freedman