A New Hobby of Mine – Rowing

Hello everyone! It is Jack here and I hope everyone is having a good spring break. One of the things that I would like to discuss in this post is Rowing, a new activity which I began doing during my time at UC Irvine. In this post I will go through through the activity, what I think about it and how to get started with it.

When I came to UC Irvine, I originally wanted to compete in a sport. As I was looking for something to compete in, I found club sports. During the first week of the school year there are many opportunities to understand more about the club sports at UC Irvine. The Anteater Involvement Fair and Late Night at the ARC are great opportunities to learn more about club sports and at some of these events there may even be an activity which helps to shower you how the sport is. Most of the club sport teams are competitive and some even accept members who have never played the sport.

I had never rowed before I came to UC Irvine and by the end of Week 0, I was already in my first boat. Throughout the school year I have been able to wake up early most mornings and complete a workout or a row which has prepared me to race. Rowing is one of the interesting club sports as it was formerly an intercollegiate sport, but it now competes as a club team but races some intercollegiate teams. Most of the rowing that we do takes place in Newport Harbor, but there are opportunities to race in other places.

Rowing is a nice activity to get exercise in as some of the team’s members initially joined for that reason, but it is also nice to be able to practice in open water and face some really talented athletes in some of the races. While practices may take place at an early hour in the morning, they are also at a time when the sunrise can be seen.

As for how to be a rower, you could always join your college’s club team or a local club team. UC Irvine rowing usually recruits rowers from September through January and usually at a college club Rowing team they will teach an incoming rower how to row. If you would like to get a feel for the movements of Rowing before going out on the water, one could always practice on a rowing machine, something which is available at the Anteater Recreation Center and many other gyms. Once one would like to try the water, they could row on their own (skulling) or row with one, three or seven others (sweeping). Rowing in the bodies of water around UC Irvine requires a lot of care for the boats, since much of the water is salt water, but the views are excellent. One tip about Rowing would be to do it early in the morning or late at night as it is easier as waters are much calmer at those times of day.

That is it for me for this post and I hope everyone has a great remainder of spring break! Zot Zot Zot!

UC Irvine In Late January

Hello everyone, it is Jack once again and I am here to share some photos of some of the moments I found most interesting at UC Irvine In the first few weeks of the quarter! Most of these are athletics related, but that is an area I do not think I have been able to share about yet, so I am going to share it now.

This is a photo of the exterior of the Bren Events Center when the UC Irvine Women’s Basketball team played Long Beach State for kids day. This was an important game as it had the largest attendance of any UC Irvine Women’s Basketball game ever. I took these photos here a while ago, but tomorrow the women’s basketball team plays Gonzaga in the first round of March Madness, hopefully they will be able to get their first March Madness win ever.

This is a photo of the 2024 UC Irvine Men’s Tennis home opener against BYU, the Anteaters won and it was the first tennis match that I had watched at UC Irvine.

This was the next day during the next men’s tennis match against San Diego State. The Anteaters were able to win and on some days in late winter and early spring, due to the proximity of the tennis stadium and the baseball field, you can hear the baseball game from the tennis stadium. This was one of those days.

This is a photo of the post-game of a UC Irvine Men’s Basketball game against CSUN. The Anteaters were able to win and they actually went undefeated at home this season. There are a variety of activities at men’s and women’s basketball games, so I encourage all students to at least attend one.

This is a photo of the Men’s Volleyball match against UCLA, which the Anteaters lost 3-2. It has to have been my favorite match that I attended in the Bren Events Center as the crowd was really getting into it and the Anteaters almost came back from a 2-0 deficit. Men’s Volleyball matches are definitely the second most popular type of game to attend after basketball and at times they have similar attendance numbers, if you ever have a chance try to attend a Men’s Volleyball match you should go as they are very lively and the team is usually ranked top 10 in the nation.

For a break from athletics, this is an example of a program hosted by a resident advisor in one of the on-campus residence communities. My residence hall is very active when it comes to programs and at times students who do not even live in my hall attend. On this night we were playing bingo and other board and card games.

I hope this gives students and others a good idea about some of the activities at UC Irvine and I hope to share some more information about life at UCI in my next posts. Next time I will be sharing about one of the activities I never thought of participating in before I came to UC Irvine! Until next time, I hope everyone has a good end to finals week and Zot Zot Zot!

my hobby !!

HELLO EVERYONE!

To get started, the hobby I am interested in is WEIGHTLIFTING!! 

Weightlifting is a complex and engaging activity that combines both physical and mental aspects. It serves as a type of strength training, where lifting weights contributes to the development of muscle power and bulk, boosts sports performance, and supports general health and well-being.

Embarking on a weightlifting journey has been such a transformative experience for me. Initially, my time in the gym was consumed with focusing on abs and cardio, with the primary aims of shedding weight and obtaining an hourglass figure. As time passed, my goals changed. Now, my main goal in the gym is to continue to build my strength and continuously set new personal PR’s – (personal records) with heavy compound lifting, which involves executing movements that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. 

The gym can be a lot of things for different people, but I have found it to be one of my many safe places. It’s a time when everything goes quiet, and I can simply listen to my music and workout. I love being able to unwind from my day, and even push my limits when I’m tired. I used to enjoy going with my friends, but recently I have been going by myself, as it is proves to be a lot quicker. Although, I think going with my friends helped me become more comfortable with going to the gym, and not being afraid to try new things. Also, them being there to support me and keep me going helped me a lot. I became a lot closer with people, and it was a great opportunity to not only work out your body, but also your mind. You don’t have to be good at it, you just have to try. It’s more so of a mindset, rather than depending on your physical strength. 

To get started with weightlifting, keep in mind that you are starting out on this journey! Do not compare yourself to others no matter what! Follow advice yes, but be sure that you are consuming the right knowledge! The reason I got started was because of my friends and most of my information comes from TikTok. I recommend starting off with a simple routine and depending on your goal for the gym, I would say to follow pre-made routines from other people either from YT and TikTok. Find what works for you, everyone is different. Also, being aware of what others post (body, food, lifestyle) on social media, they focus only on those parts of your life, so again, don’t compare yourself! 

If you have any questions or need my advice, please contact me 🙂 !! I’m happy to help! 

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EXAMS!! I can’t believe it’s already week 8 :(. 

Winter Is Coming

Last quarter was incredibly difficult for me. I am a chronic procrastinator, and I have been ever since I was young. In high school, it wasn’t such a big deal, because my teachers would understand my circumstances as a neurodivergent individual, allowing me to receive minor accommodations. When high school teachers tell you that “This won’t fly in college,” in some aspects they’re right. Without academic responsibility, college is very stressful. As many procrastinators know, it’s easy to stress about upcoming deadlines but it’s incredibly difficult to do something about it. Even entering the winter quarter, I’m still struggling with procrastination.

My plans for the winter quarter are somewhat conflicting. I still want to maintain time for my hobbies like gaming, painting, and talking to my friends. One thing that has been especially challenging is mustering the self control to put down my sketchbook, close my laptop, or stop typing on my phone. College is a new experience for a lot of people, where we don’t have our parents keeping us accountable. I’m sure that some of my peers have been able to keep themselves on task throughout high school, but a large proportion of students, especially those who have learning disabilities, may not be used to self accountability. I’m certainly not used to it. Socially, it’s been difficult for me to ask for help from people. I don’t feel like I know anyone well enough to ask them to help keep me accountable. 

Some things I’ve done differently from Fall to Winter are changes in eating habits, sleep, and exercise. At the beginning of the year, I was absolutely terrified of eating alone in the dining hall. I’m not sure what about it scared me so much, but the idea of people perceiving me while eating was very uncomfortable. I would often skip meals and eat substitutes like cheese and crackers or instant ramen and a protein bar. Sometimes the irrational anxiety would also creep up elsewhere, like sitting near people when few seats were available in a class. In terms of sleep, the first quarter I wasn’t able to manage my sleeping habits very well. I’d stay up until 2 or 3 AM, scrolling on my phone. On weekends, I’d sleep until 2 or 3 PM, and not leave my room at all. This quarter, I’ve found a few ways to get out of bed before noon. I try to find activities to do on weekends like trips with the Goth Club or weekend practices for Belegarth, a foam fighting sport. Belegarth also helps me be more active. In high school, I participated in color guard and drumline, which kept me active enough. Over the summer and during the Fall Quarter, I had difficulty motivating myself to be active, resulting in more severe symptoms of my chronic pain. In finding an activity that I enjoy, I can actually get motivated to get more active!

This winter, I’m excited to write for any readers of the ZotBlog who may feel like they don’t have it all figured out. I’m with you, and we can work on improving our habits together!

Clay stands in the foreground wearing a dark gray tartan cloak, while his friend wields a foam tipped pole arm in the background.