Irish dancing is the secret behind my track success
World Championship 1500m bronze medallist Shannon Rowbury reveals that a background in Irish dancing is the secret to her on-track success. spikesmag.com, with a little jig in its stride, catches up with the US athlete to find out more…
“When I was in kindergarten I tripped over a basketball and fractured my tibia. My grandmother, who is Irish, said I should do Irish dancing to help strengthen my leg. I feel that was really huge in developing me as an athlete. It helped me with my fast-twitch development and hip strength.
It’s great, too, because it taught me how to be a competitor without taking up athletics too early. I was up on a stage, often by myself, in front of people trying to perform a choreographed dance. And
running, in comparison, seemed so simple.
Irish dancing taught me so many things, which were important to running, like the importance and correlation between hard work and success. At
ten years old I would get up at 6.30 in the morning before school to
practise for half an hour. In the evening I’d train for an hour, maybe
two or three times a week and on a weekend for two or three hours.
It taught me some important lessons from an early age.
I just loved the detailed choreography of dancing and, of course, the music and all of that. It’s such a fun thing to do.
The best I ever did was place seventh nationally, which I was pretty pleased with. I also made the World Championships on a couple of occasions. Having the opportunity to travel to Dublin (for the Worlds) was one of the highlights of my time Irish dancing. I loved getting the opportunity to see Ireland – and I remember seeing the sheep in the fields. I also loved getting dressed up in the costumes. It was always such a neat atmosphere. I went to Dublin when I was about 11 and went to Galway for the Worlds the following year.
I stopped Irish dancing when I was 16. I was in my junior year at High School and the recruiting process began at college. I knew if I wanted to get a scholarship at college I’d have to concentrate on running and, as much as I loved Irish dancing, I was like, ‘okay, I need to focus now’.
I still miss Irish dancing. Maybe
when my career in athletics is over and I have kids that will be another chance to get back into it. I’ve been asked before if I think I’d be an international athlete without that grounding in Irish dance – and to be honest, I just don’t know. Knowing how I am, and how much energy I have, I would have found something. But
I feel very fortunate that I did Irish dancing as opposed to any other sport because I think it gave me a huge advantage in running.”
***Read part two of our series focusing on how dancing helps my athletics in tomorrow at spikesmag.com***
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