Natalie Dell Day recap

 Highly competitive, but highly classy. Incredibly dedicated, yet incredibly gracious.
 That's Natalie Dell in a nutshell. Bedford County, specifically Everett, celebrated her as the area's first-ever Olympic medalist this past Friday.
And what a day it was.
  I had the privilege of following Natalie around for many of the events, and I want to thank the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce and the Everett Area School District for allowing me to do so outside of the allotted time for media interviews with her.
  To begin, I have to take you back to August 1, hours after Natalie and her teammates Megan Kalmoe, Kara Kohler, and Adrienne Martelli gave the United States the bronze medal in Women's Quadruple Sculls rowing at the 2012 London Olympics.
  After watching the medal final and ceremony online early that morning, I knew I had to get in touch with Natalie, for this was such a fantastic moment in Bedford County sports history.
  I spent the next few minutes calling and leaving a message on her cell phone, sending an email to her, and also trying to contact her via Facebook, hoping she would see or hear this somewhere in all the craziness and with the five-hour time difference.
  After lunchtime here at home, I reached her. She answered on the first ring on my end and responded with a simple, down to earth "Hi." I was caught a little off-guard, but I guess she probably recognized the 814 area code on my phone and/or didn't figure to field many calls from the United States just yet.
  We had such a great conversation about her experience that day and what led into that day. So when Everett put plans together to honor her, I knew it was something I had to knock out of the park in terms of coverage for the Gazette. Of course, I also wanted an autograph or two and a picture with her and the medal for my personal collection. (Photo is on my Facebook page)
  Fast forward to Friday, where I walked into the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce's breakfast and had the awesome opportunity to meet Natalie Dell, 2012 Olympic Medalist. We both stated, nearly simultaneously, how nice it was to put a face to the name after emailing back and forth for a couple of stories since the Olympics ended.
  Through my career and my overall love of sports, I've had the chance to meet and see some great athletes (professional, collegiate, high school) up close and personal, but I have not met one who is more genuine, more down to earth, and more generous with her time than Natalie Dell.
  I said in a column piece in the August 2 edition of the Gazette that I knew next to nothing about rowing before I had heard that Natalie would be part of the Olympics. After all of this and even though Natalie won't be involved (she said she is officially retired), I will make it a point to watch some rowing from the 2016 Rio De Janiero Olympics and probably beyond.
  There were some wonderful parts of Friday's events. The elementary kids chanting "USA, USA, USA" was one of my favorites. At the end of the elementary assembly, Natalie allowed all the kids to see and touch the medal up close, and she also hung out with some high schoolers showing off the hardware. Kellie Goodman Shaffer, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and the former Sports Director at WTAJ-TV in Altoona, choked up when presenting Natalie with a check from local businesses to help cover her expenses for the homecoming. And during the breakfast, Natalie stated that she was carrying Bedford County with her in those Olympic races. Quite amazing, and quite humbling that she made it a point to let all of us know that. She was racing for herself, her teammates, her country, her family, and her native home of Clearville, the Everett Area School District, and the entire county.
  She discussed how underfunded their club team at Penn State was compared to the top level NCAA rowing programs. Lack of a close place near campus to row, lesser boats and uniforms, and something such as knowing another team had two massage therapists compared to one for them all gave her the desire to beat her opponents' that much more, which brought some laughs from the crowd at the breakfast.
  That desire to win and be the best carried over when she gave it everything she had for three years to make the national team. Many of the top rowers often go directly into the U.S. team program, this was not the case for Natalie. Her lack of height (5-8) was one factor that worked against her in trying to get noticed.
  She lost much more than she won, but she carried on and finally made it, attending a pair of World Championships before getting the ultimate honor to be an Olympian this summer.
  It is such a moment to be proud to be an American, despite the everyday issues that many of us face. Bedford County Commissioner Kirt Morris called Natalie: "An awesome role model."
  I can't thank Natalie enough for her time during the past two months and her graciousness on Friday. At one point during the late afternoon, she asked me if I was tired of hearing her speak, as she had already made three speeches with one more coming before the football game with West Branch. "Not one bit," I said. It's not everyday you get to experience something like this and feel like you're a little part of history in this way.
  I'm a little sad knowing Natalie is not going to row anymore competitively, but I completely understand her decision. She gave up eight years of her life to pursue rowing greatness, putting aside other personal and professional aspirations to do so. She's going to take a long vacation after moving to San Francisco, and she deserves it for sure.
  I hope that Natalie's achievements inspire any of our young athletes to chase after their dreams, whatever they may be. Remember, Bedford County has now had someone in two straight Summer Olympics. Let's continue that trend!
 
A couple extra tidbits:
  - After her competition was finished, Natalie took in the rest of the Olympics and says she enjoyed synchronized swimming and women's wrestling the best out of what she got to attend.
  - For anyone who has not seen it, please visit further down in this blog for two videos that feature Natalie and her experiences this summer. You can also view them on her Facebook Athlete page at www.facebook.com/natalierows, where there is also a huge collection of photos from the Olympics.
 - Also, Saturday's Bedford Gazette has my story chronically Natalie's journey on Friday as well as a feature piece on reaction around Everett which was written by Gazette newswriter Cara Beemiller. See Page 6 of the Weekend Edition for several photos.