U.S. Junior connections help Tenenbaum give rowing international recruiting boost

In his first season as Clemson’s head rowing coach, Robbie Tenenbaum is already reaping the benefits of his ability to recruit internationally.

Freshmen Laura Basadonna (Torino, Italy) and Laura D’Urso (Dunross, Culdaff, Ireland) have been fixtures in the Tigers’ Varsity 8 crew that was recently named ACC Crew-of-the-Week following victories in the Big-10/ACC Challenge over 12th-ranked Michigan and 7th-ranked Ohio State

In the meantime, fellow freshmen Evelyn Toth (Budapest, Hungary) and Maria Jose Gutierrez (Lima, Peru) have likewise been mainstays for the Tigers’ second 8.

“They’ve adapted and have been doing great,” said Tenenbaum. “Laura Basadonna has been in the first boat since she got here in the fall. Laura D’Urso just came in January, and she’s also been in the first boat since she got here. Both of them have just had an incredible immediate impact. They’ve both had great success at the Junior World Rowing Championships before they came over, and great success as junior athletes in Europe.

“Evelyn and Majo have also done a great job for us. Both of them are in the second 8, and are helping us go faster. All four have adjusted really well to life at Clemson. They love it here and are having a great time, and they’ve bought into our team aspect, which is very different from what they’re used to. Back home, being in a club, they might be the only girl in the club, or maybe even only one of five girls rowing in their country.”

The wider search for talent comes naturally to Tenenbaum, whose international range as a recruiter stems from his previous and extensive coaching experience with the U.S. Junior National team.

“It started with my coaching with the Junior National team beginning in 1996,” said Tenenbaum. “Between then and 2003, I was traveling overseas every year. You just can’t help but meet people and form connections and friendships, and those go a really long way. We hear about somebody or see them at an event, and then it’s just a matter of them wanting to come to the United States to get an education as well as continue to row, and then selling them on Clemson.

“For a lot of these girls, it’s an opportunity that they never thought of or anticipated. It‘s so new and different for them, but the four we’ve brought in are having a great time with it.”

Beyond that promise of cultural adventure, Tenenbaum says the actual selling of Clemson isn’t very difficult.

“Our facilities here at Clemson University are probably significantly better than what a lot of people were training with back in their home countries,” he said. “Between the lake, the support that you get at the university, the equipment, the boathouse…everything that we have here gives our student-athletes the training ground and the platform they need to be able to just keep getting better.”

On a broader and perhaps more topical note, Tenenbaum also pointed out the ways in which the international student-athletes have reciprocally helped diversify the program.

“Firstly, we’re getting athletes who have a lot of race experience at a really high level,” he said. “That, in itself, is huge. The other thing is that they come in and they really help to give us diversity on our team. Because then we don’t just have people from the state of South Carolina, or from the south. We have people from literally all over the United States, and then Canada, South America, and Europe.

“I think it adds to the experience of our student-athletes who are from South Carolina and the United States. They now have immediate friends from all over the world. They make plans to visit their new friend in Peru, or their new friend in Italy, and I think it opens everybody’s eyes up to the entire world.

“Also, as things are going on in other parts of the world, people are affected in different ways. So it’s very educational for our student-athletes to have that friendship with somebody that’s living perhaps in an area of turmoil. It gives everybody a little bit of pause, and an appreciation for living where we do, and having everything that we have here at Clemson.”