NGZ Athlete of the Month
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Alone in the boat and university
The successful duo: Cece Sommerfeld of Neuss Rowing Club sitting in the loft, Anna Händle (Würzburg) behind in the arch. Together they finished third at the World Under-23 Championships in Italy.
Photo: b
Noyes Cecilia Sommerfield, third in the World Championships, of the Neues Rowing Club teaches at the elite university in Princeton. On the 3rd of September you will return to the USA.
Anyone who talks to Cecilia Sommerfeld would be better prepared. Because the 21-year-old, whom everyone calls “Sissy”, chooses her words carefully. The Neusser RV trolley rower doesn’t care about trifles. She does not interrupt the person she is talking to – a very beloved trait in these (crisis) times dominated by loudspeakers and chatterboxes – she listens. Anyone who intervenes will find someone with whom they can (actually) speak with wonderful calm about God and the world.
It is clear that the people around her also had this quite the pleasant experience. And because so many people have read the Neuß-Grevenbroicher Zeitung (NGZ) on the subject, they voted for a father from Neuss after third place at the U-23 World Championships held in Lago di Varese in northern Italy as the “Sport of the Month for July”. She described her ascent to the podium on which this vote is based in the “second light without” along with Anna Handel (Würzburg): “At 800 metres, I saw that we were not feeling well, so I accelerated. And it worked out well.” Bronze medal with advertisement. About a year ago, she and then-partner Antonia Michaels (Hamburg) won the silver at the U-23 World Championships in Ratchez, Czech Republic, against an almost identical competition.
The fact that there was precious metal again in Italy was of course not a sure success, because its masterful coach Christian Stoffels only brought it together with Anna Handel shortly before the German Under-23 Championship at Lake Fühlinger in Cologne, which ended with the title. A quick date as in a dream. “We’ve been going really well right from the start – even out of the boat,” says the endurance athlete, who in spring 2019 was 17 and was already “NGZ Sportsman of the Month.”
Spontaneous team building is almost natural in rowing, because clients who love this sport, which requires a lot of physical and mental effort, are usually very smart and also very disciplined, and academic training plays a major role. It’s no different with Ces Sommerfield. After graduating from high school in Marienberg and completing a voluntary social year (FSJ) with the Malteser Rescue Service in Neuss, she went to the United States to study. It has made its decision against the famous Stanford University in California with neighboring Silicon Valley and Princeton in New Jersey, which, along with Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania and Yale, is one of the most prestigious universities not only in the United States. These elite colleges make up the famous Ivy League in college sports.
Equipped with an athletic scholarship, Citizen News’ day now begins regularly at 6 a.m. with crisp rowing and pre-symposium strength training. Indeed, it’s an ordeal, “but it’s okay in a group,” asserts the 21-year-old, who preferred chemistry to medicine when studying chemistry. “I like to start the day actively, I’ve been riding my bike to school.” She has no problems with language. “My mother is from the USA.” And while everyday life in fairly quiet Princeton exudes a bit of charm, entertainment is on offer. “It’s only an hour and a half to New York.” She feels comfortable in the university town of nearly 7,000 students, and plans to stay for a full four years and possibly add her master’s degree to her bachelor’s degree.
Of course, there is still a lot to do before he returns on September 3. After attending the European Championship in Munich and playing in the eighth German Bundesliga at Bonn RG with her sister Luisa and fellow clubmates Alina Stammen and Paula Kuhn, next week should be uphill for her. Zugspitze elevation 2962 meters and of course to Neusser Schützenfest. He won’t be back in Germany until December: on the morning of Christmas Eve.
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