Megan Cooke Reviews

Joining this team was my biggest and only regret in life. The team culture is incredibly toxic, mainly due to the head coach. She is tone deaf, lacking in compassion, socially inept, and could care less about the teams mental health or academic success. All three of her assistant coaches quit and they were all that was left of the glue holding the team together. If you are considering getting recruited to the Duke Womens Rowing team, I ask you to genuinely reconsider your options. This is not a team you want to join. Your love for the sport with diminish and your mental and physical health will as well. Examples: the coach continuously lied about my development/boating/position on the team, called me by the incorrect name countless times, never asked about my personal life or experiences on the team or at the school, and never showed emotion other than anger or stress. Her way of motivating the team after a hard day of pieces was saying “You're all slow and this team is not a top 10 team” and that was it. When I found myself in the hospital one weekend with severe tonsilitis and mono, I returned to the team practice and she said, “Heard you had a fun weekend in the hospital!” with an evil smile and no follow up questions asking how I was. In fact, she made me return to practice a day after being discharged.

Dishonest.