As captain of his rowing team, Steven Chica is proud to say that he and his teammates are the Miami Rowing Club’s newest champions.
“Right when I heard that horn sound, right when we crossed that finish line, it was an incredible feeling,” said Chica, 17, who is legally blind.
There were plenty of hugs to go around as the Junior 8 champs received their gold medals on Sunday, but now the Christopher Columbus High School junior is already looking forward to the regional championship in Tennessee this weekend. No one knows more about his competitive spirit than his parents.
“I think rowing has given him the opportunity to show everybody how competitive he is, what a winner he truly is, and the sky’s the limit,” said his mother, Isabel Chica.
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Growing up partially blind hasn’t been a problem for Steven Chica, and when it comes to rowing, he says it’s a lot like dancing.
“You don’t need to see, you just need to feel. You feel the boat when it moves when it has rhythm,” he said.
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It’s a rhythm that teammates like Marco Brugo can easily flow with.
“He’s very motivated and very driven and he, I don’t know, I’ve never meet someone as unique as he is,” Brugo said.
Chica said he envisions a long and successful future in rowing.
“You can do whatever you want, no matter how hard you think it might be,” he said. “If you put your mind and goal (to it), and you have courage and wisdom and power and knowledge, you can do whatever you want to do.”
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Photo Credit: NBC 6 South Florida