For someone who lives on the edge of a golf course, you might think they would spend their time on the greens working on their games.
But for Alex Gulka, he is more at ease on the water.
"Feeling that boat move on the water is an awesome experience," the 18-year-old said.
He was sitting on his back deck, which borders the Belmont Golf Course in Fort 91原创.
"When the boat is moving, it is a pretty incredible. You get that glide and you feel really powerful."
For the past four years, Gulka has rowed as part of the Fort 91原创 Rowing Club. He is also one of the first members of the Fort 91原创 Youth Rowing Society.
He got his introduction to the sport through a Learn to Row program at the club.
"I wasn't really into sports and wasn't exactly the fittest," he said.
His fitness level was down due more to his pickiness as a eater than poor eating habits.
But he has stuck with the sport and earlier this month (July 8 to 13) was in Oklahoma City with Rowing Canada.
The Canadian side was training alongside their American and Mexican counterparts as part of a high development camp. It wrapped up with two days of racing and Gulka returned with a silver medal in the quad and a pair of bronzes in the single 2 km event and in the eights.
"The other countries had been training for at least a couple of weeks together whereas we had just four days," he said.
With the competitive season now over, Gulka will spend the next few weeks training as well as helping out at the Learn to Row programs.
He hopes to continue rowing while he attends the University of Toronto 鈥� to study engineering 鈥� and isn't ruling out representing his country down the road.
"It is not something I want to lose, especially now that I have gotten up to this level," he said.
"Short term no, but in the long term, an international event is something I would definitely like to work towards."
