For Jordan Watson, there has not been one time where she has failed and not gotten back up.

Entering high school, the current junior member of the Cougar rowing team was torn between two very different sports – dance and rowing. After spending almost nine years learning and training to be a premiere dancer, she wanted to quit before receiving her certificate. But doing so would have gone against what her parents taught her growing up.

“To be so close, we all wanted her to finish what she started,” said Ida Watson, Jordan’s mother. “We always taught her to finish what she started. That way if she wanted to come back to dance she would be able to teach if she wanted to.”

After finishing her dance career, Jordan decided to focus on rowing entering her sophomore year of high school. The decision proved worthwhile after Watson was selected to the 2012 Canadian National Team that participated in the Junior World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

However, when it came time for Watson to try out for the Canadian U23 team in 2014, she experienced failure like she never had before. After the success she had with the Canadian junior team, the instant reaction was disappointment, followed by the realization it wasn’t going to be her last chance to make the team.

“I’ve failed a lot more than I’ve succeeded,” Watson said. “And I think just with the failures I’ve had, I’m the type of person to come back and be more successful. Take the past failures as learning opportunities and I feel that has really helped me.”

Watson’s mother also said that Jordan had lost two family members – one, just 20-years old, died in a car accident – around the time of her tryouts in London, Ontario for the U23 team. Typically close to her family, Jordan distanced herself and didn’t reconnect with her family for a while.

The combination of the two deaths and not making the U23 team hit home for Jordan. When she began to reconnect with her family again, her mother noticed that she was ready to dominate on the water again.

“When we were at our cabin, she worked out seven days a week, because she wanted to get better,” Ida said. “Now, when we came down for the Gonzaga race, it was a totally different Jordan. She was much more self-confident. The whole boat, we went ‘Wow they are really strong,’ and her actions spoke louder than her words.”

For Washington State Head Coach Jane LaRiviere, Jordan has been exactly what the team needs.

“She’s a quiet leader. She’s really, really committed and leads by example,” LaRivere said. “I think that’s her strength. She’s learning every day and working hard and you have to have the people that are there to work and do their best.”

Watson embodies the internal motivation that LaRiviere preaches during every practice. When looking at failures as stepping stones, there isn’t much standing in the way of Jordan Watson.