The appearance of the varsity eight shell sliding across the water looks graceful, elegant, even effortless.

The faces of the rowers, starting at the bow where Mickey Aylard sits with her face tightened in concentration and effort, all follow that same pattern of focus, pain and stubborn determination. Each stroke, each phase of the stroke (catch, drive, finish and recovery) is replicated by the other six rowers in the shell. If any one member of the crew falters even for a second, precious time is lost and the precarious rhythm is offset.

That kind of momentous team effort and determination are the same qualities that strike you when you talk to Aylard. She understands that the word “team” means working together and using whatever you have to offer to better the team effort. Her easy smile and kind demeanor may come as a surprise when you watch the race footage and see the intensity and passion that Aylard shows on the water.

“It’s all about the time you put in,” Aylard said. “I have found that I get out of it exactly what I put into it and that is really rewarding. It’s something that you can really see results.”

That passion for rowing caught Aylard when she was a young girl, despite the fact that she was a few inches shorter than the typical rower.

“Mickey was exposed to rowing at a very early age,” Aylard’s mother Lisa remarked. “She was working the concession and announcing races for the high school season before she was old enough to participate. By the time she started rowing, she was already a dedicated member of the rowing community. Her unwavering commitment to her crew and coaches and the hard work leading up to race day have led to her success.”

Aylard had the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the commitment that rowing required at a young age because of her family’s rowing background. Her older sister Sarah rowed at the University of Washington, and her older brother was a member of the Canadian National Team and the University of Washington crew.

“I was in grade eight, in middle school, and my older brother was my coach,” Aylard said. “I had always been around regattas because my older siblings rowed, so I spent a lot of time around regattas and I remember thinking, ‘when is it going to be my turn, I can’t wait!’ I can’t really remember my first practice or anything but I can remember my first regatta. Our coxswain had lined us up backwards so we were to row into land as opposed to rowing down the course.”

That first memory stands as an early lesson in rowing for Aylard: Everyone makes mistakes because no one is perfect and everyone is human, but the important part is to learn from them and use them to better your team and yourself.

“She maximizes all she has got. It proves that when you maximize simply what you have you can do great things,” WSU rowing Head Coach Jane LaRiviere said.

Aylard did indeed better herself. She decided to change high schools in order to row with a more talented coach who could give her the fundamental tools and strategies she needed compete on a high level.

When she got to the college level, she chose WSU because it offered one of the elite rowing programs along with a homey feeling. When she became an upperclassman, she was invited to compete with the Canadian U23 National Team over the summer of 2014 alongside her WSU teammate Nicole Hare, and she helped them bring home the bronze medal.

Listening to Aylard, you hear a lot about the team and letting others have a voice. Perhaps it is not her strength or focus that makes her a top tier rower, but her selflessness that lets her put the team above herself.

“You have to really accept other people’s perspectives and I tend to be very outspoken” Aylard said. “What I’ve learned that I think will help me this year is that I need to step back and let other people do their thing. I need to let people say what they want because I want to hear their voice.”

Appearing wise beyond her years, Aylard has taken the leadership role now bestowed upon her as one of the seniors on WSU’s rowing squad and turned it into a challenge for herself to let others succeed. Rowing is all about the stroke of not one rower, but the entire crew to make sure that when it comes time for their first regatta, their stroke will be one motion through the finish.

“She doesn’t look at the negatives of a situation, she looks at the positives. There is nothing to lose if you are a little bit smaller or your erg score isn’t as good,” LaRiviere said. “The only thing you can do is prove the critics wrong. I think that is her main strength.”

Rowing has become such a huge part of Aylard’s life. With the waking hours spent training, eating and doing school work it leaves little margin for preparation for the day she walks away from the regattas. Like her approach to being shorter than most rowers, though, Aylard does the best she can in all aspects of life.

“I’m going to try for the National team again next summer. Hopefully I can train my way back and go back and win gold. So that’s in the next year,” Aylard said. “We will see how this summer goes, I might continue to train after that but if not I am planning on going back and taking over my parent’s business. It’s a dairy farm. And so I want to go back and work there, then take over and do that for the rest of my life.”

Even after she graduates from WSU and leaves the crew to make its own mark on WSU rowing, she leaves the other talented WSU rowers with a powerful message of teamwork and pushing each other to be the best that they can be.

“I want to leave the legacy that here we train really hard, and we get results,” Aylard said. “I want to leave the team with the mentality that we just train really hard and do the best that we can. Because that’s all you can do. All you can do is your best.”

People like Aylard never leave a team without some valuable lessons about leadership, dedication and kindness. But perhaps even more importantly, no matter what they do, where they go, or how good they are, they leave an impact on the people around them. After the catch, drive, finish and recovery part of life it is important to remember that there is no such thing as an end until you stop breathing.

Aylard may be rowing for another summer, another year or maybe more. But whether or not she trades her oars and racing suit for a pair of jeans and boots will not mean an end for Aylard. In fact, her raw passion and kind leadership push her to excel wherever she is.

Do not expect Aylard to finish the spring season without helping her talented crew earn a spot at nationals, and definitely plan on seeing her make a bright future for herself, one stroke at a time.