Taking a front-row seat

RINDGE, N.H. -- Alexis Ozimek, a senior cocaptain on the rowing team at Franklin Pierce College, is also the stroke, which means she takes orders from the coxswain and sets the pace.

She is the only rower in the program's history to medal at two events in her career after leading the women's varsity four to a gold at the Knecht Cup, hosted by Villanova last spring. A year earlier, she and her boat earned a bronze medal in the New England Fours Championship in Worcester.

That Ozimek is legally deaf hasn't mattered. She shrugs it off, her coach shrugs it off, and her teammates shrug it off. They win, and that's all that matters.

Coach Doug Connelly, who arrived at Franklin Pierce two years ago, was asked if it gave him pause when he learned that one of his athletes was deaf.

''No, not really," he said. ''She has the smoothest stroke of anyone in the boat. That's kind of how I judge it; you want the steadiest, smoothest person with the cleanest stroke, being up front, leading the rest of the group."

The women's four was undefeated last spring, so Connelly made a pitch to get a bigger boat. The college agreed, and Sunday the Franklin Pierce team will be make its debut in the Collegiate Eights at the Head of the Charles.

Coxswain Vanessa Leon has figured out how to make her orders understood by Ozimek.

''There's microphones throughout the boat and that helps a lot," said Leon, a Lenox native. ''And in the eight, she can read my lips. Sometimes she doesn't hear quite clearly, and I have to be sure to be speaking clearly."

Ozimek swam and ran cross-country in high school at Unionville, Pa., and when she was a junior, she decided to try rowing, never thinking that her lack of hearing would make a difference.

Her biggest concern, she said, was that her hearing aids would get wet.

''But I never questioned if I would be able to row or not," she said. ''I grew up with a very supportive family, teammates and friends."

Liz Ward, a junior and the team's other cocaptain, didn't start rowing until she got to Franklin Pierce. She shrugged her shoulders when asked if rowing with Ozimek is a challenge.

''It makes no difference at all," said Ward. ''She sets the pace and we follow."

Ozimek, who is majoring in psychology with a minor in elementary education, has little problem in the classroom, either. She has a 3.4 grade-point average, and her professors speak into a microphone hooked up to a receiver in her right ear.

She was born legally deaf, and started wearing hearing aids when she was 3 years old, although doctors told her parents it was doubtful she would ever speak.

But now she has only minor concessions to make.

''I wear a head-warmer if it's really raining out [to protect the hearing aids]. Everybody else on the team is real supportive and helpful," Ozimek said. ''Coach will try and be real visual when he's demonstrating what he wants us to do, like using his paddle or physically act it out . . . and the cox [Leon] will make sure they use the expressions that are most vital.

''Like the other day she was saying that she wanted one side to be pulling harder, and another side to be doing less. But when I heard 'starboard,' I thought that I misunderstood her. So the emphasis on key words is really helpful."

Connelly said he also got a quieter engine for his motorboat this year, which makes it easier for him to be heard.

''But that was really because someone complained that we were too noisy," he said.

Ozimek, who will be racing in the Head of the Charles for the fourth time, said the noise from all the competitors and spectators doesn't add to the confusion.

''Well, I try and zone everything out," she said. ''It's just really you and your oar and the race."