Xavier Aniton: Starting from the Bottom to Build Strong Team Culture

Rowing in Color

#028 - Xavier Aniton is an 8-year rower, who served as team captain at both Shaker Heights High School in Ohio and Jacksonville University in Florida.

In this episode, we talked about:

• Saying no to basketball and yes to rowing [1:35]
• Building a strong team culture on a boys high school team [7:23]
• Juggling rowing and academics in the role of a student-athlete [19:33]
• Did support differ when coming from a more demographically diverse team than from a less diverse team? [28:56]
• “Do you feel like your team was treated any differently because of who you were or how you looked?” [34:25]
• Advice for younger rowers of color [38:59]

… and much more.

To get in touch with Xavier, please reach him on Instagram @xaniton2024
We hope that the conversation in this podcast helps us all in the rowing world -- no matter your race -- to unify the rowing sport through diversity.
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