Minium: She Was Hearing Impaired and Inexperienced, but That Didn't Stop Nicole Knight From Excelling for ODU Rowing
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – It was fall move-in day at Old Dominion University and Nicole Knight, a freshman from Grafton High School in York County, was just one of hundreds of students attending orientation at Chartway Arena.
She was checking out the clubs, sororities and other organizations that were recruiting new members when she was approached by Ashley Ball.
“Are you interested in trying out for the rowing team?” asked Ball, then an ODU rowing assistant coach.
Nicole was taken aback. She is hearing impaired, with moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears and “profound” loss in her right ear at higher frequencies.
And she is at risk of losing more, or all, of her hearing if she falls, gets hit in the head or even gets on a plane.
Her athletic pursuits, impressive as they are, have largely been limited to cross country and track.
And in all her 18 years, she had never picked up an oar and rowed in a boat.
But she was intrigued. She loves challenges, and when she met some rowers she said she discovered, “that they were just awesome people.”
So, in September of 2023, she tried out for the rowing team and something amazing happened.
Within a few months of joining the rowers, she earned a place on the team’s first boat. Of the 40 or so members of the rowing team, she was deemed to be among the top eight.
At the end of rowing season, she was put on a full scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year and last spring, she was named the Newcomer of the Year in the American Athletic Conference. She and teammate Sofia Bespalova were both named to the all-league team.
Saturday at 10 a.m., she and her teammates open their spring season against Saint Joseph's at home at the ODU Rowing Center on the Lafayette River.
ODU Rowing Head Coach Brian Conley said it’s not unusual for walk-ons – those who walk on to a team without a scholarship – to earn a full ride in rowing.
“It’s very common in our sport,” he said. “If you have a background in a cardio sport like cross country, you can do very well with it.
“If you’re a good athlete, you can transition in our sport very well. And Nicole is a great athlete. More than that, she is so determined and works so hard.”
But it wasn’t that simple for Nicole.
She was born hearing impaired and when she fell at a playground at age three, she temporarily lost hearing in one ear. The same thing happened when she flew, for the first time, with her mother to DisneyWorld.
“Nicole lost all of the hearing in one of her ears when we flew to Florida,” said her mother, Theresa Swartzbaugh. “We didn’t know whether it would come back.
“When it did, she had no hearing loss. But she will no longer fly.”
ODU rarely flies to rowing events, but when the Monarchs do, Nicole stays at home.
She drove home with friends who had driven to Orlando.
She also can’t wear her hearing aids when she rows because if they get wet, they are kaput. And hearing aids are expensive.
She can hear the coxswain, the person who steers the boat and speaks into a microphone plugged into a speaker. But she says she often can’t hear her coaches during workouts.
“It’s not that big a deal,” she said. “We work around that.”
Her hearing impairment is serious. When she’s conversing with people, she reads lips. “If you had your back to me,” she said, “I would not be able to understand you.”
At times, she says she has problems hearing her professors. But when she does, she approaches them after class.
“All the information I need is online,” she said. “It hasn’t been a problem.”
Indeed, it has not. Nicole has been a Dean’s List student in her three semesters at ODU and had a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the fall semester.
You would never know she is hearing impaired from seeing her. She speaks clearly and her hearing aids are so subtle that it looks like hairs protruding from her ears.
She said her struggle with hearing issues has only increased her Christian faith.
“Coming into college I had two priorities,” she said. “First and foremost, I wanted to find a Christian community to make sure I was growing in my faith. And secondly. I wanted to stay active and make sure I had a life outside of academics.”
She found both on the rowing team. Her roommates – Sophie Sherman, Callie Crook and Helen Schuette – are rowing teammates. In her spare time, she also works with the “Christian Crew” team, a club team.
“The people I’ve met here have helped me grow in my faith,” she said. “We have meetings and Bible study.”
Her mother is not surprised that Nicole has flourished at ODU.
“She so sweet and so determined in anything she does,” she said. “She never looked at her hearing impairment as a disability.”
When she was 10, Nicole joined Girls On The Run, a non-profit organization that empowers young women.
She participated in a 24-hour run/walk for cancer, a 50-mile event that was likely an unreasonable goal for a 10-year-old.
She finished 37 ½ miles.
Four years later, she returned.
“She started at 7:30 in the morning and finished 50 miles at 10:30,” Swartzbaugh said. “And for most of the afternoon and evening it rained.
“When I describe Nicole, I use the word grit. She can dig down and go the distance.”
In her running shoes or behind an oar.
Nicole said she loves the perks of being a student-athlete.
Athletes essentially, have two full-time jobs. They tackle a full load of classes in addition practices, meets, conditioning workouts and travel. Because the load they carry is so heavy, ODU provides a ton of help, including academic counseling and nutritional support.
“I did not realize how awesome it is to be a Division I athlete,” she said. “The gear they give us and the privilege of competing and representing ODU. And the comradery with my teammates.
“There is so much that has come from this sport that I never dreamed of having.”
Nicole applied to both ODU and Virginia Tech and was waitlisted by the Blacksburg school. At the time she was a Hokie, but is clearly now a Monarch.
As a freshman, she traveled with ODU students to the football game at Virginia Tech and even after just a few weeks on campus, rooted for the Monarchs
“Tech was my first choice, but I thank God that I was waitlisted,” Nicole said. “It was good to see my friends from high school. But I would never leave ODU. I love it here.”
“I graduated from Virginia Tech,” added Swartzbaugh. “And I feel like ODU is like the Virginia Tech I attended. It’s a little smaller and more intimate.
“It’s been the perfect place for Nicole. She’s thriving there.”
Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram