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The notion that his mother might parade around the boatyard at the Maritime Rowing Club in spandex did not sit well with Will Dietz. "He said, 'No way, Mom. Wait till I'm outta here,' " Dr. JoAnn Smith remembers him saying when she expressed a desire to take up rowing.
Despite her son's protests, she put her oars in the water. Last year, the New Canaan woman became a national champion in the USRowing Masters Championships, winning the single scull gold medal in her age group. She returns to the Masters Championships in New Jersey this weekend to defend her title. She will also be rowing in two other events.
The 67-year-old psychiatrist took up the sport for weight control and because "it looked like fun." She found out quickly that coach Olga Vengerovskiy demanded more. "I thought we'd go out and paddle around a little bit,'' says JoAnn, who has offices in New Canaan and Trumbull. "These coaches wanted us to actually race. I was in my first race six months after I joined."
JoAnn had always maintained an active lifestyle. She played tennis, ran and skied. She enjoyed rowing from the outset. "It's a beautiful sport,'' she says. "When it's done correctly, you feel like you're flying."
The doctor will row in two quads this year as well. One will include Laurie Devitt and Jeanne Fredericks of New Canaan and Leslie Freed of Stamford. Her other boat will include Freed, Mary Dowd of Greenwich and Peggy Bliss of Wilton.
"I'm feeling a little more pressure this year,'' JoAnn says. "Usually I go into these things thinking whatever happens, happens. I can't sit around and focus just on this. I'm going to go for it, with all of them."
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