University of Massachusets Athletics
Talucci's Big Heart Beats Gold
May 27, 2003 | Women's Crew
May 27, 2003
Eight gold medals and four consecutive Atlantic 10 team championships barely scratches the surface of what senior Anna Talucci has brought to the women's crew team and the UMass campus.
A native of West Chester, Pa., Talucci has been a solid contributor to the women's crew team for the past four years. Starting her career in the junior varsity boat, Talucci worked hard to improve her skills and earn a spot in the Minutewomen's Varsity 8 boat. With the increasing competition within the UMass program and in the A-10, Talucci has fought hard for her spot in the Varsity 8 boat and her place among the A-10's top rowers.
Beside focusing her attention on rowing, Talucci has also had the additional workload of serving as team captain and even as a fourth coach at times, according to UMass Head Coach Jim Dietz.
"We have a team of about 60 women and only three coaches, so the position of captain is a working position," said Dietz.
The position of captain fits Talucci's personality perfectly.
"She is very people-oriented and people respect her. She says jump and [the team] probably jumps higher for her than for me," explained Dietz, the 2003 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year who has guided the UMass program to eight consecutive A-10 titles. Being picked as a captain was an enormous honor for her and it's a position Talucci takes very seriously, and she's good at it.
"She does things the way I like, she leads by example," Dietz said. "Her dedication has brought the entire level of the team up to where we are now, ranked (23rd) in the country."
Rowing for UMass is something that Talucci has cherished, enjoyed, and will be surely missed. Her success with the team and as an individual is worth more then noting. It is something to be commended.
Talucci has eight gold medals to her credit, a member of four and a captain of two A-10 Championship boats, and a four-year member of the UMass Athletic Director's Honor Roll. She can also claim that she has never lost a race in an Atlantic 10 competition. Not many other athletes can say that. Talucci owes all her success to her coaches, family and teammates. It was her younger brother who actually got her interested in the sport.
"My brother started rowing his freshmen year of high school," Talucci recalled. "We would go as a family to his races and I fell in love with the sport. It seemed so peaceful and was beautiful to watch."
After joining a women's crew club, she was hooked on the sport. However, Talucci was never recruited for collegiate rowing, and wanting to move on to a big university from her small Catholic high school, Talucci's choice was between UMass and the University of Delaware. Opting to move farther away from home, Talucci chose UMass and has adapted quite well.
Upon her arrival in Amherst, she went to Dietz' office saying she wanted to row. Dietz' recollection of Talucci's start with the team is a testament to her dedication and strong work ethic.
"She came in on the first day like everybody else," Dietz said.
"The first day you don't take notice, it is the persistent people like Anna that stand out. And it is the persistent people you feel good about coaching. Somebody like Anna is a pleasure to coach because she always wants more input; she wants you to give her more time. She wants to be the best she can possibly be."
As her time at UMass concludes, Talucci reflects fondly at her time with the team and on campus. As well as her crew team responsibilities, she is also a residential advisor and is involved with the student-athlete advisory board and the compliance board. Her career on the crew team is concluding on a positive note with another A-10 championship and a national ranking, and this is causing Talucci to be so satisfied with her career at UMass that she wouldn't change anything from her time here. Now she only hopes that her teammates can experience the same happiness that she had as a Minutewoman.
"[My teammates need to] keep doing what they are doing, because it is working. I am so proud of the team and their sportsmanship and the way we have represented the university," Talucci said. "That is most important in being a student-athlete."
Talucci's wishes for her teammates sum up the way Dietz has come to view the senior.
"When she gets on the awards platform, people ask who is this little girl. She's a little person with a big heart," Dietz said.
Talucci's time at UMass has come to an end but she has done everything she has set out to do and truly has become "the best she possibly can be."