NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- The Old Dominion sailing team will shoot for a national championship beginning this Sunday, thanks in part to senior Rider Odom. He's a skipper for the Monarchs whose journey has featured plenty of miles by air, land and sea.
"Sea turtles and dolphins popped up pretty regularly," he said of his childhood. "That was awesome and I just felt comfortable out on the water all the time."
Odom grew up in the Virgin Islands, so he got used to being surrounded by the sea. It would not take long for him to discover sailing.
"There's water all around us," he noted of his home island of St. Croix. "My mom put me in a sailing summer camp one year and I fell in love with it."
"If you're playing pick-up basketball all the time, you're going to get good," added Old Dominion head sailing coach Mitch Brindley. "He was in a situation where they could sail all the time and he did and he got good."
So how does a kid from St. Croix end up as a Monarch in Hampton Roads? It doesn't sound like there was a shortage of chances to see him perform prior to the college ranks.
"Rider competed as a junior sailer in the mainland," Brindley noted, who added he never got the chance to go to the Virgin Islands to recruit him. "We could see him competing in some major events."
"I just fell in love with the venue, I fell in love with the water here," said Odom of Old Dominion. "Most importantly, I really trusted the coaches here."
Now a fifth-year senior, the skipper, or driver, has made Norfolk his home away from home. He was no stranger to the mainland before arriving on campus, however. When he was a freshman in high school, his family spent a year traveling around the United States while living in an RV. It was an eye-opening experience for the Virgin Islands native.
"We hit 30 states, we hit a ton of national parks and, most importantly, we saw a lot of family, too, which is something we usually don't get to do."
Odom pointed out that he and his family made an effort to learn something new about every state they visited. Later, he learned that Old Dominion was the place for him. Now he's left his mark on the Monarchs sailing program, a program that's left a mark on him as well.
"Everyone appreciates a teammate like that, that's always out to help you," Brindley said. "They're going to help you get better and they're going to help set a standard for performance and expectation, whether it's in practice or in competition or the weight room or what have you and he does that."
"Everybody on this team has a different story," added Odom. "We all know that we have one common goal and in doing that, we've all become best friends in this awesome family."
Odom was recently named the Sports Person of the Year by the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association. He and the Monarchs begin competition at the national championships this weekend, with the women's semifinals beginning Sunday and the open semifinals kicking off next Thursday.
