Rowing Gave Teen Athlete Kama Caspi a New Path After War Upended Her Life
Kama Caspi begins her day before school with two bags by the door, one for classes and one for training. She bikes out early for rowing practice, saying, “This is my time to get focused.” She is one of the teenagers selected for ynet and Telma’s “Israel’s Promising Athletes” project, which highlights young competitors in Olympic and Paralympic sports who structure their lives around discipline, persistence and long training hours.
Caspi says her path changed after the October 7 war. For six years she trained in rhythmic gymnastics, but when her family was evacuated from Kfar Giladi to the Sea of Galilee area, she could no longer continue. Her parents, two grandmothers and three siblings were displaced with her, and two of her brothers were serving in reserve duty while one was on regular service. While staying near the Jordan Valley rowing club, she and her mother visited the facility, where manager Yuval Dagan invited her to try rowing. “I really connected with it,” she says. “It did me good. It really kept my mind healthy during that period.”
Today she trains 9 to 10 times a week, with rowing, swimming, running and gym work, and some sessions last up to three hours. She says that in kayaks “every small detail affects the result,” so her coach repeatedly works with her on technique. “I’m constantly trying to improve,” she says, because precision is what makes the difference. The feeling on the water is what drives her most. “When I row, I enter another world,” she says. “Nothing else interests me at that moment.”
Before every workout, she prepares mentally too, filling her mind with positive thoughts and arriving highly focused. Her parents, siblings and coach help her keep going. “They are always by my side,” she says, “both when I succeed and when it is hard.” She admits there are moments when she wants to quit, but reminds herself she will improve and learn from mistakes. In only two years in the sport, she has already competed internationally and attended a training camp abroad. Her goal is to reach the world’s biggest competitions and represent Israel proudly.
