From Student-Athlete to Coach: McElvain Serves as Valuable Role Model

The Young Alumni Challenge is currently under way and runs through the end of the month. It is based upon giving percentage by sport from young alumni participants from the classes of 2014-23. To learn more about the Young Alumni Challenge, please click here.

In the spirit of young alumni, we share the story of Dartmouth sailing alumna Rebecca McElvain, who was drawn back to Dartmouth as assistant coach.

Once Rebecca McElvain '19 arrived to Dartmouth as a freshman in 2015, her focus quickly turned to the process of improvement.

"I had to tear down this expectation about results and instead focus on how to improve as a sailor and teammate," she said. "My Dartmouth coaches were my biggest influences in continuing to push me, along with the strength and conditioning staff — applying some tools we didn't utilize in high school sailing or club sailing to become a much more well-rounded sailor and athlete."

All McElvain knew from high school and club sailing was success.

"I was pretty lucky to have a lot of success early in my sailing career," she said. "At Dartmouth, one of the biggest changes was my approach to learning the sport. My coaches helped me recognize there are so many ways to sail a boat fast."

That focus on process would lead McElvain to success as a student-athlete, then continuing as an assistant coach for her alma mater.

"We had team values, which went much deeper than how you sail a boat fast," she said. "It was more like what it takes to be a good teammate, to best support the person you're in the boat with and your teammates across the whole team. Process was something the coaches really valued for our team development."

McElvain's development began in San Diego, California where she grew up. Her involvement in sailing began in conjunction with her twin brother.

"My mom is a nurse, so she worked crazy hours," said McElvain. "In the summer, my twin brother and I needed something to keep us occupied, and sailing was an all-day activity we could do together. I actually wasn't very interested in competitive racing until high school."

As McElvain said, sailing is typically very male-dominated at all ages.

"More and more women drop out as you get older," she said. "I always thought this was my brother's thing; he's the good sailor and I'm just having fun. But in high school, I got the itch for competition. I was lucky to go to a high school that had one of the best teams in the country, as I joined a team that approached sailing with a really competitive mindset."

McElvain went on to find more opportunities to compete outside of just her high school.

"It opened up a new world in sailing for me," she said.

For McElvain, a competitive nature was very much in her background.

"Partly because I had a twin brother, I have always liked competing with guys," she said. "When I was younger at recess, I would play soccer with all guys and I was the only girl."

McElvain's competitiveness shined through over time and led her across the country to a prestigious Ivy League institution in Dartmouth College, which ended up being a perfect fit.

"When I visited, I wasn't expecting to like being in New England, or at such a small school, until I arrived here," she said. "But the biggest thing that made me want to come was the immediate feeling I had when I was on campus. It felt like everything was really about the college, everyone here wanted to be a part of the community and it felt so cohesive.

"People talk about the feeling you get when you feel like that's the one, which I didn't believe until Dartmouth."

Four years after graduating, the word community remains the first thing that comes to McElvain's mind when thinking about Dartmouth.

"When I'm traveling at home in San Diego or traveling to Charleston with the team, if people see me wearing Dartmouth attire, they want to say hi and introduce how they have a connection," she said. "There are even people who don't have a direct connection, but have a nephew who went there and overlapped with me."

To this day, McElvain stays in touch with her class, but the Dartmouth connection spans decades.

Rebecca McElvain and her class of 2019 — McElvain and the Class of 2019

"There is something about being a part of this community that makes you excited to interact with people from different generations," she said. "I really enjoy talking to people that I randomly meet about the school and our experiences."

Very early in McElvain's time as a student-athlete, she was named an honorable mention All-American.

"I didn't even know I got the award because an All-America award wasn't even on my radar," she said. "It wasn't until a couple weeks later, I had gotten some texts from my old skipper from high school and my coaches, who said congrats, this is a big deal to be a first year on the list.

"It's so hard to make it as a first year because it's not just straight record," McElvain continued. "It also includes leadership and seniority as a way to break ties because crews are harder to distinguish based off just record."

As a freshman, McElvain was sailing with senior and team captain Hunter Johnstone. By that spring, they were starting nationals. Also in McElvain's career, she helped the Big Green make the final four for team race nationals, which was also a big deal.

"Team racing is a very challenging discipline and there are a couple schools that seem to always make the final four," she said. "For us to break in my senior year was pretty exciting."

After graduating, McElvain was working in sales, but it wasn't what she was passionate about. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

"I used COVID as an early opportunity to find some other job and career paths," said the environmental studies major. "It just happened to be as I was really starting that job search, [Dartmouth head coach] Justin Assad reached out looking for an assistant coach."

Assad couldn't think more highly of McElvain.

"Rebecca was one of the highest-caliber candidates in her class, and throughout her time at Dartmouth, was one of the very best crews in the country," he said. "From watching her as an athlete and team captain, I knew she would make a phenomenal coach. She could explain finer technical points to her teammates as an undergraduate, and her approach to goal setting and process allowed her to continuously break through boundaries."
Rebecca McElvain Coach

McElvain was excited to return to her alma mater and get involved with the sport she loves, but in a different role. Coming out of COVID made the decision even easier.

"We were all stuck in our homes, and I was so excited to get back on the water," she said. "I jumped at the opportunity when it came and didn't know how long I would stick around.

"Now, I know that I'm fully bought in."

McElvain's passion continued to shined through.

"My mom said you're pretty passionate about sailing, why would you do something else when you have the opportunity?" said Rebecca. "And I love coaching, I did a ton of it throughout my four years as a student-athlete, going back and coaching at my local yacht club. It felt pretty natural to coach."

And what better way to make an impact in a profession than impacting lives of so many young adults?

McElvain loves helping student-athletes reach their potential in a variety of ways.

"The most rewarding aspect is working with the athletes and seeing them achieve at such high levels," she said. "We have walk-on athletes and everyone's growth comes from a different starting point. The growth they achieve from the early fall to the end of the spring is so exciting to see."

Growth comes through embracing the process, with the byproduct being the results, much like McElvain learned in her time as a student-athlete.

"One thing I love the most about coaching is there's always a new challenge and it always comes back to fine-tuning little changes to the process, then really owning your development and owning your own process," said McElvain. "Coaching is exciting because you're constantly facing a new challenge."

For the Big Green sailing program, a challenge they are always striving for is getting onto the podium and winning a national championship. This spring, Dartmouth finished as high as fifth at the ICSA National Championship, which came in the open team and fleet races.

"Our team right now is at a point where winning a national championship is a possibility; we're good enough to do that," said McElvain. "Recognizing and trying to achieve our potential is a really fun process."

It also helps that McElvain can relate to the Dartmouth student-athlete experience… since she was very recently in the student-athletes' shoes.

"I went to school here and know what it takes — the balancing of academics and everything you have going on in your life with your sport," she said. "Dealing with this test or this class, whatever small things arise day-to-day, I can relate."

"As a coach, Rebecca's ability to relate to the team and her drive for success make her an invaluable influence," said Assad. "Just like my experience with her as an athlete, she is a relentless worker with extremely high personal standards and expectations for the team.

"We are lucky to have her as a role model for our student-athletes."

In the end, coaches change lives. McElvain recruits student-athletes to Dartmouth, which changes the trajectory of their futures, then works with them to help them grow into young men and women who are ready to tackle the world.

"I think back to my experience of when Justin Assad first reached out to recruit me," she said. "It's wild to think about how things fall into place, how big of a deal it really is and all the things that happen in four years."

McElvain's four years as a student-athlete may be over, but her impact to Dartmouth College continues in a major way.

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