Bob Spousta’s focus during his 28 years at George Mason University was pretty simple.
“The important thing is that people find something they enjoy and try to stick with it,” he said. “That will help them enjoy the other elements of their life even more because it provides balance and a chance to relax mentally.”
Spousta could not have been in a better position, as George Mason’s crew coach and coordinator of club sports, to put that philosophy into action. But just because Spousta recently retired—an occasion marked by a party, with a cake, thrown by Mason Recreation and the crew club—it doesn’t mean he is finished spreading his conviction.
Spousta, 66, will continue giving rowing instructions, privately and at summer camps. Most rewarding, he said, is teaching kids.
“He was committed to helping as many students as possible,” said Ryan Bradshaw, Mason’s assistant director for club sports. “That was one of his fortes, getting students interested in the programs even if they didn’t have any true skills in that activity, helping them learn and grow and find their true potential.”
When Spousta started at Mason in 1987 there were, perhaps, four or five club sports, he said. Now there are more than 32 with more than 800 participants. Among the applications for club sports he rejected were those for water skiing, because Mason is not near an appropriate venue, and mixed martial arts because he would not endorse an activity he considered dangerous.
Spousta’s first love is crew, something he took up as a junior at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. A high point at Mason came in 2014 when the Patriots took second nationally in the men’s novice 4 and men’s varsity 4 events.
“He’s one of the people you want to work hard for,” said Kassidy Kenney, a crew club coxswain. “If you go to him with a problem he’s 100 percent focused on what your problem is. That lends itself really well to coaching.”
And to coaching the bigger picture: “Helping people learn about their horizons and what they can do for themselves,” Spousta said.