January 2011 offcuts_Jan Offcuts 2010.qxd.qxd - The OKS Association

Rowing from Westbere Lake to West Lakes, South Australia
When I first tried rowing at King’s, to do ‘something different’, I could not have imagined that I would carve out of the sport a career that
would eventually take me around the world. My passion for rowing started at the boatshed at Westbere, continued at Warwick University
and has eventually led me to the far shores of Australia. Now based in Adelaide, I recently took up a High Performance Coaching
Scholarship with the Australian Sports Commission. This scholarship is to support emerging elite coaches to develop skills and knowledge
to coach in high performance programs. The scholarship is administered through the South Australian Institute of Sport (SASI), where I
coach and work several days each week.
So far most of my scholarship work has been with junior (school age) athletes, a natural progression as I am also Head of Rowing at a highly
regarded girls’ (and currently the top rowing) school in Adelaide. This year I was selected in the Australian Junior Rowing Team as coach of
the women’s coxless four. This was an interesting campaign to be involved with, as the current strategy for Australian junior team selection
is to identify and select athletes who have the potential to row at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. This means the athletes are not necessarily the
fastest ‘boat movers’ now and it is our job to teach them correct technique for long-term development.
The international rowing calendar is designed around the European season, with the major international competitions held during the
summer holidays (July/August). However this means the Junior World Championships fall right in the middle of Year 12 for Australians,
prior to mid-semester exams. To minimize the impact of training on Junior athletes, Rowing Australia have been trialling a new strategy
where selected crews train locally for most of the campaign but travel to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for a seven day camp in May,
June and immediately prior to going overseas in July. It is a tough challenge to prepare a crew for world-class competition in such a short
time-frame. However, the focused, intense training in the crew boat at the AIS (four sessions per day) makes it less disruptive to their Year
12 studies. Back in their home states the athletes are expected to train with their clubs for up to 20 hours per week. Training comprises a
combination of rowing, gym and cross training (swim, bike or run). It is a challenge for these athletes to balance their studies and the
training; however, in my experience most athletes who row during Year 12 are well organized, achieve high standards academically and are
goal-orientated, focused and motivated. This applies to the athletes I coach at school level as well.
My crew won a Bronze medal at the World Junior Rowing championships in Racice, Czech Republic. It was a close race and for much of
the race they were well positioned in second place. They held their form well in the ‘run to the line’ but were pipped at the post by a fastfinishing
American crew (0.2 seconds). The Germans were only 0.2 seconds behind in fourth place. The South Australian girls in the crew
then went to the World Youth Olympic Games in Singapore where we won a Gold medal in the women’s pair.
I owe my passion for rowing and subsequent progression into a high performance coaching career –
which I find so challenging and enjoyable – to the opportunity to ‘have a go’ at rowing at the King’s shed at Westbere Lake.
Vicky Spencer (MT 1992-1994)
OKS Offcuts • Jan 2011 • Issue 31
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