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sPORT IN FOCus S P o R T I n F o C U S Rowing A number of recent changes have the nSWIS Rowing Program firmly positioned in the national framework as a key pathway for Australian rowers to achieve success on the international stage. As Marty Rabjohns, 2008 Beijing olympian and manager of the nSWIS Rowing Program, explains, the rowing program now uses a two pronged approach to support athletes. have a program that caters for rowers on the national team, providing them with support prior to, and post, “We the international rowing seasons. The program is also structured to support athletes in their home environment, allowing them to balance their work and lifestyle needs with training.” With NSWIS rowing scholarship holders based in and around Sydney, including the recently launched facility on the Parramatta River at Sydney Olympic Park and Penrith’s International Regatta Centre, the program has been instrumental in seeing athletes return to elite competition. NSWIS rowers Amy Ives, Rod Chisholm and James Chapman have recently returned to the Australian rowing team after taking some time away from the sport, and all spend their domestic season at the Institute’s headquarters at Sydney Olympic Park. “Making your way back into a national team is no easy feat. The NSWIS athletes who have been selected for the Australian team after taking time away from sport have achieved a great result for the program,” said Rabjohns. “I also think it’s a great result for rowing in Australia. These athletes have had the trust placed in them to train in their home environment, instead of at a centralised location, knowing they have to achieve a certain standard if they want to represent Australia.” Rabjohns identified that the program’s realignment with Rowing 12 // the edge // nswis.com.au stORy CHRIs JONes phOtOs GeTTy IMAGes Australia, an NSWIS Program Partner, has been assisted by the introduction of Curtis Jordan as an NSWIS coach, working with athletes primarily during the domestic season. Jordan is a world renowned rowing coach, having come from Princeton University in the USA where he spent 19 years as the head coach. The most successful coach in Princeton’s history, Jordan is also a four time Olympic coach, having guided the American lightweight four to bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. “It was quite an in depth process as we explored options with our program partners, Rowing Australia and Rowing NSW. As we were midway through an Olympic cycle we had to get creative with how we were going to involve Curtis,” explained Rabjohns. It was eventually determined that having Jordan on deck during the domestic season was critical, because that was where athletes would benefit most from his guidance. “I retired from Princeton in the summer of 2009 with no intentions of coaching again anytime soon, but I got a call from Andrew Matheson (Rowing Australia’s National High Performance Director) with a proposal to do some coaching in Australia. I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into but the opportunity was too intriguing to turn down,” explained Jordan. “The NSWIS program is great. The strength and conditioning staff are the best I’ve ever had, the ACE staff helped me out with accommodation, the gym and training times are really flexible and the whole place just has a great vibe.” Brooke Pratley Brooke Pratley (second from L) competes at the 2010 FIsA World Rowing Championships
“I couldn’t be happier (with how everything has turned out). I work in a well organised environment with great athletes and colleagues. My role has a wide spectrum of responsibilities including a supervisory role. I do a significant amount of coaching, but most of my coaching is done with elite rowers based at the NSWIS.” Two athletes who have benefited from Jordan’s introduction and the structure of the NSWIS program are scholarship holders Dan Noonan and Brooke Pratley, members of the Australian team bound for the 2011 FISA World Rowing Championships in Slovenia. During the domestic season Noonan and Pratley train in Sydney, allowing them to balance their work and training commitments through the NSWIS Rowing Program. “Curtis generally coaches us during the domestic racing season, including this year in the lead up to nationals. He’s been great for getting us into race mode when our big domestic events come around,” said Noonan. “Marty generally focuses on the endurance work of my training, and it all fits in nicely with my coaching work at Scots College.” Pratley was just returning to rowing when Jordan first arrived at the NSWIS in 2010, taking a year off from the sport before moving from Brisbane to Sydney to pursue a Master’s Degree in sports physiotherapy. “At that stage I had just moved back to Sydney and was trying to find my feet with work, life, and deciding if I wanted to continue rowing,” admitted Pratley. “I started rowing with Curtis as his only athlete and rowing became fun again. “The NSWIS program is great. The strength and conditioning staff are the best I’ve ever had, the ACE staff helped me out with accommodation, the gym and training times are really flexible and the whole place just has a great vibe.” From the domestic season and Australian team trials, Noonan and Pratley then head to national team duties. Noonan joins the men’s quad crew in Tasmania, and Pratley joins the women’s quad crew in Canberra. Although the approach of having different crews based at various locations across the country seems disjointed, the method has worked wonders as Australia continues to contend for medals at international events. “We’ve come to Tasmania ahead of the international season every year for about five or six years, which I think works really well,” Noonan said. “This way it’s nice and quiet, the pressure is off and you can really focus on the rowing and have a good couple of months.” Noonan and Pratley are two of 13 NSWIS athletes who will compete at this year’s senior world championships in Slovenia. Noonan won bronze and silver in the men’s quad scull at the 2010 and 2009 world championships, respectively, while Pratley was crowned world champion in the women’s double scull in 2006. Both athletes believe they will once again be in the mix for medals come September. “This year the Australian team has a really good tour lined up,” said Pratley. “We leave in June to race the Henley Regatta in England before heading to Australia’s European training centre in Varese, Italy. From there we compete in the third world cup in Lucerne, which is a beautiful NsWIs rowers Dan Noonan (L) and Nick Hudson (R) at the launch of the Institute’s new rowing facility at sydney Olympic Park sPORT IN FOCus venue, head back to training and then on to the world championships in Slovenia.” In non-Olympic years the world championships are the pinnacle event for rowers, and in the year before an Olympics the championships serve as a Games qualifier. “The Australian team’s focus is to qualify as many boats as we can for the Olympics, and as a crew our goal is to medal,” Pratley explained. Having won world championship silver and bronze in recent years, Noonan is also aiming for the top prize, saying, “Gold is the aim. We’ve been on the podium for a couple of years and we have every medal but the gold, so that’s the one we’re all after.” A further 15 athletes from the NSWIS Rowing Program will contest world championship events; 11 at the 2011 FISA World Rowing Junior Championships in England, and four at 2011 FISA World Rowing U23 Championships in Amsterdam. “To have that many athletes from the NSWIS program competing at world championship events is a great achievement; especially after most of the changes have occurred during the current Olympic cycle. We also have two coaches who have been selected for senior world championship duties, and one coach for the junior world championships,” said Rabjohns. “I think it’s a great reflection of where the NSWIS program is at right now. We have put a structure in place, with the help of Rowing Australia and Rowing NSW, where world class rowers are familiar with each other during the domestic season. That allows them to be comfortable in a national team because everyone knows what’s expected of each other.” Rabjohns identified that the three or four months after the world championship season will be critical to the number of NSWIS athletes who are potential Olympians in 2012. Those three months will shape the form of NSWIS rowers ahead of selection trials, the make or break point for rowers striving to compete in London. “At the moment we’re outlining a few strategies that we feel will be of the most benefit to our athletes,” said Rabjohns. “One of those ideas is basing athletes for three or four months in a camp-type environment at the International Regatta Centre. It’s an Olympic venue and by training and living close by it means the athletes will have some sort of experience of being exposed to the Olympic environment.” Rabjohns explained that the changes made to the NSWIS program have already had a significant impact on the rowers ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, but it will be the quadrennial leading into Rio where the national network expects to see the most benefit. “There is no doubt the changes we’ve already implemented have made a positive impact to the program,” admitted Rabjohns. “However, as the national scope for the program progresses it will be interesting to see how much effect the realignment has in the lead up to Rio in 2016. “As an Institute we couldn’t have asked for more from Rowing Australia, Rowing NSW and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. They have helped us rebrand this program, and now more than ever you can see the athletes’ pride in being an NSWIS scholarship holder.” n Dan Noonan (second from R) competes in the men’s quad four nswis.com.au // the edge // 13
Page 1 and 2: Issue 20 JuNe 2011 THe OFFICIAL MAG
Page 3 and 4: CEO’s Message t is an exciting ti
Page 5 and 6: Matthew Mitcham (R) matches up with
Page 7 and 8: as n 2012 oneWenlock transport infr
Page 9 and 10: “I remember when we were all sitt
Page 11 and 12: NsWIs athlete Kyah simon hopes to s
Page 13: the daunting task of refocusing on
Page 17 and 18: Book a campus tour today Applicatio
Page 19 and 20: “He has worked extremely hard to
Page 21 and 22: NSWIS Sport Psychologist Patsy Trem
Page 23 and 24: Jeremy Rolleston, author of A Life
Page 25 and 26: Blackburn’s sporting success is o
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