School Rowing Camp in Melbourne

James Faire is coaching rowing at a school in Melbourne between January and March 2009.  During the first week of their programme, James and Adam Lilley, attended their school’s pre-season rowing camp in Country Victoria.  Below is an article on the trip written by James.

“We arrived at the school boat house at 7.00am on the 22nd January, not really knowing what was in store for us.  We were immediately taken in by the other coaches and shown around the place, and then upstairs to watch the boys do their first 2k erg test of the summer.  After this, we were all driven about 400km east of Melbourne to the training camp, a holiday park on the River Tambo called Swan Reach.  The boys then proceeded to get stuck into 5 days of solid training, with Adam and I coaching the U16 E’s and D’s respectively.

The first couple of days were spent trying to work off the rustiness developed by a month or two without touching a rowing boat, as the Australian Summer holiday was just finishing, but once the major problems had been ironed out, we all got down to the hard work (at least the boys did). Three sessions a day was helped by unlimited amounts of food, and the coaches seemed to have the best of both worlds, since all coaching was done from a speedboat behind the crews!!

On Sunday we had the afternoon off and were taken to the local town for a break and change of scenery.  Here Adam and I were told we couldn’t leave without sampling an Australian delicacy, Chicken Parma.  This amazing mix of creamy, cheesy chicken, tomato and potato was delicious and the offer of a ‘Parma and Pint’ for $12 (or £6) was one we couldn’t easily refuse!!

All too soon the camp was over and we were facing the four hour bus ride back to Melbourne.  The camp was a great success and has given the crews a solid base from which to work off over the coming season.  Adam and I enjoyed ourselves hugely and the boys and staff couldn’t have been more welcoming, and we are both looking forward to winning some races in the following weeks.”

James Faire

Why not find out more information about Rowing Australia and the Coaching and Rowing Academies then visit www.SportLived.co.uk

Gold for George!

Congratulations to George Nash who won Gold at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival which were held at Penrith in Sydney, venue of the 2000 Olympics. George and partner Matt Rossiter won the men’s pair in a time of 6:40.48 ahead of their colleagues Matt Tarrant and Kieren Emery.  Both George and Matt were part of the GB junior men’s four that took the world junior title in 2007.

George with Dr Karl in Melbourne

George, a former pupil at Winchester College and currently studying Engineering at Cambridge University, participated in a Sport Lived rowing programme to Melbourne between January and March last year.  Whilst in Melbourne George rowed for one of Australia’s best clubs and raced for his club in the 2008 Australian National Championships which were held at the Penrith Regatta Course in Sydney where he has just won gold.  In 2000, The Sir Steve Redgrave won his now-legendary fifth Olympic gold medal at the Penrith course in the men’s four with Sir Matt Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster.

Well done to George and we hope to report on more of his success in the near future.

James Herbert – Rowing in Australia

James Herbert is on one of Sport Lived’s exciting six month playing programmes, where he is rowing in Melbourne.  He is part of one of the best clubs in Australia where he is rowing alongside national hopefuls and awed by the club’s ‘incredible strength in depth’.

James hails from a solid background on the water. He first picked up an oar in Year 9, finally making it a ‘full time’ commitment a year later. This led to four years of serious rowing for Bedford Modern School, one of England’s top ‘day’ schools for the sport. In these four years James was part of the BMS senior crew and raced at the National Schools and Henley Regattas and also attended GB trials with his brother. So he approached this new and unique challenge well equipped and full of experience.

Rowing on The Yarra

Rowing Australia has been a rewarding contrast to James’ previous experiences and he has noticed a more intensive strength and weights programme. Early morning sessions remain and the ethos of the sport is fairly universal – ‘you train long and hard.’ But replace English rain, wind and dingy mornings, with a touch of mist, a golden sunrise and calm, blue still water. The River Yarra runs through the heart of Melbourne where there is hardly a whisper of the wind. Gone are the thermal leggings. Conditions are so perfect, says James, that they ‘definitely take your concentration off the rowing.’ But great weather is no obstacle to the success of James’ club. Their bottomless strength was evident at the Head of the Yarra – an 8k processional race – where the men’s crews won three of the four levels of competition and the women’s crew were victorious in theirs.

The prospect of joining such a prestigious club and embarking on such a challenge may seem intimidating even in a domestic setting, let alone playing away in one of the world’s most successful sporting countries. But an undaunted James says ‘I was made to feel at home right from the start.’ Sport Lived has provided James with the perfect base for his Australian adventure: a comfortable, apartment in the heart of Melbourne, with some stunning views of the city. Living with a number of fellow Sport Lived players he has had an established social group from the moment of his arrival. His crew mates at the club were also immensely welcoming and their hospitality has of course created endless opportunities for James to socialise. At Christmas the club hosted a cocktail party and has hosted numerous events throughout his time there.

Club Boathouse in Melbourne

Living in the city meant James was able to cycle to his club’s boathouse in 10 minutes.  He was also close to Melbourne’s nightlife which he has said is as ‘large and varied as anywhere I’ve seen.’ Melbourne is a thriving metropolis, considered to be the sporting and cultural capital of Australia. Stunning Victorian architecture, beautiful parks and gardens and the meandering River Yarra make it a physically diverse city, reflected in the wealth of entertainment on offer. It is home to five major sporting arenas including the Melbourne Cricket Ground, home of cricket in Australia. It is also the live music capital of Australia and boasts a multitude of nightlife, from trendy bars, to clubs, to downbeat pubs; ‘a truly assorted bar scene.’ James has particularly enjoyed some of the idyllic beaches in the surrounding area, even taking the time to catch some rays on Christmas day.

Encouragingly, bar work has been easy to find when in need of money, meaning this has never been a worry. But some saving before he left the UK has allowed our man to concentrate on his rowing and enjoy the experience. When asked to sum up his time in Australia, James said quite simply: ‘Unbelievable! I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.’

Rowing in Australia with Sport Lived – work hard, play hard…

Commitment, stamina and a hard working attitude may be key tools for any good rower, but recently, for Junior World Championship Winner George Nash of Surrey, it’s been all about having the time of his life. He’s just finished a gap year scheme with Sport Lived; they placed him in Melbourne, Australia to teach rowing at a top school there, before he took off on a trip around the world from which he will return home to studying general engineering at Cambridge University in September. It has been a whirlwind experience for George, who has enjoyed being able to mix a gap year experience with honing his skills: “I booked a trip to Australia with Sport Lived as a rowing coach mainly to find out how the Aussies do it and I thought Melbourne would be a great city to live in while I was there…it was an amazing few weeks.”

Coaching his crew on The Yarra in Melbourne

Since he was thirteen George has been interested in rowing, and his talent earned him a place on his school’s first eight in his third year, when he began training every day. His decision to take a gap year with Sport Lived gave him the choice of two coaching terms – October to December or January to March, of which he selected the latter – and three major cities: Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. George knows he made the right decision for himself, saying: “The Sport Lived programme is awesome down in Melbourne”.

Serious coaching started in earnest immediately, on a 5 day trip to the country on as part of his school’s training camp. ‘It was really good to get to know everyone and learn how that particular school liked to do things.’ George was made co-coach of the year 10 C crew who he said were a ‘really good bunch of guys who achieved a lot on camp.’  No stranger to early mornings, George coached rowing weekdays between 6-8am, then again between 3.30 – 5pm. There also were sessions on Saturday mornings, which provided extra time on the still, beautiful Yarra River. Of the rowing opportunities he was given whilst out in Melbourne, George said:  “The school that I’m working for has awesome facilities and loads of motivated kids and there’s loads of coaching to do if you want to. Sport Lived take care of finding you the coaching job.”

George with Dr Karl!

In addition to coaching, Sport Lived also arranged for George to join one of Melbourne’s best rowing clubs so he could row as well as coach rowing during his 12 week programme.  Commenting on his club, George said “‘The rowing out here is unbelievable…the standard of competition is awesome”.  Coaching at a school and rowing with a club provided George with an opportunity to appreciate a different approach to the sport.  “Australia has a reputation for producing really technical oarsman but I found the coaching was all about bladework and that was as far as it went; back in England when I’m on the water, training tends to be mainly technical but in Melbourne all my training was done on the water (I did one ergo session in six weeks) and those sessions were all about fitness.’

A rowing highlight for George was certainly his chance to race with his club in the Australian Nationals  held in Sydney, from which the U23 national team is selected: “It was pretty special paddling up and down the warm up lake in a double next to Drew Ginn and Duncan Free – they’re fast for a couple of old fellas. The after-party was pretty crazy too!”

Sport Lived strive to make the experience as easy as possible for their participants, setting them up with plush, modern apartments in South Yarra: an upmarket district in the heart of Melbourne. Warm, comfortable and relaxing decor provides the perfect space to relax after a tough day on the river; not to mention the fact that it is serviced regularly by cleaners. A massive perk is the addition of cable television and Internet provision, which mean you are always within touching distance of home.  George cycled the ten minutes to and from both his school and rowing club, preferring to enjoy the sunshine rather than use the excellent public transport services available.

George was looked after by Sport Lived mentor Matt Pell, who took him to work on the first couple of days and provided him with a mobile phone and a bank account, immediately upon arrival. In George’s words, ‘he basically made settling into a new city much easier. Both Matt and Charlotte, the mentor of the tennis coaches, do a great job of making us all feel at home.’ George lived in an apartment with three Sport Lived participants on cricket coaching programmes and, ‘despite coaching the most boring game ever we have a good laugh in our apartment and we don’t have to do housework which is a massive bonus.’

The boys truly enjoyed all that Melbourne had to offer, frequenting its casinos, bars and clubs, botanical gardens and nearby beaches. They even found time to tour the great ocean road in a campervan: life is hard for the gap year student with Sport Lived…

So how would he sum up his experiences? “All in all it was an amazing few weeks and I have found the Australian way of doing things very impressive and would thoroughly recommend coming out here to anyone who likes rowing.”