Rowing Coxswain for One Year

Most schools in South Africa typically award students for academics, sports, and cultural exercises. I participated in numerous sports in school but never reached a first or “A” team. My high school is famous for sport with alumni such as Gary Player, Bryan Habana, Graham Smith, Malcom Marx, and Quinton de Cock. Near the end of my schooling I had achievements in academics and culture and only lacked sport. An opportunity presented itself to try out for the coxing role for the school’s 1st 8 rowing team. Up until this point I knew nothing about rowing but thought “how hard can it be”. The competition was few and it seemed as straight forward as steering a boat and shouting orders. I therefore decided to attend a week long rowing camp to try it out. The coaches put me in a lessor team as I fumbled trying to find my way. I was starting from zero and looked to consistently ask for advice, getting feedback, and improving where I can. 

After a couple of weeks I got the nod from the head coach. I made it into the first team. Still I continued to learn and the first couple of races we put out an average performance. No wins. Mid-season a more challenging 5.5km boat race arrived and this was the first opportunity for me to make an impact given that it wasn’t a straight course. I’m sure you can imagine dear reader, that rowing along a winding river requires a perfect line to be followed to row the shortest distance and avoid turbulent waters. The course was a river that lead into the sea and I spent time observing high and low tide timings at various parts of the course. At low tide certain parts of the course were impassable. Some of these observations became an advantage later on.

During the heats our team rowed the 2nd fastest time and we made it into the final. We were the underdogs. The finals was a head-to-head race similar to the Oxford/Cambridge boat race. Off the line on the finals we were already behind. However we got stuck in and chipped away at the lead. Then came the opportunity to use what I had observed to force the opposition to row further and wider around most corners. We won the race. The first time for our school (click on this link to see the race highlights).

Now I cannot gloat further as after that event we didn’t win another race. In fact, a mistake on my part caused us to row over a rocky outcrop which caused severe damage to an expensive boat. So much so that we had to use another club’s boat to compete in the South African Championships. At the championships, heavy winds made the start line challenging and with stormy weather approaching, the start call was done in haste with our team not ready. This flustered our start and we never recovered. Finishing 5th. I think.

The season was a mix bag of results but one I will remember for having thrown my effort behind something I believed in. Further lessons were learned about having a strong bond within a team and having the courage to believe that anything can be achieved within reason. I learned about what it means, as a leader, to remove blockers for your team so that they can focus on what they’re good at. It also showed how important it is to put in extra time and late nights/early mornings if you wish to compete and succeed where others cannot.