News & Press archive for January, 2009

Jay is a 14 year old girl from Hackney and she lives with her younger brother and mother for whom she is the primary carer. She had poor self-esteem and low confidence when we first met her, and had developed eating disorders from stress. She didn’t feel she was good at anything.

LYR set up indoor rowing programme in her school and everyone was invited to have a go. She wasn’t interested at first, but our coach spotted her and told her she had talent. She started rowing on the indoor machines during her lunch hour occasionally but didn’t have any ambitions to get out on to the water.

One Saturday she cycled past the club where the same LYR coach was taking an on-the-water rowing session. One thing led to another and before long she was voted ‘outstanding athlete for the term’. She now covers all sport for the school website, she assists the school with a marking and judging panel for new teachers, she helps run the indoor rowing club and she has developed into an excellent single sculler.

On the indoor rowing machine she is above average nationally for her age, she organised the team for the NJIRC this year and she got to sit in one of the launches that follows the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, where she “got to watch the very, very cute boys”.

One day she may go to Oxford or Cambridge, she may achieve an Olympic medal, but that’s not the point. She is still the primary carer for her mother and brother. The point is that she now has something that’s hers and something that she’s good at. She is a different person today, more confident and with much higher self-esteem.

When I first started rowing, I did not in my wildest of dreams think of how far I would get with the sport. Since I joined the Royal Docks Rowing Club, through the London Youth Rowing Programme in 2006, I have enjoyed more success, fun and adventure than ever before.

Winning bronze medals at the World Rowing Championships in Eton 2006 and Munich 2007 has been the biggest achievement of my life so far, and qualifying Poland in the W A1x for next year’s Paralympic games in Beijing is just amazing for such a young athlete as myself.

I have learnt a lot about my capabilities and how far I can push myself. The facilities at London Regatta Centre and the Royal Albert Dock have contributed immensely to my success.

Of course I would not be able to get to that point without very good and patient coaching form Maurice Coughlan who endured a lot of my ‘strops’ and never hesitated to put a bit of pressure on me especially when I was unwilling to get into the pain zone!

Rowing has taken over my life, and I now feel like an athlete doing a degree in my free time! The amount of good will and friendly people I have encountered in the last two years is overwhelming, including all the support given to me at London Regatta Centre makes all the getting up at stupid o’clock more worthwhile.

At the moment I am looking forward to continuing my training in pursuit of my Paralympic dream. I hope to be able to continue my career until the London Games in 2012.

by Martyna Snopek – Royal Docks RC

Liam Downs lives with his mother and step father locally in Hackney. He attends Mossbourne Academy where he is studying to gain 13 GCSE this summer. He is predicted very high grades for all subjects. He is a smart, hard working and an academic individual. However he was despondent with sport due to his not being the most coordinated person in the world! He was first introduced to rowing last year when the school attended a learn to row program (which is still going on to this day) and though his physical attributes made him an ideal candidate for the developing squad, his achievements during those session did not. He was weak and did not know how to apply the little power he had to the oars or the handle of an ergo. However a few of his friends convinced him to come down and try the club rowing on a Saturday morning where he progressed slowly.

He then asked if he was able to come along to the Fast Forward program that is held over February half term at the Lea RC. He has not looked back since the Monday of this 5 day course. He attended every day and it seemed that he had decided that he was going to become good at rowing even if it took him just as much or more effort as he put into his academia. He steadily improved in both his single and crew boats and with the aid of a growth spurt (making him now approximately 6”3’) he is now one of the most level headed and mature athletes in the Lea RC Junior Squad. So much so that even though he experienced the disappointment of missing out on the required time for the recent GB trials, his dedicated approach to training has not faltered and he has been invited to the J16/17 development weekend for potential GB athletes.

Liam also has helped out on many occasions with coaching anyone in the Junior section. Whether they be a recreational rower who pays more attention to the squirrels than to what a coach is saying or one of the individual that is paying to attend the learn to row course. I know that I am able to give Liam responsibility and it not to be shirked. Liam is a very high calibre individual who has worked hard and achieved academically. He has recently taken entrance exams from which he has been given a place in City Academy’s 6th Form, he is waiting on the news of a scholarship. Rowing has given Liam the ability to use his hard working approach to achieve in the sporting field and Ben, Jack and myself find it a pleasure to coach and watch this athlete develop mentally, technically and physically.

by Dan Cooper, Community Sports Coach for Lea RC