After completing my first year at Hallam rowing I have gained many attributes and skills as well as learning many new things. The Hallam committee last year really showed great passion and commitment to the sport and the team and as a 1st yr who was new to the team I felt very supported and felt the women's team had great drive. I would love to carry this on and improve the passion and determination further. I knew I wanted to apply for a committee role and feel this role embraces my skills and ambition.
I have a great passion for the sport of rowing and I have been rowing for nearly 9 yrs at many different levels. I was vice captain for my boat club and my rowing experience ranges from club and regional events to national and international events. As well as being a vice captain of my club I have captained crews in the Welsh national team and had to take on the leadership role, making important and crucial decisions for my club and country. I have rowed at a variety of indoors/heads/trials and regatta events within the past 9 yrs and my skills have progressed and improved greatly enabling me to go on to win regional, national events, qualify for national teams, Great Britain (GB) trials and row and produce wins at women’s Henley.
I have the skills and experience essential to being a captain and leading a team. I am very team orientated and I work well with others, the Hallam rowing team in the previous year had great team qualities everyone support eachtoher and eachtoher a goals and I would love to be able to further this team spirit. Being a captain involves working with other members of the committee and other sporting individuals. I am an excellent communicator and work really well with others to achieve the best for the team and club. I feel I'm a likeable and confident person and this is of course key to be a captain as I want everyone to feel comfortable and to be able to ask/come to me woth anything. I have experienced very intense training and coaching from very experienced coaches from clubs, GB and Welsh rowing teams and I understand the core values needed to deliver as a captain and I would like to deliver all these qualities and more to the women's team.
A good captain is supportive, motivating and a good role model to all of the team and I feel I can transfer all these skills off and on the water. I have previously coached and helped in the training of other athletes at my club, young and older, passing on my knowledge and skills of the sport to help improve and help them reach their fullest potential.I have won awards for my rowing and improvements I have made and I want to transfer what I have learnt through the years and experienced to the team.
If elected for the role of womens captain I would look to work closely with the other captains, committee and athletes to improve, expand, and focus on the following areas:
- Create more effective training plans for land and water. I'd make sure all water sessions are organised and training for the weeks are out in place the previous week to help ensure this fits around the teams uni schedules. My thoughts for the sessions would be to have more focussed sessions. For example to separate sessions and have a number of set goals to achieve in that session. I would like to introduce more structured training plans i.e., a warm up (build through the stroke) practice drills that will benefit the rest of the session and then the main body of the session i.e. pieces etc.
- is like to introduce more skills based sessions. A training plan based around certain drills and exercises, this will improve the mentality and focus to rowing and will also help in the improvement of the quality of rowing as practicing skills are essential to an effective stroke and getting the most out of a full stroke. Practicing skills and different excercoses unite boats and this is what aids a boat to be in time and work as one whole unit. For example (a set of roll ups to focus on the control of the slide and blade placement). (useful in training with novices)
- Focussed sessions when preparing for races. To help with the competitiveness of the team I'd like Sessions leading up to events to revolve around the race length and parts of the session focussed on the beginning of the piece and the end. Breaking down the distance and trialling certain methods seeing what makes the boat go faster. I.e., focusing on racing/rolling starts. (For example for my Henley boat, we tried at least 20 different starts to find the fastest for us).
- Stamina sessions. Short distance sprints, and longer pieces also introducing more effective UT1/2 sessions. (Water/ergo) (sessions of constant effective rowing such as minutes on and off are very effective for distance training)
- I would like to incorporate video reviews of both the women’s quads sessions and videos of higher athlete races e.g., Olympic/Henley. This helps in picking up on different methods and tricks high performance athletes use and allowthe team to test these to see what works best for the squad. I have experience of reviewing race plans and building finalrace plans.
-Ergo sessions. Variety of pieces and introducing targets and tracking. Through my 9yrs of rowing I know tracking rowing progress helps to improve athletes not only physically but mentally.
-I want to improve and put a focus on competitive rowing,aiming for the best at all races and all training sessions for all senior and novice crews.
- I also believe that tracking and target setting is one of the best ways to improve as a individual and a team, with goals set in place this will allow for determination and to allow the team to be the best they can be.
Most of all I would like to showcase Hallam women athletes in their full potential improve the club and support all women athletes who are committed to striving for the best. I want as womens captain to create a family like squad in and out of sessions as I feel this is most important. A team who all support each other and work there best for themselves and others.
I have previously been a member of the fastest and unbeaten crew in the region (women’s quad/four) and know the standard of training and the application needed to achieve this. I understand how training can be a struggle with studies but I myself have had captains who have supported me through studies and I want to able to deliver the same support to the squad.
Finally I want Hallam rowing to be enjoyable, successful and to promote the positives of university sport. Being on the committee would be a privalige and id strive to do my best for the club and women's team. To take on the role of women's captain would be an honour and I'd promise to do the best I could for the team.