Grace by name, grace by nature
In this new RowingHub series, Andy Hay talks to athletes and coaches who turned disadvantage into a performance superpower.
The news came as a shock.
Grace Prendergast initially thought the bold new plan for 2014 could mean the end of her international rowing career. As it turned out it was just one of the challenges that transformed her into what one former selector says is our greatest rower.
Grace Prendergast was part of the summer squad at the end of 2013 when they were called into a meeting to discuss the way ahead.
The sweep programme was to be abandoned except for Rebecca Scown and Kayla Pratt in the pair. Everyone else was going sculling. This was bad news for Grace.
“I just remember being like, ‘I can't scull. Physically, this is not great for me’.”
To understand her shock, you have to wind back to primary school.
“I remember I was in one netball photo when I was quite young and I always used to stand kind of lopsided and my parents sort of thought that, because I grew tall quite early, I was self-conscious about my height. I was like, ‘It’s nothing to do with that’. I thought I was standing straight.”
The lopsidedness would eventually be diagnosed as scoliosis, the sideways curvature of the spine that would inhibit Grace’s rowing possibilities but not her potential.
Two important people stood out at that time. At Halswell Primary in Christchurch, she was friends with Paralympic swimming legend Dame Sophie Pascoe.
“I remember her when she wouldn't have her artificial leg on, she'd just be running around on her crutches and still keeping up with everyone, it didn't seem like a hurdle. I think when kids are young and haven't had impressions pressed upon them, it was just not even really thought about. I do remember her being competitive though, which probably makes sense.”
And besides that, Grace’s sister Matilda was having a tougher time, diagnosed with Charcot Marie Tooth disease, a degenerative nerve condition that weakens the muscles.
Scoliosis became something Grace would use as a point of difference for the better, not worse.
The first test of that came at Villa Maria College when she decided to pick up a summer sport on top of playing netball.
But her new sport brought a whole new set of challenges for Grace and her parents.
Netball was fine, “300 bucks and a pair of sneakers.”
Rowing was another thing altogether.
“I remember going home and telling my parents and I think they were like, ‘Whoa, rowing? It's thousands of dollars! And weekends away all the time’. But they didn't say no. They were like, ‘Okay, give it a go’.
“The first thing I did was an erg and I wasn’t sure if it was for me. But then the first time I went on the water, I was like, ‘Oh, I absolutely love this’.”
That’s about the time she got the scoliosis diagnosis. It’s also when St Bede’s and Avon legend Mark Meates started having a huge influence on Grace’s rowing future.
“Mark was very supportive of me figuring out how to row with that, and what side I should row on and I also think probably a lot more of his thinking went into it than I knew at the time as well.”
In her last year at Villa Maria she made the New Zealand Under 19 team, and Mark Meates was about to play another huge part in Grace and her parents’ opportunity to stay in the sport.
“It was one of those moments that they're like, ‘Oh my God, Grace made the New Zealand team, that’s great but, Oh my God, it’s thousands of dollars already on top of three grand for a rowing season’.”
“You're getting into the tens of thousands of dollars for a season of school sport, which for my family wasn't sitting there ready to go.”
Mark’s son Will had been in a similar situation with the Under 19s and the family had banded together to create some fundraising events for him. They did the same for Grace, raising enough to get her up to Cambridge for training and the trip to the Czech Republic.
That Junior Four went on to win at the World Championships in 2010. Two years later, she made the Under 23 Four that finished fourth.
Grace (second from left) with her W4- crew after winning the 2010, U19 World Rowing Championships.
Scoliosis was about to become the enabler for Grace to become a bow side lock in future New Zealand programmes.
“At the start, I was almost trying to figure out how to fix it or how to make it better. And then I got to the point where I was like, ‘You can't, that's how you're built, so what are you going to do to overcome that?’
So she decided to become defined by what she could do, not what she couldn’t.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I'm not that strong, I'm not that great on the erg compared to others but I think I can row with anyone. I can make a boat feel good. I'm a good boat mover, that can be my point of difference. If I can hone in on that, when people think of me, they'll be like ‘I really want to row in a boat with Grace because it'll feel good and I’ll be able to row well, rather than think, ‘She's got scoliosis so this is a flaw of hers’.”
And then came that call to cut the sweep programme at the end of 2013 and the challenge of making herself someone you can’t leave out of a sweep boat.
“The very first time I got in a pair with Kerry, it clicked. Our strengths were very different, but that meant we just worked well together. Her ability to go above and beyond what she should be able to, was second to none. She had such high standards and such great rhythm that I felt that what I can do is sit behind her and make sure she can do everything she needs to be able to do.”
They become must-picks for the pair at the U23 worlds in 2014, winning gold there before being part of the four that won at the senior World Champs a month later. Their 6.14.36 still stands as the world best time in the event.
She might not have been a world champion sculler, but she was a bona fide clutch on the bow side of a sweep boat. And then there was her and Kerri’s ability to double up in the Women’s Eight with historic success.
Her enduring partnership with Kerri culminated in three World Championship titles in the pair and that Olympic gold in 2021.
Grace (left) and Kerri Williams after winning gold in the W2- at the Tokyo Olympics.
Grace holds crews together by simply making those around her excel.
Her influence was huge during her season with Cambridge University while she was doing her post-grad studies.
“To come into an environment where all of a sudden you're rowing in a crew with someone that's been rowing for two years, it's very, very different. It taught me so much because it taught me how to really simplify again. I was trying to communicate what I was feeling and thinking to people from all over the world with a very different range of experience.”
And Grace’s approach to building those around her came as a surprise.
“The girls were all like, ‘Wow, we really thought you would have been more intense or demanding’.
“I was able to be like, ‘Oh, you can be who you are and do well’, which I think is one of the biggest lessons I've taken from rowing.”
What has been intense is the last 14 years.
Grace looks back and wonders how she managed to pack so much into such a short time.
Building teams is still her passion, and now her profession, working for an executive recruitment start-up in London called The Search.
Her own CV is staggering. Here’s an email to add to the resume.
To: Grace Prendergast
Hi Grace,
I hope you don’t mind me contacting you, but I heard from Gary Hay and subsequently on the TV news, that you had retired from rowing.
Your rowing career has been stellar, and in my opinion, you are the very best athlete (female or male) that I have witnessed in my 45 odd years intimately involved in the sport. I might add that you are a thoroughly decent person and an absolute pleasure to interact with in my various selector roles with RNZ.
I wish you the very best on your life’s journey.
Best wishes
Barrie Mabbott
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian ...
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Grace by name, grace by nature
In this new RowingHub series, Andy Hay talks to athletes and coaches who turned disadvantage into a performance superpower.
The news came as a shock.
Grace Prendergast initially thought the bold new plan for 2014 could mean the end of her international rowing career. As it turned out it was just one of the challenges that transformed her into what one former selector says is our greatest rower.
Grace Prendergast was part of the summer squad at the end of 2013 when they were called into a meeting to discuss the way ahead.
The sweep programme was to be abandoned except for Rebecca Scown and Kayla Pratt in the pair. Everyone else was going sculling. This was bad news for Grace.
“I just remember being like, ‘I can't scull. Physically, this is not great for me’.”
To understand her shock, you have to wind back to primary school.
“I remember I was in one netball photo when I was quite young and I always used to stand kind of lopsided and my parents sort of thought that, because I grew tall quite early, I was self-conscious about my height. I was like, ‘It’s nothing to do with that’. I thought I was standing straight.”
The lopsidedness would eventually be diagnosed as scoliosis, the sideways curvature of the spine that would inhibit Grace’s rowing possibilities but not her potential.
Two important people stood out at that time. At Halswell Primary in Christchurch, she was friends with Paralympic swimming legend Dame Sophie Pascoe.
“I remember her when she wouldn't have her artificial leg on, she'd just be running around on her crutches and still keeping up with everyone, it didn't seem like a hurdle. I think when kids are young and haven't had impressions pressed upon them, it was just not even really thought about. I do remember her being competitive though, which probably makes sense.”
And besides that, Grace’s sister Matilda was having a tougher time, diagnosed with Charcot Marie Tooth disease, a degenerative nerve condition that weakens the muscles.
Scoliosis became something Grace would use as a point of difference for the better, not worse.
The first test of that came at Villa Maria College when she decided to pick up a summer sport on top of playing netball.
But her new sport brought a whole new set of challenges for Grace and her parents.
Netball was fine, “300 bucks and a pair of sneakers.”
Rowing was another thing altogether.
“I remember going home and telling my parents and I think they were like, ‘Whoa, rowing? It's thousands of dollars! And weekends away all the time’. But they didn't say no. They were like, ‘Okay, give it a go’.
“The first thing I did was an erg and I wasn’t sure if it was for me. But then the first time I went on the water, I was like, ‘Oh, I absolutely love this’.”
That’s about the time she got the scoliosis diagnosis. It’s also when St Bede’s and Avon legend Mark Meates started having a huge influence on Grace’s rowing future.
“Mark was very supportive of me figuring out how to row with that, and what side I should row on and I also think probably a lot more of his thinking went into it than I knew at the time as well.”
In her last year at Villa Maria she made the New Zealand Under 19 team, and Mark Meates was about to play another huge part in Grace and her parents’ opportunity to stay in the sport.
“It was one of those moments that they're like, ‘Oh my God, Grace made the New Zealand team, that’s great but, Oh my God, it’s thousands of dollars already on top of three grand for a rowing season’.”
“You're getting into the tens of thousands of dollars for a season of school sport, which for my family wasn't sitting there ready to go.”
Mark’s son Will had been in a similar situation with the Under 19s and the family had banded together to create some fundraising events for him. They did the same for Grace, raising enough to get her up to Cambridge for training and the trip to the Czech Republic.
That Junior Four went on to win at the World Championships in 2010. Two years later, she made the Under 23 Four that finished fourth.
Grace (second from left) with her W4- crew after winning the 2010, U19 World Rowing Championships.
Scoliosis was about to become the enabler for Grace to become a bow side lock in future New Zealand programmes.
“At the start, I was almost trying to figure out how to fix it or how to make it better. And then I got to the point where I was like, ‘You can't, that's how you're built, so what are you going to do to overcome that?’
So she decided to become defined by what she could do, not what she couldn’t.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I'm not that strong, I'm not that great on the erg compared to others but I think I can row with anyone. I can make a boat feel good. I'm a good boat mover, that can be my point of difference. If I can hone in on that, when people think of me, they'll be like ‘I really want to row in a boat with Grace because it'll feel good and I’ll be able to row well, rather than think, ‘She's got scoliosis so this is a flaw of hers’.”
And then came that call to cut the sweep programme at the end of 2013 and the challenge of making herself someone you can’t leave out of a sweep boat.
“The very first time I got in a pair with Kerry, it clicked. Our strengths were very different, but that meant we just worked well together. Her ability to go above and beyond what she should be able to, was second to none. She had such high standards and such great rhythm that I felt that what I can do is sit behind her and make sure she can do everything she needs to be able to do.”
They become must-picks for the pair at the U23 worlds in 2014, winning gold there before being part of the four that won at the senior World Champs a month later. Their 6.14.36 still stands as the world best time in the event.
She might not have been a world champion sculler, but she was a bona fide clutch on the bow side of a sweep boat. And then there was her and Kerri’s ability to double up in the Women’s Eight with historic success.
Her enduring partnership with Kerri culminated in three World Championship titles in the pair and that Olympic gold in 2021.
Grace (left) and Kerri Williams after winning gold in the W2- at the Tokyo Olympics.
Grace holds crews together by simply making those around her excel.
Her influence was huge during her season with Cambridge University while she was doing her post-grad studies.
“To come into an environment where all of a sudden you're rowing in a crew with someone that's been rowing for two years, it's very, very different. It taught me so much because it taught me how to really simplify again. I was trying to communicate what I was feeling and thinking to people from all over the world with a very different range of experience.”
And Grace’s approach to building those around her came as a surprise.
“The girls were all like, ‘Wow, we really thought you would have been more intense or demanding’.
“I was able to be like, ‘Oh, you can be who you are and do well’, which I think is one of the biggest lessons I've taken from rowing.”
What has been intense is the last 14 years.
Grace looks back and wonders how she managed to pack so much into such a short time.
Building teams is still her passion, and now her profession, working for an executive recruitment start-up in London called The Search.
Her own CV is staggering. Here’s an email to add to the resume.
To: Grace Prendergast
Hi Grace,
I hope you don’t mind me contacting you, but I heard from Gary Hay and subsequently on the TV news, that you had retired from rowing.
Your rowing career has been stellar, and in my opinion, you are the very best athlete (female or male) that I have witnessed in my 45 odd years intimately involved in the sport. I might add that you are a thoroughly decent person and an absolute pleasure to interact with in my various selector roles with RNZ.
I wish you the very best on your life’s journey.
Best wishes
Barrie Mabbott
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian ...
