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Huge uptake from school rowers for ARC winter programme
A chilly Sunday morning in winter doesn’t stop high school rowers in the Auckland Rowing Club’s winter programme
It’s the coldest day of the year, a chilly 5 degrees on a Sunday morning in June but at 7:15am the carpark of the Auckland Rowing Club in Ōtāhuhu is full. Shuffling into the sheds are dozens of teenagers from nine different high schools. A whopping 65 young rowers have signed up to ARC’s winter programme, something Head Coach, Pete Mills has been surprised by.
“We've always done a winter programme, but this year we expanded it as we found there was a real need, and it just mushroomed from there. We've got a great bunch of coaches, from different schools and I think that really does help when the kids see the effort being put in.”
The focus is not on competition or racing but on technique and having fun.
“We've got kids here from schools up and down the river. They don't get a winter rowing programme, and they’ve worked hard to get to Maadi. They stop rowing and get withdrawal symptoms. The good thing about it is not just their school. You look at the kids here, the excitement, just the socialisation. It's a continuation of the things that they've enjoyed about rowing, but also, they get good coaching,” says Alan Botica, Chairman of the ARC.
For Howick College student Leon Burgess, it’s about learning to row with other people.
“I think it’s a good experience, it’s good to row with other people and get different coaching perspectives. I’m hoping to learn more about sweeping and rowing in eights with other boys.”
St Kentigern College cox, Izzy Gilbert echoes this.
“Rowing out of St Kent's, we don't necessarily meet many people from other schools, and I really like the opportunity to cox a lot of different people and hear from a lot of different coaches.
Izzy Gilbert, cox at St Kentigern College is looking forward to the opportunity to cox a lot of different people from different schools.
Some of the coaches admit they’ve come to learn from the master, ARC’s Pete Mills. Pete is a coach who knows his stuff, having spent 30 years on the job guiding athletes at every level from school rowers to Olympians. On the international stage he coached Phillipa Baker to win Gold in the lightweight single sculls at the 1991 World Championships and 1994 Commonwealth Games.
This cold Sunday morning, rowers from Sacred Heart, Howick, St Kentigern, Kings and Epsom Girls Grammar, Diocesan, Auckland Grammar, St Cuthberts and Baradene gather around Pete for a briefing. They will be joining up with older Club rowers in eights, fours and pairs. The Tamaki River is a busy place with Waka Ama also holding a regatta from their base behind the Club’s. Today’s lesson is about learning, feeling and implementing change, building the foundations of a great stroke. In one exercise, rowers are told to close their eyes and row.
With three sessions a week, the athletes can choose one or all three, working it around their winter sports. The programme focuses on all-around athletic skills while having fun in a no-stress environment.
Rachael Smith, one of 9 coaches volunteering her time, says it’s exciting to see the numbers and interest from school rowers.
“It showed us the appetite is there for winter rowing and a continuation of the level they are now rowing and competing. Rowers who have signed up for this have decided rowing is for them, and once it’s in the bloodstream, we are looking to support their pathway and goals. Most athletes had a month off after Maadi but were already itching to get back on the water.”
Rachael praises Pete Mills for driving the programme.
“With Pete Mills at the helm, we are being led and well supported in a way that is positive, inclusive, motivating and full of those gold nuggets. Mentoring athletes at this level is very rewarding, and the squad we have is showing us respect by turning up with their A game. We want them to know we believe in them, and they should believe in themselves. We made sure at the start that they were not competing against each other, no seat racing, no crew racing. They are here to learn alongside everyone.”
Pete Mills at the helm of the ARC’s winter programme with 9 volunteer coaches and 65 school rowers signed up.
This year, there is a particular focus on the female athletes’ needs, with Pete setting up a chat called “The Girls in the Boat”.
Here, he encourages female-oriented content and information, bringing in experts such as 2024 World Champion rower Jane Schellekens. Girls, Pete says, are just busier with lots of things going on in their lives.
There is also a broad feeling that these winter sessions should fit around other school sports. Doing different sports across the year is good, Pete Mills says, as it helps you move better, stay fresher and avoid overuse injuries.
But there’s a bigger long-term plan at play. Pete Mills wants to see more school leavers continue to row and come back to the Club.
"I wanted this programme not to focus on fitness or competing. I wanted to have a less combative experience and more learning how to row and learning what rowing is, which I think is missing a lot from the school programmes."
And his push to bring more school rowers back to the sport they gave so much of their young lives to is working.
“When I got back into rowing with ARC. I make a big point of trying to remember everyone's name and engage them, and the whole club process. I would like them to be impressed with what we do, to treat this building as their own. I would like them to see rowing as a long game.”
With 65 rowers, the programme would not run without coaches from surrounding schools says Chairman Allan Botica.
“The programme goes for four months, in the middle of winter - nobody rows in the middle of winter, except tragics! And yet here we are because of the collaboration between the coaches, I love to see that. And it's part of part of what makes this a community a place that brings people together.”
For coach, Rachael Smith it’s a great chance to interact with others.
“This is a rarity for coaches as we are normally competing against each other. We all have something to offer each other, and it has been fantastic to see the collaboration.”
With the hope of bringing people together and building a love of rowing, Auckland Rowing Club’s mission is going in the right direction.
Wendy Petrie
A favourite news presenter on our screens for many years, Wendy Petrie has now hit her stride outside the studio. Telling stories for Rowing New Zealand's RowingHub, Wendy can often be found lakeside during big regattas interviewing rowers, parents and coaches. A love of people and their stories is what drives her. With three sporty children, two rowers and a swimmer, she knows the dedication that goes into a sport.
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Huge uptake from school rowers for ARC winter programme
A chilly Sunday morning in winter doesn’t stop high school rowers in the Auckland Rowing Club’s winter programme
It’s the coldest day of the year, a chilly 5 degrees on a Sunday morning in June but at 7:15am the carpark of the Auckland Rowing Club in Ōtāhuhu is full. Shuffling into the sheds are dozens of teenagers from nine different high schools. A whopping 65 young rowers have signed up to ARC’s winter programme, something Head Coach, Pete Mills has been surprised by.
“We've always done a winter programme, but this year we expanded it as we found there was a real need, and it just mushroomed from there. We've got a great bunch of coaches, from different schools and I think that really does help when the kids see the effort being put in.”
The focus is not on competition or racing but on technique and having fun.
“We've got kids here from schools up and down the river. They don't get a winter rowing programme, and they’ve worked hard to get to Maadi. They stop rowing and get withdrawal symptoms. The good thing about it is not just their school. You look at the kids here, the excitement, just the socialisation. It's a continuation of the things that they've enjoyed about rowing, but also, they get good coaching,” says Alan Botica, Chairman of the ARC.
For Howick College student Leon Burgess, it’s about learning to row with other people.
“I think it’s a good experience, it’s good to row with other people and get different coaching perspectives. I’m hoping to learn more about sweeping and rowing in eights with other boys.”
St Kentigern College cox, Izzy Gilbert echoes this.
“Rowing out of St Kent's, we don't necessarily meet many people from other schools, and I really like the opportunity to cox a lot of different people and hear from a lot of different coaches.
Izzy Gilbert, cox at St Kentigern College is looking forward to the opportunity to cox a lot of different people from different schools.
Some of the coaches admit they’ve come to learn from the master, ARC’s Pete Mills. Pete is a coach who knows his stuff, having spent 30 years on the job guiding athletes at every level from school rowers to Olympians. On the international stage he coached Phillipa Baker to win Gold in the lightweight single sculls at the 1991 World Championships and 1994 Commonwealth Games.
This cold Sunday morning, rowers from Sacred Heart, Howick, St Kentigern, Kings and Epsom Girls Grammar, Diocesan, Auckland Grammar, St Cuthberts and Baradene gather around Pete for a briefing. They will be joining up with older Club rowers in eights, fours and pairs. The Tamaki River is a busy place with Waka Ama also holding a regatta from their base behind the Club’s. Today’s lesson is about learning, feeling and implementing change, building the foundations of a great stroke. In one exercise, rowers are told to close their eyes and row.
With three sessions a week, the athletes can choose one or all three, working it around their winter sports. The programme focuses on all-around athletic skills while having fun in a no-stress environment.
Rachael Smith, one of 9 coaches volunteering her time, says it’s exciting to see the numbers and interest from school rowers.
“It showed us the appetite is there for winter rowing and a continuation of the level they are now rowing and competing. Rowers who have signed up for this have decided rowing is for them, and once it’s in the bloodstream, we are looking to support their pathway and goals. Most athletes had a month off after Maadi but were already itching to get back on the water.”
Rachael praises Pete Mills for driving the programme.
“With Pete Mills at the helm, we are being led and well supported in a way that is positive, inclusive, motivating and full of those gold nuggets. Mentoring athletes at this level is very rewarding, and the squad we have is showing us respect by turning up with their A game. We want them to know we believe in them, and they should believe in themselves. We made sure at the start that they were not competing against each other, no seat racing, no crew racing. They are here to learn alongside everyone.”
Pete Mills at the helm of the ARC’s winter programme with 9 volunteer coaches and 65 school rowers signed up.
This year, there is a particular focus on the female athletes’ needs, with Pete setting up a chat called “The Girls in the Boat”.
Here, he encourages female-oriented content and information, bringing in experts such as 2024 World Champion rower Jane Schellekens. Girls, Pete says, are just busier with lots of things going on in their lives.
There is also a broad feeling that these winter sessions should fit around other school sports. Doing different sports across the year is good, Pete Mills says, as it helps you move better, stay fresher and avoid overuse injuries.
But there’s a bigger long-term plan at play. Pete Mills wants to see more school leavers continue to row and come back to the Club.
"I wanted this programme not to focus on fitness or competing. I wanted to have a less combative experience and more learning how to row and learning what rowing is, which I think is missing a lot from the school programmes."
And his push to bring more school rowers back to the sport they gave so much of their young lives to is working.
“When I got back into rowing with ARC. I make a big point of trying to remember everyone's name and engage them, and the whole club process. I would like them to be impressed with what we do, to treat this building as their own. I would like them to see rowing as a long game.”
With 65 rowers, the programme would not run without coaches from surrounding schools says Chairman Allan Botica.
“The programme goes for four months, in the middle of winter - nobody rows in the middle of winter, except tragics! And yet here we are because of the collaboration between the coaches, I love to see that. And it's part of part of what makes this a community a place that brings people together.”
For coach, Rachael Smith it’s a great chance to interact with others.
“This is a rarity for coaches as we are normally competing against each other. We all have something to offer each other, and it has been fantastic to see the collaboration.”
With the hope of bringing people together and building a love of rowing, Auckland Rowing Club’s mission is going in the right direction.
Wendy Petrie
A favourite news presenter on our screens for many years, Wendy Petrie has now hit her stride outside the studio. Telling stories for Rowing New Zealand's RowingHub, Wendy can often be found lakeside during big regattas interviewing rowers, parents and coaches. A love of people and their stories is what drives her. With three sporty children, two rowers and a swimmer, she knows the dedication that goes into a sport.
