Mr Wells (Director of Rowing)

During the Easter break, our Years 10 – Upper Sixth rowing students enjoyed the breath-taking views and clear waters of Hazewinkel Lake in Belgium (Friday 23rd - Friday 30th March).

The rowing camp was held over seven days on an Olympic Standard Rowing lake, home to many world rowing and canoeing events. The camp started with the girls mixed up into three eights and two fours, they were then given time to rig up boats, clean minibuses and then row together.

They were given space and time to work together and learn from each other before competing side-by-side on the lake. The verdicts were quite small and this set the tone for the camp that the girls were going to have to work for every stroke to #MakeTheDifference. It highlighted once again that the difference between winning and losing is just one stroke, where you question your ability and the other crew jumps ahead only by inches, and when that happens the whole crew need sit up and row that little bit more confidently.

During the downtime, the girls enjoyed the architecture and sampled chocolate in the local Medieval town of Mechelen. The Upper Sixth also had the opportunity to race the coaches. This was one of the most enjoyed activities, which consisted of the seven girls taking on the four coaches in a relay. Unfortunately, for the coaching staff, after a tremendous start, equipment failure caused them to slow and the fine skills of the girls brought them home first!