News

Posted: May 3, 2016

George Heriot’s School’s rowing club is going from strength to strength since it appointed Head Coach James Davidson last August.

Previously at Durham School, James arrived with the plan to firstly introduce high performance training to the older age group, S5 and S6 pupils.

Now, after seeing early success from this initiative, he is about to open the sport to younger age groups, a move which coincides with Scottish Rowing’s Project Rio campaign.

Funded by Awards for All, the Project Rio campaign aims to capitalise on rowing interest around this summer’s Olympic Games.

“Previously rowing at the school had been more of a recreational activity,” said James.  “But now we have 70 children in the club with around 20 of them on a performance training programme.

“Already we are seeing some success.  Over the course of one year we have gone from having one to five pupils putting themselves forwards for Scotland’s rowing selections.

“The school has a large talent pool so hopefully we can keep building and I’m sure we’ll see the dividends in the future.”

The newest part of the plan is to recruit the previously untapped S2 pupils.  By signing up to the Project Rio campaign, designed to boost interest in the sport around this summer’s Olympic Games, James hopes to have more resources which will encourage them to stay involved and progress through the older age groups.

Project Rio’s Oarsome Guide will help parents to better understand the sport, whilst the awards and merchandise will recognise the achievement of the participants on the Learn2Row courses.

“Rowing competes against the different clubs at the school so we see this as a good opportunity to raise the profile of the sport and make it more appealing to younger pupils,” said James.

“A lot more people will get to see the sport with the increased exposure in an Olympic year.

“That means that more people want to try it.  We want to give those people the opportunity to give it a go.

“At the moment our club goes from S3 to S6 but I’d like to expand into S2 to give the 14 year olds more chance to learn, before they come into the competitive programme.”

Polly Swann, a former George Heriot’s pupil, who will be racing in next week’s European Championships, acknowledged the school this week on British Rowing’s Wall of Thanks.

“(Thanks) for sparking the fire to my rowing addiction,” said Polly.  “I have so many fond memories of my first years on the Union Canal.”