During 2001 Monkton rowing has extended its reach to the J10 age range, with a group of pupils from the Junior School coming down for an introductory training session one Sunday last October. Following this, a couple of girls were so enthused that they came back during the summer holidays for some further coaching from Barry Taylor. Stage one was the boat on a rope training to get the feel of the blades, the water and the slide. Following this was an outing in a quad, as shown in the picture of Isabel Coates (No.3 seat) and Amelia Clifford (No.4 seat) making their preparations, down on the Avon at Dundas. Barry Taylor, who generously gave his time to provide patient coaching in the basics, is in the No.1 seat supported by Eleanor Coates (Isabel's elder sister) in the No.2 seat to make up a working quad.

Following this outing, Isabel and Amelia graduated to a double scull, with some reasonable success in that the boat stayed upright and moved forwards! When asked for feedback about their experiences, Isabel and Amelia offered the following opinions and ideas:
Isabel: "My sisters like rowing and I wanted to see what it is like. One day I am going to win a gold medal!"
Amelia: "Barry was very helpful and friendly. The ergo was more difficult than the rowing boat because this was where wereally had to concentrate on the different parts of the stroke; on the water we just rowed and tried not to fall in."
Isabel: "I like being by the river. It has a special atmosphere, and the boathouse is very snug. I also like looking at the wildlife."

Barry Taylor concluded that so long as they are enthusiastic, and enjoy rowing, there is every reason to provide introductory training to the young ones, as and when it can be fitted into the timetable. Are we looking at the formative stages of the UK national squad for 2010?

Julian Coates