When I rang Gordon for a reference one evening in early March the last thing I would ever have expected was that, two weeks later I should be arriving in Monkton with my suitcase, ready to start work as the Postgraduate Rowing Assistant (or 'Gappy' as I soon learned was the accepted term).
To backtrack slightly, my name is Matthew Perkins and Gordon (Mr Reay) was my coach during my final year at University College Chester. For reasons known only to himself, but with my eternal gratitude, he has become something of a mentor to me whilst I seek to follow his example and make coaching my profession.
I began rowing at University College Chester and was immediately hooked on the sport. Wherever and whenever possible, if there was a boat going out then I was in it (during my final year I even succeeded in 'filling in' for the women's, fresher, eight!). My involvement within the club soon extended to coaching, the social committee and driving mini-buses to and from events. The only downside to rowing at University College Chester was that we weren't exactly competitive. During my time, the club consisted of approximately 40 members rowing out of Grosvenor Rowing Club.
The Club's boat fleet consisted of one Janousek coxed four (named Flash Gordon in honour of MCSBC's Director of Rowing). This was complemented by one and a half sets of oars, a megaphone and two lifejackets. Whilst we did have access to an eight and occasionally an additional four, training had to take place at 6 am Monday to Friday and Sunday afternoons as these were the only times we had access to a coaching launch. This was a very frustrating experience as the potential was there for the club to do well, the River Dee being arguably one of the best stretches of water in the country. It was not until my final year, with the assistance of Mr Reay, that our first crew (which had become a four) started to really compete. With similarity to Monkton's current first eight, we developed a habit of reaching the final of every event we entered (bar one) but then losing out in the final by tiny margins. The only event in which we did not reach the final of was S4 at Shrewsbury, which we lost by less than a length with only three oars, stroke having snapped his oar three strokes from the start. [Not the first time a crew would be fastest without various members trying to row. - BSM] All of this was conducted in the wake of King's School Chester, with their fleet of Empachers and multi-million pound boathouse.
With this having been my only real exposure to public school rowing it would be fair to say that I was quite nervous when I arrived here at Monkton and those nerves only continued to increase leading up to my first day 'on the river‘.
I have to admit that I was impressed with the school's fleet. With my introduction to the sport, one boathouse would have been impressive, but three, all filled with Vespolis, Etons and Aylings was like being a child in a sweet shop. All of this made me question whether I was up to the job. Having all this in mind, my first reaction on seeing the first eight on the water was 'oh!' Whilst there was obvious and unquestionable potential within the boat, what I saw from the following launch was hardly a text book display in boat moving!
I like to think that, from this point, I settled in pretty quickly. The club training camp to Nantes gave me a valuable opportunity to get to know the senior and 5th form squad members early on and the start of the Spring term brought plenty of new names and faces to come to terms with.
In what has seemed like a blink of an eye, my time at the school is coming to an end and I must say that I have enjoyed every second of it. There have been outings that have been less than perfect and there have been moments that have been somewhat frustrating but not once have I thought that I would sooner be doing something else. I will always have fond memories of Monkton Combe School Boat Club and shall always look out for the Club's results; if my future career goes to plan then I hope to have many future encounters with Monkton Bluefriars, hopefully congratulating them on a great race in which they will have marginally lost out to my own school, wherever that may be. For me the immediate future holds three months working at a Summer camp in the USA as Senior Councillor for Rowing and then onto a Henley Stewards Charitable Trust Scholarship in and around Peterborough (the same scholarship that Gordon Reay had in between his time as a 'Gappy' at Monkton and his return as Director of Rowing).
As for the Boat Club, I have no doubt that it is in great hands. From my irregular exposure to the first eight I would have to say their progress has been impressive, they now look like a very tidy, competent crew and, whilst the results are yet to come, I have no doubt that they will. The legacy of past school oarsmen may be something of a burden for the current first eight but Bluefriars past and present can rest assured that the crew are a credit to their school and punch well above their weight. Following recent wins by the current J16 squad and with the increase in membership amongst the 3rd form to over 30 budding oarsmen and women, the future also looks bright for the club; the year has also seen the introduction of indoor, 'dry start' rowing to the junior school which should secure strong future intakes.
In my development as a coach, my time at Monkton has been invaluable. I have learned more than I could possibly have hoped for and for that I must thank the staff and students that I have worked with; I only hope that people feel that my contribution to the school and the Boat Club have been worthwhile, however brief my time here.