Seas-ing the Initiative: Saints Rowing's Secrete to Novice Success

The Saint spoke to the Coastal Rowing Captain about the recent success in the club's novice section

Bundled amongst life jackets and waterproofs, I join former Novice Women’s Coach and current Coastal Rowing Captain, Lily Allen, at the Saints boathouse on East Sands. Piling on layers, we are bracing for the North Sea chill. 

The University of St Andrews Boat Club (USTABC) has enjoyed remarkable success of late, much of it driven by students with less than a year’s experience. Hansine Marshall’s historic Henley Women’s Regatta win and her gold with Tom Mitchell in the Senior Mixed Double at the Home International Rowing Beach Sprints were a dazzling conclusion to their first year in the sport. 

The Saint sat down with Lily Allen to discuss the club’s recent wave of success.

How do you ease novice rowers into the sport?

“We start them on the machines because, whilst the machine is not an exact replica of what you do on the water, it builds the basics of the motion. Also, teaching them the real fundamentals — the simple things like how to get your boat on and off the water — means that when they’re on the water, they can focus on rowing. Teaching a mix of sweep, which is with one oar, and sculling, which is with two, is the best way to do it because [novices] are learning both sets of skills. I think the advantage of using coastal is that they get used to a variety of conditions, and the boats are bigger, so they don’t flip them!”

Lily gestures to the boats behind us and smiles.

It must be tough to balance the demanding schedule that novice rowers need to progress quickly.

“I think the secret is to be honest with them from the get-go. When I took on my novice squad two years ago, I was upfront about how demanding the workload is and what the sessions would look like. Also, varying the length of their sessions and not letting them [just] row up and down — building in some drills and then once they’ve learnt those skills — helps. And once they’ve learnt those skills, we do some friendly racing.”

She laughs, clearly reminiscing about some distinctly high-stakes friendly racing from her time as the novice coach.

What inspired you to take on a volunteer coaching role?

“I’ve rowed now for ten years, and I decided to go into coaching because when I was younger, I helped with the ‘learn to row’ programme that’s usually targeted at juniors. This year it’s different: we have a novice ‘learn to row’ programme as well. I wanted to teach people the sport that I’d loved growing up. Also, I think everyone thinks rowing is quite an ‘elite’ sport, and I think university is a good way to try it out and make it slightly more affordable.”

Would you say you prefer coaching the novices or introducing seasoned flatwater rowers to the coastal discipline?

“Teaching novices, you see more progress, and when they race, it’s a proper ‘proud mum’ moment. I stood with my fellow coach and — I kid you not — we sent them down their racecourse and were like, ‘Are they going to make it?’. I have so many photos of my novices — from when they messed up and capsized to when they won a medal. I also think it’s more of a challenge to teach people to convert to coastal, because if they’re not a fan of waves, it makes it more of a challenge.”

Those are hard to avoid in coastal!

“It’s nice to see people try new things, but they can sometimes resist you because they like the flatwater, but teaching is more fun — it’s like gaining younger siblings, because a lot of them are new to university, so you get to teach them how to adjust to university life, too.”

Illustration by Isabelle Holloway