Competitive sport is peculiar. Like all great endeavours, there is a plan. Within that, there is a planner – a conductor if you will – and those designated to see the plan to fruition. And yet, when we commemorate the great sporting performances, we rarely seek time to appreciate the individual who orchestrated them.
In rowing, there is little doubt that much of the acclaim should lie with the athletes. They’re the people who hold their hand in the fire for longest, who strain sinew and soul to cross the line ahead of their rivals. However, the coach certainly warrants more praise than they’re given – they take a group full of potential, soothe egos, bridge obstacles, overcome adversity and preach the collective to forge a unit capable of remarkable things.
There have been some incredible junior coaches in recent memory, perhaps due to the impressive performances of so many schools and clubs. How does one qualify a truly great coach? Do you value the cultivation of one system, developed over months and years of hard work? Or do you instead place value on a coach who can turn his hand to anyone and make them better? Should we value a philosophy over a result, or should the means always justify the end?
As such, we wanted to draw attention to some of the coaches who have entertained us over the past few seasons by producing crews of the highest calibre.
Ryan Demaine – Headington
If Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are the historically great Premier League football teams, then Headington are a similar benchmark in women’s rowing. The level at which everyone strives to attain, Headington are so frequently found at the summit of junior rowing that it almost becomes surprising to not find their name adorning a podium somewhere. Much of this is down to the phenomenal work of Ryan Demaine and his coaching staff (Chris Hermes also gets a very notable mention). Since joining the Oxfordshire school in 2004, Ryan has transformed the rowing program into the most successful junior medal factory in the UK. Ruthlessly disciplined and fiercely competitive, you need only look at the National Schools’ Regatta medal tables over the past decade to understand his influence in the junior rowing world.
Bobby Thatcher – St Paul’s School
Classically understated and humble to a fault, Bobby’s intensive belief in a certain style of rowing paid off in a big way last season when he orchestrated arguably the greatest junior crew of all time. Yes, he was gifted with nine extraordinary athletes but it takes an extraordinary coach to mould these parts into a moving engine capable of truly wonderful things. You need only look at the progression of his athletes after they leave St Paul’s to understand his influence – Freddie Davidson is a two-times Blue for Cambridge, Arthur Doyle has been an ever-present in Harvard’s Varsity Eight whilst huge things are expected of Douwe De Graaf, Casper Woods and Calvin Tarczy to name but a few. His aesthetically pleasing, incredibly effective style of rowing defines all the crews who study under him and he will certainly go down as a master of his craft.
Alex Henshilwood – Eton College
It would be wrong to leave out a man who brought us the Eton College eights of 2009 and 2010. After leaving Berkshire for Melbourne in 2010, he returned to the school where he made his name in 2013 to once again bring Henley Royal Regatta silverware back to Dorney Lake. You always felt that Alex placed more emphasis on Henley than anywhere else – there is something magical about that small seat of Oxfordshire countryside that seemed to draw the very best out of his crews. His second stint may not have produced the conventionally unbeatable boats of 09 and 10 but such was the fervour around his return to the schoolboy scene in 2013 that he warrants a place at the top table on that reputation alone.
Tom Pattichis – Gloucester Hartpury
A man who stayed firmly out of the limelight, Tom runs the Gloucester Hartpury rowing program. A little known entity some five years ago, Tom has built the women’s squad up to be one of the most feared names in junior rowing. In fact, the collective sigh of relief when their name didn’t appear on the Henley Royal Regatta entry sheet this year spoke volumes. Having won the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup four years on the trot, Tom became a master at developing his crews to peak at the right moment. There were years when their boats would barely race all season, making underwhelming appearances at a couple of marker-point events before breaking convention and collective hearts to decimate their opposition on the 2112m course at Henley. For that remarkable ability alone, Tom deserves to be recognised in the highest echelons of rowing revelry.
Dave Currie – Shiplake College
A truly great coach should be able to apply their principles to any squad, anywhere and produce results. Dave is the first name on this list to have produced sensational crews at multiple schools – his Abingdon unit from 2013 still held the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup record until St Paul’s snatched it away this year and he also led a 2014 unit to an unlikely victory at the National Schools’ Regatta. Since he’s moved to Shiplake, Dave has proven his ability by elevating the school from a Child Beale contender to a genuine front-runner for the championship events. Many schools have tried, and failed, to make this jump consistently but Shiplake have bridged the gap in spectacular style. One of the favourites for domestic silverware this year, Dave will enhance his personal brand even more if he can lead his boys to summertime victory.
Robin Dowell – Sir William Borlase
All due respect to the top junior sculling crews of today – the Sir William Borlase units of yesteryear were better. By all objective accounts, Robin was responsible for building the undisputed centre of junior sculling in his years at Sir William Borlase. His coaching ability and general influence on the boat club is evidenced by the fact that they’ve struggled to hit those giddy heights achieved under Robin between 2011 and 2015. Jack Beaumont, sculler extraordinaire in the senior Great Britain set-up, cut his teeth under Robin and the three Henley victories in four years, with a very close final to boot in 2013, shows the incredible standard he set for the rest of the junior world. Above all this though, the defining characteristic of his coaching quality is perhaps the work he’s done in building Jeannine Gmelin, Switzerland’s female representative in the single scull, into the best pound for pound rower in the world.
Billy Mason- Westminster School
Independently decorated as both an athlete and a coach, Billy Mason’s retirement from Westminster in 2015 left substantial shoes to fill. His crews have always rowed well – that is a must-have, the foundation blocks upon which he builds his boats. They’re usually a combination of explosively fast athletes – Sam Meijer, for example – and technicians designed to harness this power into boat-moving speed. Genuinely considered one of the greatest junior coaches of all time, Billy made the switch from sculling to sweep in his final year at Westminster to great effect, winning both the Schools’ Head of the River and National Schools’ Regatta before losing out to bitter downstream rivals St Paul’s School. Denied the fairy tale ending he arguably deserved, Billy can rest easy in the knowledge that his work helped shape where junior rowing finds itself now.
There are so many other coaches who deserve credit in this bracket – John Gearing at Radley, Neil Double at Hampton, Chris Boothroyd at Henley and Mark Wilkinson at the Windsor Boys School all deserve recognition for their achievements in the junior rowing world.
These are just our picks and the people we wanted to particularly bring to light, but we welcome feedback. Is there anyone we’ve missed or that you would have included? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram.
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