The Mental Struggle of Rowing

Rowing, as all of us know is one of the most emotionally intense sports out there, little is more cutthroat, brutal and harsh than the rowing world.  Maybe it’s the way we race, train or something else. Either way, continually sport that has proven time and time again to be a melting pot for different backgrounds, problems and solutions. 

It’s hard to write about mental health. It’s personal to the individual and often subject to one’s own experience or life events. Most will not see that they are struggling, or will see themselves locked in a battle with everyone around them seemingly unphased or potentially threatening, either way, it can be difficult to maintain willpower to overcome strong emotions significantly in an environment as hostile as rowing. 

There is a lot to be said for the lack of understanding/ research into mental health in rowing. often people are told to put it behind them, sometimes that’s what’s needed, and other times it’s the exact opposite. The sport can become a distraction from what’s going on in normal day-to-day life, an escape, and the nature of that can put a dangerous dependency on the sport and forces people to attend when they don’t feel like it or can cause them to burn out. I will speak for a lot of people here when I say that rowing can quickly turn into a very unhealthy addiction, which can have major performance effects but also have severe effects on people’s personal lives too. Whether that’s in work life, relationships or other social circles, rowing demands full-time commitment hence easily polarising lifestyles.

There is also something to be said about the intensity of rowing. The training is endless and painful, the highs are high. But the lows are more common and can often feel like the end of the world. It requires patience and willingness that those who are suffering can often feel all-consuming and endless and with the nature of the sport; there are often far more winners than losers and after all that work, being that low, people often leave the sport. 

Personally, I have used rowing as an escape in the past and for the majority of my career. During COVID-19, I did a fundraising erg for 8 hours and after it I couldn’t get back on the machine. I went from the tip of the spear of my club to the bottom of the pile again. After a while of mental toil, I learned to love the sport again: cycling and erging with other people, regaining my love while paying more attention to the holistic aspects if rowing. I started to achieve highly at national level and felt complete for the first time in the sense I was overcoming the hardships brought on by COVID-19 and personal circumstance.

I was then forced to leave the sport due to a severe injury, missing out on my first chance to go to Henley Qualifiers. I was ordered to take time out of the sport and had to deal with the void left by years of distraction from rowing and what I was meant to do with all this spare time. It took a long while, but through third-party help, my life dramatically changed. Rowing, for the first time in my life, was no longer something I had to do, rather something I sought out  for its numerous benefits, but more so for enjoyment .I felt like I had gone in a full circle and I felt like I was ready to get back to racing again. It’s ok to not be ok, and I find there is a lot more people than most realise that are not ok in this sport. Organisations like RTHM are trying their best to make a difference, but it has to come from a national level. Mental health is as important as it is complicated, but imperative to talk about, it matters and if anyone is suffering, you’re not alone. It’s ok. 

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Ben Stanworth

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