In high school rowing seemed daunting and inaccessible. Only ever picked as a goalie in netball for my height, I had decided that team sports, and sport in general, wasn’t for me by age 13 or 14. When the opportunity came around to try for the rowing squad, I went because my friends were going, and I had nothing better to do that lunchtime. From that day, I trained on and off the water almost every day until I left school and later relocated to Australia. I went off and tried some other things, including many ill-fated surfing attempts (why is it so hard to stand up??), climbing and hiking, but I missed having a structure to my training, and a community to support me.
I rediscovered rowing at Richmond RC via my uni three years ago, using it as relief from my hectic degree. At first I took it pretty easy, training a few times a week at most, not attending competitions. Over time I gained more strength and fitness which coincided with a new wave of students joining the club. Unfortunately, covid locked us all indoors, during which time I trained daily. Yes, I was definitely one of those people doing bicep curls with 2L bottles of milk – my family ended up drinking a lot of milk! When we emerged from our houses at the end of 2020, I was raring to go, jumping straight into a fast-paced preparation for the regatta season which our coaches guided us through, and ended with my first ever competition medal.
Meet our Team: Alexya Vega
Join us in welcoming New Haven coach, Alexya Vega! Alexya started her rowing career in high school at the Sound School where she became team captain and began dabbling into coaching. She’s also enjoyed other sports like track and cross country, but rowing is a sport...
Meet our Team: Clio Nash
I started rowing at a high school after being a swimmer my whole life. I rowed at Melbourne Girls Grammar and the sport really opened up my eyes to how important teams are. By rowing with all my school friends & competing I started to learn so many important life...
