Socialising paramount for young rowers

Socialising paramount for young rowers

New Zealand rowing clubs should place more emphasis on the social aspects of the sport if they hope to attract more school leavers, Lincoln University research suggests.

Sport and Recreation student Gabrielle Gray has been working with The Canterbury Rowing Association to investigate the reasons why many young Kiwi rowers give up the sport after leaving high school.

“Rowing Canterbury were interested in finding out how to improve the retention rate of rowers after high school and wanted a student to assist them with the research,” Gabrielle says.

As part of a project called Rowing Experiences and Pathways for New Zealand School Leavers, Gabrielle surveyed 26 male and 30 female high school rowers about their rowing experiences and future plans with regard to the sport.

“Forty-one of the participants rowed for a Christchurch school and 70 percent had rowed for three or four years,” she says. “They were asked where they rowed and how often, and also told to rate their experience.”

The majority of respondents described their experience as positive and said that the social aspect of the sport was by far the biggest reason why they enjoyed it.

“Eighty-five percent of the participants said they loved the social opportunities that rowing gave them,” Gabrielle says. “They mentioned feeling like part of a family, appreciating the thrill of having a strong crew and being able to mix with people from all year levels, and enjoying the camaraderie and banter involved.”

Other enjoyable aspects of the sport included achieving rowing success, which enhanced the participants’ confidence, with 60 percent saying they enjoyed pushing themselves and training hard.

On the negative side, 60 percent of participants said they found it difficult to balance schoolwork with rowing, due to the amount of time they were expected to spend at training sessions.

When asked about factors that might deter them from continuing with rowing after finishing high school, many said they were put off by the prospect of having to train too often.

“Other participants said they were uncomfortable with making the transition from senior school rower to starting at the bottom at a club,” Gabrielle says.

Several respondents indicated that they would be more likely to continue rowing if they could train when they wanted to, have time off over the Christmas period and above all, be given the chance to row socially in mixed-gender crews.

“The results show that it’s really important for clubs to place more emphasis on social rowing,” Gabrielle says.

ENDS

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