From professional rower to Director of Rowing

From professional rower to Director of Rowing

When rowing professionally in the UK, including with the Olympics team, Rachel Gamble-Flint suffered an injury, which cut her sporting career short. “It was a very sudden finish”, said Gamble-Flint. The keen sportswoman wanted to stay involved in rowing in some form so she decided to become a rowing coach.

Rachel Gamble-Flint, appointed as Director of Rowing at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.

After coaching at Melbourne Girls Grammar Rachel joined the team at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School and played an integral part in their most successful rowing season ever last year. The girls won medals at the North Island Secondary Schools Regatta (NISS) and at the MAADI Cup. Gamble-Flint for the first time in years was also able to take to the water herself, winning gold in the Womens coxless quad sculls at the North Island Club Champs and a bronze at the NZ National Rowing Championships. For someone coming back from major back surgery Gamble-Flint certainly leads her students by example.

Gamble-Flint has secured her tenure at Marsden School as Director of Rowing and has started the season with a team of 30+ girls. “It’s fantastic seeing the interest in rowing and having an enthusiastic group of girls wanting to try the sport. I aim to give the girls the opportunity to be competitive, enjoy the sport and to be active and healthy”, said Gamble-Flint. Her plans are to teach the junior girls good teamwork and getting their basic skills in place and she has a fun but challenging training schedule planned for her senior rowers. “The challenge in Wellington is the weather. You can’t rely on being on the water every day, so we have to be flexible in our training”. This includes being on the rowing machines but also going on group tramps and using the beach for fun fitness sessions. Gamble-Flint is always looking for new ways to stay fit and have fun at the same time. “The Marsden girls are incredibly hard-working and enthusiastic and we are looking forward to the season, which kicks off with the Lake Karapiro regatta in December”.

Samuel Marsden Collegiate School has been providing quality independent education for more than 135 years. Today it has two campuses. The Marsden School Karori campus provides Preschool education for boys and girls, and education for girls from Years 1 to 13. Marsden Whitby provides education for boys and girls Years 7 – 13. As a not-for-profit organisation Marsden School expresses its vision in terms of what it ultimately wants to achieve for its students. That is to lay the foundation for lives of meaning, accomplishment and happiness, in a rapidly changing world. marsden.school.nz

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