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THE ALLEYNIAN 709
SPORT
I started to become integrated into the rowing community at Dulwich, often benefitting from the advice and experience of boys in other year groups and coaches. We also started strength and conditioning sessions with Mr Hodgson in the weights room, which really helped us progress as we got a bit bigger and some of us got a bit taller. By the time I had come to the end of my third year of rowing at DCBC I was fully invested in the programme. We had placed tenth nationally, and I was aspiring to make the first boat the following year. However, no one could have predicted how weird the last two years would turn out to be. To begin with, the step-up into the senior years is significant. We train ten times a week, putting in three weights sessions, two to three rowing machine sessions and at least two double water sessions. I had around a term and a half of finding the balance between A-level work and training, and then it was abruptly cut short by the first lockdown.
ROWING
Henry Bichard (Year 13)
The lockdown was hard. Unable to see our teachers, friends and coaches, we found it difficult to stay motivated. All our races were
I joined the Dulwich College rowing programme as a small Year 9 boy after a muddy term of rugby. I was excited to try something new and was impressed at how hardworking the senior rowers at the club were. It quickly became clear to me that very little skill or talent was required for rowing; teamwork, commitment and a strong work ethic were much more valuable. At the start of the year we had a squad of around 40 boys and by the end of the year the coaches had selected two octos (eight people sculling and one cox) and a coxed quad (4 scullers and one cox). After a very successful training camp in Amsterdam over the half-term, I was lucky enough to make the A octo. I made good friends with my crewmates, many of whom I still row with five years on. That summer, we raced at our first national competition against schools from all across the UK. It was our first experience of eight-lane, side-by-side racing and it also gave us an idea of just how big our newly joined sport really was. From then on I devoted lots of my time to training for rowing. It gave a good structure to my week and was something to look forward to in between my lessons. I would go down to Putney Embankment, where our boathouse is, once a week, to row on the tideway. I have never found it hindering my academic studies or social life. In fact, with the weekly scheduled training, I feel it has helped me become a more productive and independent person in the long run.
We train ten times a week, putting in three weights sessions, two to three rowing machine sessions and at least two double water sessions
cancelled for the foreseeable future, so setting goals seemed impossible, and it was incredibly easy to be put off and beaten down by bad training performances. However, our coach, Mr Stoddart, kept us training, and I was incredibly grateful for that. We went on bike rides and runs, and entered competitions against other boys online on Strava. We had Teams calls during our sessions, meaning that we could catch up and find out what the other members of our squad had been up to. For the most part this kept our spirits up and gave us a distraction from online lessons. Looking back on it now, over a year and a half after the first lockdown, I’m very glad I got through it. We were able to get back on the water in early March, starting training for the
As I grew older, progressing from being a J14 to a J15 and then a J16, I moved into rowing sweep style (with only one oar) in eights.
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