Anahera Nin, head girl at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, used to swim competitively. Now she’s out of the water and into the boat, setting her sights on a scholarship in America.
The national secondary schools rowing competition involving over 2000 participants is being held this year at Lake Karapiro, Hamilton, New Zealand. The AON 2015 Maadi Cup competition can be compared to the Olympics of rowing in New Zealand.
Anahera is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Cowley Ward (congregation) in Hamilton.
Last year 17-year-old Anahera helped her team, the U18 eights, win gold at Maadi. This year she hopes her team will repeat that performance.
“We’ve got a coxswain who sits at the back or the front of the boat. She always motivates us to keep going and to remind us of those little technical things, that will help us to get that result that we want.
“There is a really good team atmosphere which is why you are picked in those crews for a reason. You need to have a good attitude all the time. You’ve got seven other girls in there that you need to work hard for, and they’re all working for you and you can’t let them down.”
Anahera walks to the team bus then remembers she has forgotten something and quickly goes back to get it. Then the bus is off and for the next 45 minutes the girls can eat, talk and relax. They know as soon as they get to Lake Karapiro the game is on, it is training time.
Anahera says she switched to rowing after talking to a friend. “My friend Harriet told me that I should go for it, and I thought it sounded really cool. I had stopped swimming by then so I needed another sport to fulfill my life, so I decided to give rowing a go.”
This year Anahera is set to compete in three events which include the pair, U18 fours, and U18 eights. Her goals this year are to win a trial for the New Zealand junior rowing team, and a scholarship for rowing at an American university.
Gary Robertson is head coach for Dio, and a former New Zealand rower who won gold at the 1972 Olympics in the eights. “All we try to do is the best we can, each girl tries the best they can. In a crew environment it’s about trust. You trust they work hard, do their training, commit and when they say go, you believe they are gonna go.”
On her competition Anahera says generally everyone is quite positive with each other.
“Everyone shows really good sportsmanship. On the podium everyone’s just real nice to each other, and all the rowers respect each other because they know how hard they work.”
After two hours of intense training on the lake the girls file back on to the bus back to school. They know tomorrow they will do it all again in the morning, and again after school. For Anahera it will all be worth it.
She is no longer one swimmer competing against others, she is a rower, she is part of a team. Her hope for all the girls in her team is simple: “Do their best and get on the podium.”
Newsroom Contributor: Emmeline Sunnex