From Little Seeds! – Club athletes to World’s Best

Continuing from last week’s tremendous success, our Irish rowers retake center stage this weekend at World Cup II in Lucerne.

All our Irish rowers this weekend have come from our very successful club programs. It is important that we recognise our clubs where volunteer coaches, administrators, mentors and supporters have introduced and developed these athletes to the sport of rowing and also helped them reach their full potential in their athletic career.

Every person involved in rowing in Ireland understands the commitment and drive needed to succeed at the top level of rowing. The commitment and drive within these athletes were nurtured and developed within their clubs by groups of coaches, committees, and supporters who have been committed and passionate about rowing.

Over this weekend, we will hopefully see podium finishes for many of our rowers, another highlight for our high achieving High-Performance team. You won’t have seen the hundreds, if not thousands of hours of dedicated, passionate, enthusiastic, mentoring and coaching of these rowers by our club members. 5 am mornings, wet and cold sitting in a launch, parents delivering and collecting rowers at crazy hours. Fundraising, cleaning, feeding, providing the opportunities for our club rowers to become the best in the world.

Once again, we want to acknowledge the sacrifices and passionate commitment made by our club, coaches, officials and supporters. Remember when that rower takes their first stroke in this weekend’s competition, and then hopefully, when they take a step onto the podium, you gave them a leg up. Without our clubs, there are no world beaters.

You played an essential part in getting that rower into that race and onto that podium.

Thank you all.

Pat Kiely, Rowing Ireland Club Support Officer