TSS Rowing: Cameron Kennedy has travelled the world coaching rowing
Meet the man behind The Southport School’s Head of the River push.
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MEET the man behind The Southport School’s Head of the River push.
Cameron Kennedy has spent the last decade travelling the world and coaching rowing but has now returned to the Gold Coast as TSS First VIII coach to aid one of Australia’s oldest boat sheds in their pursuit of a 22nd Head of the River title.
Kennedy started his coaching career in Brisbane as part of the St Peters Lutheran College female rowing program in Brisbane before joining the Australian junior rowing program that competed at the World Championships.
From there, Kennedy moved to the United Kingdom and has spent the past eight years as a coaching professional before relocating back to the Gold Coast in October last year specifically for the TSS First VIII coaching role.
“I’ve had a lot of different experiences which have really opened my eyes to a lot of different ways of doing things and the different ways you can make a boat go fast,” Kennedy said.
“It’s very good to be back.”
FIRST VIII UNIQUE APPROACH TO BUILDING CAMARADERIE
After coming second and fourth in their two open eight rotations at the first regatta last weekend, Kennedy said he now had a clearer picture of where his crew stood in the GPS field.
“You could have thrown a blanket over the field it was that close in the first race but we came home very strong,” he said.
“We swapped a few seats around in the second rotation to experiment but it still wasn’t as fast as we’d like.
“We haven’t finalised our seats yet so we took the chance to give those boys the chance to show what they’re capable of as we start to firm up our crew in the coming weeks.”
With fitness set to be the focus for the next few weeks, Kennedy said he would aim to have his crew primed to peak at Head of the River next month.
“This week and the next few weeks we’ll be working on fitness and getting the boys fitter ahead of Head of the River as well as getting more precise and comfortable at those higher speeds because you don’t get to row at race intensity that often,” he said.
“They’re only just getting introduced to the agony of racing.
“They’ll peak at the starting line on Head of the River or at least we’d like them to peak then but it’s very individual as well.”
Kennedy believes second year First VIII crew members Lachie Wright and Mackenzie Branch potentially have what it takes to crack the Australian junior program in the future.
The second GPS regatta kicks off tomorrow at 8am at Wyaralong dam.
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