Loreto Toorak’s rowing program under review

Parents, students and coaches at Loreto Toorak’s elite rowing program are being questioned as part of an ongoing investigation. See all the wash-up from last year’s controversial season.

Loreto College Toorak is review its rowing program. Picture: Mike Dugdale

Loreto Toorak is reviewing its winning rowing program, with controversial coach, former Olympian James Rook, still employed by the elite girls’ school.

Coaches, parents and students are being questioned by outside investigators to assess the impact of the 2022/2033 rowing season that saw Mr Rook pulled from the nationals in Perth to answer allegations about his behaviour.

The investigation will also centre on the impact of the behaviour of male rowers at Caulfield Grammar and Xavier on Loreto students.

It comes as the fallout from the 2022/2023 rowing season is continuing.

Here’s a wrap-up.

St Catherine’s School

There’s been soul searching at St Catherine’s School, with the hardworking girls devastated to lose the prestigious First VIII race at Head of School Girls to Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak. Melbourne Girls’ Grammar came second.

St Catherine's First VIII won at Henley Royal Regatta in 2022. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“Devastated doesn’t begin to cover it,” one St Cath’s student rower said.

St Catherine’s, known as the leading “destination” girls’ rowing school, won Head of School Girls in 2021 and 2022.

Some of the First VIII crew members were involved in the school’s much-publicised win at Henley Royal Regatta in 2022, bringing home the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy.

An opposition coach put it this way: “I hope there was no bloodletting at the end of the day as no one can reasonably expect to win every year”.

The win has heightened tensions between Loreto Toorak and St Catherine’s parents and coaches.

“There’s been argy-bargy between parents of both schools,” one Loreto rowing parent said. “This has been going on for a while but got worse after Head of School Girls.”

Loreto Toorak

Over at Loreto Toorak, the win is the culmination of a goal set more than five years ago, a program insider said. “The win was terrific for the girls and the school,” he said.

“The girls are homegrown talent and many started in prep and they’ve come through the whole school.”

It’s the first time the school has won the Division One First XVIII A final. Loreto Toorak coaches have been closely following the program at St Catherine’s and have adopted their strength and conditioning program, among other strategies.

The school is expected to use the Head of School Girls win for marking and enrolments over the next 12 months.

“There’s a lot of competition for enrolments for girls’ schools so if you’ve got a trumpet to blow, you blow it,” one coach said.

Rowing schools

Rowing remains an elite sport offered only offered by a small number of high-fee private schools and a handful of public schools with river access such as Melbourne Girls’ College.

This is primarily because of the price of equipment, with boats costing anywhere from $60,000 to $120,000 for an eight-seater. One top girls’ school has four eight-seat boats and 20 two and four-seaters.

Competition is intense and schoolchildren undertake high intensity gym, ergo (rowing machine) and on-water training almost every day during the season.

As one coach said: “It’s an arms race where more is more. The closer the challengers get, the more you push”.

A Geelong Grammar rowing team. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

The boys’ schools with the most high-profile rowing programs include Scotch College, Melbourne Grammar, Brighton Grammar, Xavier College and St Kevin’s College.

The boys’ major prize is winning the Head of the River, a race which dates back to 1868. In 2023, Scotch won Head of the River, beating Wesley College. It was Scotch’s 48th Head of River win and the first under their new principal, Dr Scott Marsh.

The consensus, despite the win, is that the school’s rowing dominance is finally slipping.

“Scotch can only be so good for so long, but there’s no doubt that in the last 20 years they have done more than anyone else,” a rowing coach at another boys’ school said.

Xavier College, which has a big rowing program, is still hungry for a win in the Division One First XVIII A Final. “But for us it’s not just about the win but the culture of rowing,” one Xavier “old boy” said.

Co-ed schools with strong rowing programs include Geelong Grammar, Geelong College, and Carey Grammar, where girl rowers outnumber boys.

The girls’ competition in recent years has been dominated by Geelong Grammar, Methodist Ladies College, St Catherine’s School and Melbourne Girls’ Grammar, which all see rowing as a “flagship” sport.

As a rowing coach from another girls’ school put it, these schools “would do anything to win”.

Prestige

Rowing is such a prestigious sport that schools like Scotch and Geelong Grammar can track their results for more than 120 years.

Scotch College can track its rowing results back more than 120 years.

Rowing success can bring millions of dollars in prestige, marketing and enrolments.

Schools leave little to chance, spending up big to attract former Olympians as high-performance coaches and lavish gym and boat shed facilities.

On offer are prestigious international scholarships to top US universities including Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, the University of California and Yale.

There is fierce competition for the most successful school coaches, including Tim Dolphin at MLC who has “run the strongest program for years”.

Dick Bartlett, who was at Brighton Grammar, has come over to Carey Grammar, where he went to school. Bartlett’s “old school tough-love” approach hasn’t suited everyone at Carey. Another coach said his appointment, which led to the First VIII boys getting in the Division One A Final for the first time in years, was a “coup for the school”.

Others lauded by their peers include Tom Abramowski at Melbourne Grammar, Tom Woodruff at Scotch and Sam Dutney, who left Loreto Toorak mid-season to take up a new role at Flinders Christian Community College.

Pushy parents

The intensive training schedule, early mornings and high demands lead parents to become “very invested” in rowing, as one coach put it.

Most schools have a reminder in their handbooks telling parents to “refrain from discussing selection decisions with coaches”.

Sometimes controversial selection decisions are pursued by parents all the way to the principal.

One rowing staff member said parents petitioning principals “was not the norm”.

“Ninety-nine per cent of parents don’t behave like that. But there are always some and usually it’s people unhappy their daughter wasn’t selected for the first eight,” he said.

The Geelong Grammar boat club, the WH Pincott Club, does not allow parents or old scholars to become members, which “provides a barrier against pushy parents trying to meddle in the running and crew selection”, the handbook says.

Rowing is included in tuition fees at many schools, but is an added extra at some.

Despite paying $30,000 or more in fees, parents at Loreto Toorak and Shelford Girls’ Grammar pay more than $2500 for rowing.

Fees and donations

Rowing parents are also urged to give generously to fund the rowing programs, with schools using the Australian Sports Foundation to make generous tax-deductible donations.

The oldest schools also have well-established, and highly prestigious rowing parent groups or foundations.

This includes the Pennefather Club at Caulfield Grammar, the WH Pincott Club at Geelong Grammar (which dates back to 1874), the Cardinal Club at Scotch, and the Heyington Club at St Catherine’s School.

The fundraising capability at the top schools is legendary, and at Scotch there’s rumoured to be a three-year waiting list to donate funds giving boat naming rights.

At Xavier there is a goal to raise $65,000 for 2022/2023, with $8242 raised so far. Last year a goal of raising $30,000 was reached.

St Catherine’s School recently aimed to raise $400,000 in 24 hours towards their new sports centre. Rowing parents at the school are particularly generous, including author Kirsty Manning-Wilcox who gave $5000, the Bongiorno family who gave $10,000 and the Demetriou family who gave $12,000.