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Coaches’ and Athletes’ Focus
Wade Hall-Craggs Rowing
Hugh McDowell interviews Durham University Senior Rowing Coach
Wade Hall-Craggs is one of several Team Durham coaches who have also studied at the University. He rowed for Durham University Boat Club as an undergraduate and as a Masters student. After his career as both an Olympic rower and an Olympic rowing coach, he has settled back in Durham as Head Coach of the University Boat Club. I asked him why he has repeatedly chosen to work and live in Durham. “One of the biggest rewards of working with people at the University is the calibre of people you get to work with. As a result, Durham is a compelling place. “Our family has no regrets with moving out of London. We do not see why Durham should not match what is going on in the south. “I also want to help make sure that the sporting legacy and tradition of Durham University Boat Club continues. As the sport evolves, I want to make sure that sporting provisions allow current students to achieve what their forbearers did”. Anyone involved in the Boat Club will tell you that Wade has contributed both his talent and his determination to it. He and the club have recently received a massive reward through the development of a rowing tank and a new boat house at Maiden Castle. I asked him how he would justify the time, effort and money that are put towards the rowing programme. “The big investment in sporting facilities at Durham University is long overdue. “It is ranked as the top sport in the University. Our students and coaches, myself included, have a lot of work to do to match this status. However, our Alumni have raised a really significant portion of the money that has gone in to developing the new facilities. They obviously feel it is worthwhile and we are grateful for their support. “British Rowing has also recognised the quality of the programme and the students we have at Durham University. They have contributed to the finances for the new facilities and they fund two of our coaches. Our part of the bargain is to find athletes and get them to the standard where they can represent the British team.
Wade Hall-Craggs Durham University Senior Rowing Coach
“Also we are very lucky that the ViceChancellor has decided to recognise sport as an important part of the curriculum at Durham.”
Alongside performance and participation, working with the community is a third strand to Team Durham’s work that runs through DUBC.
Having witnessed both BUCS Head Race and BUCS Regatta last year as part of the University Fresher’s rowing squad, I have witnessed the aura Durham University Boat Club holds amongst its counterparts, but also that the competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
“Durham University Boat Club has had a long-established relationship with Tyne United Rowing Club. This partnership has produced a senior GB rower in Keiran Emery and a GB trialist in William Fletcher.
“We have been University champions for the past nine years, but we are now under a lot of pressure from other establishments, who have upped their game. “If we are going to stay competitive we need to continue to train hard, if not harder than we have done in the past. Our local rivals are doing very well; they are the best they have been for a while and we are definitely going to have to review our programme because of the pressure that they are putting us under.” The Dean of Experience Durham has emphasised how harnessing college sport at Durham University and the consequent exceptionally high participating rate has contributed to our sporting excellence. “In the future we are looking to improve our relationship with the colleges and the new facilities are going to help a lot with this. We are hoping to run a ‘Learn to Row’ programme for the colleges next year and this, we hope, will receive a helpful bounce from the Olympics. “I hope to maintain rowing as one of the most popular sports at Durham. When people come to the University I hope they would like to try it. “Then again sometimes in the past, the enthusiasm for rowing has been too much for the student-run clubs to handle, therefore we are hoping to work with the colleges, both in the new erg (rowing machine) gallery and in the tank, in order to make the college clubs’ lives easier. “We will also be looking at who is talented in the colleges. Naturally college clubs will want to hold on to their best rowers, but at Durham we offer our students the opportunity to be the best they can be.”
“Our work in the community is going to be aided by the new facilities. “The erg gallery and the rowing tank allow young school children from the local community to have access to facilities that they don’t have in their schools. “The students are also involved in coaching and mentoring in the community projects and I am pleased, although not surprised, to see how fulfilling they have found it. “Going forward, we are hoping to make a structure through which these facilities can be made as accessible as possible to the community. This will also allow the students to express themselves through coaching and mentoring local talent.” As a product of Durham University Boat Club himself, I asked Wade what he gained from rowing for Durham University and what characteristics he hopes the rowing programme at Durham will instil in its students. “We need to be aware that with the new system, which is highly tuned to the needs of our athletes, that it does not make them think it will do the work for them; they are not on a conveyor belt. They need to have drive and desire. Regular goal setting between the coaches and the students and review sessions are needed. “What we have with our students is huge talent and the lessons they learn in juggling their priorities are absolutely integral to success later in life. “I would like to see their confidence grow: confidence in themselves and what they can achieve, so that they know if they put their minds to and work hard at something, they can achieve whatever they set out to do.”
2011/2012 - A Sporting Review