{"id":8142,"date":"2021-07-22T14:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=8142"},"modified":"2021-07-22T14:00:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T14:00:58","slug":"supporting-student-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Student Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The corridors of the Reading University Boat Club<\/a> (RUBC) are steeped in history \u2013 going back to 1894 \u2013 and have seen many student athletes pass through, including future sports stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Director of Rowing at the RUBC and Reading graduate, Will Rand, has worked with many Olympians during his 17 years at the club \u2013 from current competitors including Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Carragh McMurty, to many who have now hung up their oars such as Anna Watkins, Cath Bishop and Ric Edgington.<\/p>\n

He said:\u00a0\u201cI grew up in Henley-on-Thames and my dad was an Olympic rower \u2013 although I didn\u2019t reach the dizzying heights he did, he was definitely an inspiration to me. I decided to study at Reading as it meant I could carry on rowing in Henley as well as joining RUBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will was captain of the men\u2019s squad whilst at Reading, and after completing his degree in environmental science<\/a> he went on to win Henley Royal Regatta<\/a> in 2001, and reached the final of the Visitors Challenge Cup in 2007. Four years after graduating, Will\u2019s former coach asked him and a friend to step up upon his retirement and Will joined the coaching team in 2004.<\/p>\n

While his time on the water has dwindled since embarking on his coaching career, Will is very passionate about supporting Reading\u2019s athletes \u2013 assisted by coaches Roddy Slater, and Olympians Charlie Taylor and Chris Bartley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Supporting future Olympians<\/strong><\/h4>\n

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games starting tomorrow, Will speaks to CONNECTED about the importance of supporting aspiring athletes \u2013 from complete beginners to those who go all the way to the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of students choose Reading for the rowing and some join the club as beginners. We offer one training programme for beginners \u2013 who have three sessions a week on the water \u2013 and one for those more experienced \u2013 who have up to twelve sessions a week. Within that, the programmes can also be tweaked for individual needs, for example an aspiring Olympian will have some extras added in,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\"\"Will casts his mind back to working with some students who are competing in this year\u2019s Olympics.<\/p>\n

He recalled: \u201cMathilda Hodgkins-Byrne was already quite advanced in rowing when she arrived at Reading. She trained with the Reading Rowing Club as part of the Team GB Start Programme, but she would always come and join us at RUBC.<\/p>\n

\n

“Mathilda was willing to get stuck in and would jump into crews with other students to race with them. She brought a lot of her ideas and ways of doing things with her, and it was good for our other students to observe her mind-set and professionalism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cCaragh McMurtry was also a regular fixture at the club as a student. Since graduating, she\u2019s competed at the London 2012 Olympics and the Rio 2016 Olympics, and she is competing in Tokyo this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Will is keen to assert that the club isn\u2019t just focused on helping students reach the top of their sporting game. He explained: \u201cOur aim is to help students achieve some of their goals and realise they can accomplish more, and to also support them when they don\u2019t quite make it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see many aspirational students at the club \u2013 and being an Olympian can be hard for those that do make it, and hard for those that don\u2019t. An Olympian\u2019s journey doesn\u2019t always end in golden rainbows, and there\u2019s always the question of what next. People are quickly forgotten about in smaller sports like rowing, so life after the sport can be tricky.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cNo matter our students\u2019 rowing aspirations, we aim to give them all a good standing in life \u2013 good friends and good qualities \u2013 for whatever their future might hold.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A sense of community<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The notion of building friendships is one that Will has been keen to cement within the principles of the RUBC. Having been a student rower himself, he recalls his time there being a key point in his life.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI loved the social side of the club and I formed some of my closest friendships there. I\u2019m still in touch with many of these friends today. When I started working at the club, I wanted to ensure that element kept going \u2013 I want students to be able to build fantastic friendships here.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cExtracurricular activities, such as rowing, are really important for mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated this spectacularly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“Not being able to train put a big strain on many of our students during lockdown, because they were missing out on the social aspect and connectivity with other people. Rowing is much more than just a sport, it provides a sense of community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we could get back on the water in March 2021 \u2013 after the latest lockdown \u2013 the students were so excited. Although we still had to distance in separate boats on the water, they were able to chat, laugh and really enjoy themselves in a way they couldn\u2019t during virtual activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balancing sport with study<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"The University supports student athletes to balance the demands of their sport with their studies, and Will explains why this is so important.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe strive to ensure our training programmes fit around students\u2019 studies and we are conscious of the need to adapt training programmes if students have a busy week of coursework or exams coming up.<\/p>\n

\n

“Flexibility is key to helping them balance their education alongside their sport, social life and general living.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“We also do a lot of mentoring \u2013 helping students with a wide range of issues and personal situations \u2013 and calling on experts from around the University, for example in the areas of nutrition and psychology.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people choose to both be a rower and to further their education because then they have a fall-back if one doesn\u2019t go so well. Having another interest outside of the sport is also important as it can enable you to get a better balance, and therefore improve performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staying connected<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The community aspect of RUBC is evidently integral for the students who train there, therefore it\u2019s unsurprising that Will is keen to maintain strong relationships with students after they graduate.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe try to stay in touch with our alumni as much as possible and offer continued mentoring to them if they would like it. They\u2019ll often come to our Assistant Coach, Charlie, with problems they\u2019re facing in their professional rowing careers.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe have an alumni rowing club at RUBC, and we often see our graduates at the Henley Regatta or the annual Reading University Head of the River event. It\u2019s really great to see our old students again, and our current students love to meet them and find out what they\u2019ve gone on to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Contact Will Rand<\/a> if you would like to reconnect with RUBC, or find out more about Olympic hopeful, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The corridors of the Reading University Boat Club (RUBC) are steeped in history \u2013 going back to 1894 \u2013 and have seen many student athletes pass through, including future sports stars. Director of Rowing at the RUBC and Reading graduate, Will Rand, has worked with many Olympians during his 17 years at the club \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":3815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[54,85,105,34,37,132,125,88],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSupporting Student Athletes - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CONNECTED speaks to Reading graduate and Director of Rowing at Reading, Will Rand, about his passion for supporting student athletes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supporting Student Athletes - Connected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CONNECTED speaks to Reading graduate and Director of Rowing at Reading, Will Rand, about his passion for supporting student athletes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Connected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-22T14:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-22T14:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/09\/shutterstock_1114147319.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"juliasmalley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"juliasmalley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/\",\"name\":\"Supporting Student Athletes - Connected\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-22T14:00:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-22T14:00:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb\"},\"description\":\"CONNECTED speaks to Reading graduate and Director of Rowing at Reading, Will Rand, about his passion for supporting student athletes.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Supporting Student Athletes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/\",\"name\":\"Connected\",\"description\":\"Alumni magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb\",\"name\":\"juliasmalley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"juliasmalley\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/author\/juliasmalley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Supporting Student Athletes - Connected","description":"CONNECTED speaks to Reading graduate and Director of Rowing at Reading, Will Rand, about his passion for supporting student athletes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Supporting Student Athletes - Connected","og_description":"CONNECTED speaks to Reading graduate and Director of Rowing at Reading, Will Rand, about his passion for supporting student athletes.","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/","og_site_name":"Connected","article_published_time":"2021-07-22T14:00:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-22T14:00:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/09\/shutterstock_1114147319.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"juliasmalley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"juliasmalley","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/","name":"Supporting Student Athletes - Connected","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-07-22T14:00:50+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-22T14:00:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb"},"description":"CONNECTED speaks to Reading graduate and Director of Rowing at Reading, Will Rand, about his passion for supporting student athletes.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/07\/22\/supporting-student-athletes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Supporting Student Athletes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/","name":"Connected","description":"Alumni magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/c5ee593fd48cf9c8d82a6471170664fb","name":"juliasmalley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/738c52c5a19d4553b07ee6a8cc541ab7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"juliasmalley"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/author\/juliasmalley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8142"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8241,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142\/revisions\/8241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}