2021 Rowing NZ U23 Team Announcement
On 7 December 2020 it was confirmed that due to COVID-19, Rowing NZ did not intend to send athletes to compete at international regattas throughout 2021, excluding the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and the Tokyo Olympic Games.
It is still the intention of Rowing NZ to select and support age group squads irrespective of international travel throughout 2021, and Rowing NZ today announced the New Zealand U23 team who will assemble for training from 7 April at Lake Karapiro.
Rowing NZ has expanded the U23 campaign to include a winter training squad. This includes athletes that are no longer U23 eligible but are meeting targets putting them in contention for Paris 2024 Olympic selection. These athletes will be selected into a winter training squad and will train alongside the U23 squad to further enable their development.
A number of US based athletes who attended Rowing NZ Development Camps are being considered for the U23 and Winter Training Squad in 2021 post their year-end studies. These athletes will not be named below on the list below but will be expected to remain in contact with Rowing NZ and a decision on their inclusion of this squad will be made at a later date.
Women’s Squad
Brooke Kilmister, Cambridge RC, Waikato RPC
Charlotte Spence, Auckland RC, Auckland RPC
Ella Cossill, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC
Holly Mills, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC
Kate Haines, Waikato RC, Auckland RPC
Kathryn Glen, Avon RC, Southern RPC
Katie Lush, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC
Nina Hearn, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC*
Sarah Wootton, Wellington RC Central RPC
Stella Clayton-Green, Hauraki Plains RC, Waikato RPC*
Veronica Wall, Ashburton RC, Southern RPC
Men’s Squad
Cole Brann, West End RC, Auckland RPC
Ethan Blight, North Shore RC
Flynn Watson, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC
Harry Church, Auckland RC, Auckland RPC
Jack O’Leary, Waikato RC
Jack Ready, Auckland Grammar RC, Auckland RPC
James Scott, Tauranga RC, Waikato RPC
Jamie Hindle-Daniels, Wellington RC, Central RPC*
Jonte Wright, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC
Logan Ullrich, Waikato RC, Waikato RPC
Luca Kirwan, Auckland RC, Auckland RPC*
Luke Brady, Nelson RC, Central RPC
Seth Hope, Cambridge RC, Waikato RPC
TK McLaren, Tauranga RC, Waikato RPC
Coxswains
Ella Greenslade, Wellington RC, Central RPC
Kieran Joyce, Waikato RC
Kaitlyn Shields, St.Paul's Collegiate RC, Waikato RPC
*Subject to medical clearance
Coaching Team
Tom Stannard
Lead Coach of the 2021 U23 team, Tom has held the Head Coach position at Waikato Rowing Performance Centre (RPC) since 2017. Tom has held numerous international coaching positions with Rowing NZ across U23 and elite teams. At the 2016 World Rowing U23 Championships Tom won gold in the men’s coxed four and silver in the men’s four, silver in the men’s coxed four and bronze in the men’s four at the 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships and silver in the men’s four at the 2019 World Rowing U23 Championships. Tom also coached the New Zealand elite men’s four at the 2018 World Rowing Championships, and was named as lead coach of the 2020 U23 team.
Tom was selected to join the High Performance Sport NZ (HPSNZ) 2020 Summer Olympic Learning Tour enabling him to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (hosted in 2021), will shortly complete a three year HPSNZ Coach Accelerator Programme, and is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Scholarship - a programme created to support athletes, coaches, support team members and officials to gain educational or professional qualifications while continuing in sport. Tom has completed a Bachelor of Jazz Drumming, Post Graduate Diploma in secondary school teaching, HPSNZ Coach Campaign Leadership Programme, and attended the 2017 World Rowing Coaches Conference.
Matt Cameron
Matt’s first exposure to international rowing was as a coxswain in the 2007 Junior Men’s Four, and again in 2008. He was then selected as coxswain of the U23 Men’s Four in 2009. In 2011 Matt switched to coaching and assisted Gary Roberts (now member of Rowing NZ’s elite coaching team) at Waikato Diocesan.On a break from coaching, Matt pursued dairy farming and completed a Business Management Degree. In 2015 he joined Waikato Rowing Club as a part-time coach, at a time when the club had 7 athletes.This position quickly turned into a full-time role with approximately 70 athletes now in the club. Matt’s first coaching role with Rowing NZ was as a University Trans-Tasman coach in 2015. Through Waikato Rowing Club, Matt worked with three athletes from Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji as part of the FISA Development Programme. This coaching opportunity afforded him the chance to take crews to the Asian and Oceania Qualification Regatta and ultimately to the 2016 Rio Olympics coaching Vanuatu’s Men’s Single.
In 2018 Matt was selected to coach the New Zealand U23 Women’s Sculling Squad and won gold with Sam Voss in the Women’s Single. Matt first undertook Rowing NZ community coaching courses when he joined Waikato Rowing Club, and has continued his coaching development as part of the Prime Ministers Scholarship Programme. Matt’s priority at the beginning of his coaching career was to complete his degree and grow Waikato Rowing Club before considering nomination for coaching positions within New Zealand teams.
Josh Schmidt
Josh started coaching at Takapuna Grammar School in 2011. He then moved to Mt. Albert Grammar School 2012-14 where, alongside working with the U18 pair, he successfully took the U18 Eight to the Aon Maadi Cup A final for the first in 50 years. During this time Josh also worked as a builder before taking a full-time head coach position with Glendowie College in 2015. During this time Josh was very involved with Auckland regional development programmes, coaching the Auckland Light Blues U17 crew, travelled to Australia to race in 2013 and 2014, and coached the Blues RPC winter development programme for 3 years before being selected as the Southern RPC assistant coach in 2017.
Josh’s first position with New Zealand crews was in 2015 where he coached the New Zealand Uni Trans-Tasman team, followed by the North Island U18 team in 2013 and 2014. He then went on to coach the U21 women’s sculling group for 2 years before spending a couple of winter seasons refining his coaching skills at Southern RPC. Josh was selected as the U23 Women’s Sculling coach in 2020 after traveling with the team to the World Rowing U23 Championships in an experiential learning role in 2019.
Josh started his coach education with the Rowing NZ community coaching modules and was involved in an Auckland Coach Scholarship group. Since being selected as an U21 coach, Josh became part of Rowing NZ’s PM Scholarship programme for four years.
In 2019 Josh received a PM Scholarship and spent four weeks in Boston where he completed rowing education courses on physiology, biomechanics and management. He also spent a lot of time on the water including getting out with the US elite women’s double, before joining the New Zealand U23 team in Florida. Josh has also taken the time to complete a sport physiology course with Canterbury University while working at Southern RPC.
Marion Horwell
Marion started rowing at Tawa College and rowed for nine years, first at Porirua Rowing Club, followed by two years with Auckland Rowing Club. As a school leaver, she was selected in the New Zealand Women’s Four that competed at the first World Rowing Championships that included women in the programme. Marion first began coaching in Germany where she worked with school athletes at a local club for two years before returning to New Zealand. When Marion’s daughter showed interest in rowing at Hillcrest High School in Hamilton she returned to coaching, beginning their rowing programme and has been involved ever since. Marion’s first New Zealand team was as a coach for the 2002 U21 team and the same year took a crew to the Commonwealth Games in Nottingham. In 2004 Marion coached the Women’s Pair at the Olympic Qualification Regatta which qualified and went on to make the A final at the Athens Olympics – one of her coaching highlights. In 2005 Marion joined Central RPC, and between 2005 to 2012 also coached the New Zealand U23 team to numerous podium finishes. In 2013 Marion was assistant coach to Dick Tonks taking crews to the World Rowing Championships. The 2014 season was a highlight for Marion coaching the Women’s Pair (Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler) to gold and U23 Men’s Coxed Four to a silver. Kerri and Grace then combined with Kayla Pratt and Kelsey Bevan at the elite World Rowing Championships setting a World Best Time, winning gold in the Women’s Four. Marion then stepped up to work with the elite Men’s Four aiming to qualify for the Rio which was not successful and she returned to coaching in the Central RPC and enjoyed coaching the younger emerging athletes in the development area. Marion was selected to coach the Elite Women’s Four in 2019, and was U23 Men’s sculling coach for 2020.
Alongside her Sport and Exercise Science degree, Marion has developed her coaching skills through reading and spending time with other coaches in the coach boat. As part of her Rowing NZ and RPC coaching positions, Marion has been involved in HPSNZ coaching courses and Rowing NZ’s Prime Minister’s Scholarship coaching group.