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Nationally recognised Star Club Junior Coach
At the end of November nominations were invited for
the British Rowing Coach of the Year Awards 2009 “These annual awards are an
opportunity for the rowing community to recognise and celebrate the tremendous contribution
of our coaches (paid and unpaid) to the success of our sport. It gives
everyone a chance to say thank you.
The process for selecting the 2009 award winners starts with any individual,
crew, squad, or club, submitting a nomination to their Regional Rowing Council
for the Regional Coach of the Year event. The Regional winners are then
put forward to the National Awards judging panel who will determine who
receives the National Awards”.
Since August 2007 I have had the
pleasure of working alongside Tatjana Rozman in both her roles as Junior Vice
Captain and Coach for our increasingly successful Junior Squad. With her incredible
dedication, meticulous and empathetic approach to her athletes and the success
they have enjoyed as a result, I didn’t hesitate to gain the Management Board’s
approval to submit the nomination form for Junior Coach of the Year 2009.
We had to wait until the first week
of February before the news came through and Tatjana received a letter
congratulating her on being ‘Commended’ in the Junior Coach category. As only a
handful of people knew that we had nominated her (and she wasn’t one of them!),
Tatjana was at first convinced that the junior boys were playing a practical
joke (as if they would!).
The winners from each category were
invited to attend the GB Rowing Team Winter Assessments at Dorney Lake on 14th
February and either watch or help with the time keeping for the racing. Tatjana
spent the morning with Darren Whiter (Olympic Coach for Zac Purchase and Mark
Hunter), Steve Gunn (Start Programme Manager) and Richard Boulton (GB Juniors
and Under 23s ) helping with the finish timing. This was followed by the
presentations, some by Paul Thompson, but Tatjana’s framed certificate, much to
her delight and surprise, was presented by Jurgen Grobler!
Tatjana
has been helping with junior boys and girls at Star Club for 8 years. Her
interest began when her son Daniel started rowing in 2000, and subsequently her
two daughters, Hanika and Helena and she has continued ever since. She qualified with her Instructor Award in
2005 and has always shown great sensitivity with the boys and girls she has
coached. The rewards for Tatjana’s hard work began in the 2005/2006 season when
she was a joint coach for the J16 boys. They showed great promise as a Coxed
Four and enjoyed a successful Head and Regatta season, culminating with a Gold
Medal at the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain, held in
Strathclyde, for which the boys still hold the course record.
In
2006/2007 Tatjana was coaching a mix of J15 to J18 boys and again they all
enjoyed a rewarding year with many wins at local and regional events, and more
notably Bronze medallists in the J16 4X (including two J15 boys) at The
National Rowing Championships in Nottingham.
2007/2008
found Tatjana as a joint coach for a group of J16, J17 and J18 girls. Local and
regional events produced some very encouraging results. The National Schools
Regatta was abandoned due to windy weather, but not before the WJ16 2X achieved
the silver medal position. At The National Rowing Championships the WJ 4X and
WJ16 1X were finalists.
In
the last 2008/2009 season Tatjana was the head coach for the J16 and J17 boys. They
all experienced so much success and enjoyment from the year. Pots and medals
flooded in from local and regional events, but the notable successes were
Silver Medallists in the J17 4x at the Junior Sculling Head, finalists at the
National Schools Regatta in J16 4X, Silver Medallists in J16 4x and Bronze
Medallist in J17 1X at the National Rowing Championships. The highlight of the season was the Star
Club entry for the Fawley Challenge Cup at Royal Henley Regatta. The target had
been to qualify and anything beyond that was a bonus! At the qualifiers the
quad were the second fastest boat and subsequently spent three days training
and familiarising themselves on the Henley course ahead of their first race on
the Thursday. Following in the Umpire’s launch Tatjana was able to witness her
crew command the race from the Start, winning comfortably and possibly not expected
by their opposition. Their second race on the Friday evening put them up
against Melbourne Grammar School, from Australia. The Star Club boys put up a
good fight and despite losing to the ultimate finalists enjoyed their race and
made their Coach very proud. A fantastic
experience for all!
As
a Junior coach Tatjana is always the ultimate professional. She demonstrates
great understanding and respect of her athletes. She nurtures them, knows what
motivates them and what demotivates them, always keeping the training sessions
interesting and she encourages them to work to the best of their ability. She
will often reward her group with a surprise ‘feast’ of nutritious snacks and
drinks at the end of a particularly demanding training session. She is fair, diplomatic, and is highly
respected by her athletes and fellow coaches.
For
the last 5 years, Tatjtana has also looked after the Junior Squad finances,
collecting and paying competition fees and keeping records for each individual
member, all with absolute precision.
In
2007 Tatjana agreed to take on the official position of Junior Vice Captain and
has proved to be an invaluable support to the present Captain; in fact it has
been more of an exceptionally good partnership.
Congratulations
Tatjana!
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