Firstly, what is psychology and how does it relate to rowing? Psychology is how our brains think and how they make us make decisions. Some of the aspects in rowing includes: the motivation to succeed which is competitiveness and a drive to improve and better your strength as well as knowledge of the sport, also a major aspect could be community and the way that we work together to achieve a common goal these are all aspects in which rowing is performed. 

The next thing I’m going to talk about is the rowing machine commonly called by rowers the ergo this machine ,to be honest is not the most pleasant as it forces you to compare yourself to others and makes you doubt yourself at times another thing is using these senses such as site to see what time you got as well as hearing which is related to when you are pushing and pulling hard you can hear a noise this noise 

moving on to racing some ideas associated with the sport are the idea of winning as a team that motivates you to find people who are just as competitive and like minded. When in a crew boat you must use critical thinking and teamwork as it is crucial to ensure the best results, it is proven scientifically that when you hear the word go! Your body already knows and is preparing for motion it is often said and compared with adrenaline which is the thing that makes you go as fast as you possibly can at the start of the race it is partly mental as well. In rowing one of the key aspects of winning a race is seeing your competitors lose this often gives the person in the lead the upper hand as they can see their competitor losing as they build a gap. One of my favourite parts is when you win you received cups and medals these are crucial as it gives people almost a token of when they win it’s also motivation to try hard and keep going.

Let’s talk about some of the mental challenges and also successes fastly a mental success could be winning a race or beating your personal best this has personally in the past given me the motivation to try harder and be the best I can possibly be, one thing that aids the experience is having a nice and genuine group of people in the boat with you this can boost your mood and help teamwork, one last mental success is also beating the clubs who are expected to win as it shows that you are just as good, personally coming from a club which has been numerously underestimated I like the feeling when I know that I have beaten the people who always going thinking they’re going to win even if they’re not the best it also proves that you do not need fancy equipment and nice facilities sometimes it comes down to pure talent and ability and having a nice crew to do it with me helps. Now moving on to the mental challenges, some of these include being mentally burnt out and not getting good ergo times as well as feeling like everyone else is improving and you are falling behind believe me I have felt like that and while it is hard once you start to see a bit of success you have to keep going it is mind over matter and you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Often people underestimate the physical aspect of rowing this is probably because they don’t understand the sport and the skill and strength it requires to perform it. When I tell people I row a common reaction is to think that I’m weak and I’m sitting in those big boats with tiny oars having a gentle paddle down the river but I can safely tell you that is not the case. Over the past couple of years I’ve started to put my body through lots of pain and hard work to get to where I am, I’m not saying I know it all I really don’t I have so much to improve m and I’m taking it in every session at a time but doing this sport has given me a better appreciation of how much effort goes into it. For example, one thing that is commonly mistaken is that rowing only uses your arms that’s not the case rowing uses 86% of your body muscles and more often than not when you’re doing something like a race rips them , another thing that has taken a toll on me recently is early starts for example on a Wednesday I wake up at 4:45 in the morning to get to training for 5:45 this is because I have committed to the sport regardless of the fact it has put my body through lots another aspect is it can be so rewarding and make you feel capable and strong specifically in year 9 I haven’t felt this strong in a while. One negative is as you get older rowing tends to get more intense and puts a lot of stress on your body which could make you prone to injury which I have also experienced and to say the least it’s not fun. I personally feel like I could gain so much from this sport and be the best athlete I could. 

Finally, I’m going to tell you how I got into the sport and why I believe everyone should give it a go once in a while. Before it started I often didn’t realise that sport has different levels of difficulty, skill requirement and also need for strength. At the start of my rowing journey I thought it would be easier than it actually was but as I progressed it gradually started becoming more difficult but at the same time just as rewarding. A few competitions ago I competed in the national schools regatta where we went against some of the best in England and in a few weeks I am to be competing in the British championships rowing regatta hosted in Nottingham never did I think that I could achieve such a great thing  but over time I eventually realised that you have to work incredibly hard to achieve any results after constant ups and downs after feeling like I wasn’t as good as everyone else I’ve realised that all I need to do it is proved to myself first that I can do things just as good as the next person.

This is your sign to go and try new things as it is genuinely mind over matter you can do anything if you put your mind to it that is how psychology links to rowing proving that you can do stuff just as good as the next person no matter how hard it seems at first an important thing to remember is that you have to push yourself to the limits if you want to see results.

• Francesca