Our Novice programme is the perfect opportunity to try a new competitive sport at university whilst making new friends and boosting physical and mental wellbeing. The novice programme is designed for those who have never taken sat in a boat before. With constant support from coaches, captains and the seniors, you will become a competent oarsmen and women within a matter or months, With water sessions at the weekend and land sessions throughout the week, you will be supported in developing you athletic ability, mental resilience and teamwork in order to get the most out of the sport. Many of our novices go on to compete for some of the UK’s most competitive rowing clubs as well as GB!

NOVICE MEN 

COACHED BY: Austin Smith

CAPTAINED BY: Tom STinston

NOVICE WOMEN 

COACHED BY: PHIL Costen

CAPTAINED BY: Antonia jones

Recruitment 

TERM 1

The first term is spent learning the basics of rowing technique and terminology as well as fundamentals of athleticism and weightlifting technique. Due to the nature of the sport and the club, there is a selection process for both Men and Women towards the start of term, but don’t worry, it is our aim to give you all the skills required to perform to your very best! This selection process picks out the best potential from each squad to take forward through development. During the first week of the Christmas Holidays, those who pass the selection process go on a development training camp in the UK. This is a crucial trip for our beginners as it gives significant time on the water improving skills.

TERM 2

In term two we move on to developing your physiology and mental toughness with weights, the rowing machine, and cross training. You’ll learn how to approach a training session in the most productive way. This term sees your first chance at external racing with several time-trial head races. These include the Men’s and Women’s Head of the River Race in London over the Boat Race course, normally attended by up to 400 crews, and the BUCS Head, held all over the UK, and attended by every university boat club. On top of this, we attend several smaller races around the country to gain experience in racing.

TERM 3

The summer term sees the beginning of shorter regatta races, generally held over 1-2km. The training moves towards learning the ins and outs of a regatta, as well as preparing skills you’ll need for the transition into the senior squad at the end of the year. At the end of the Easter Holidays, we go for a second one-week training camp to the Netherlands to prepare for the second BUCS event of the year. Racing moves to regattas, side by side races on lakes or rivers and these continue throughout the term. Unlike many other sports at Warwick that stop at this point, we’re just getting started and this is really what all the hard graft over the year is about. This is a mixture of multi-lane regattas such as BUCS (the kind of racing you see at the Olympics) and one-on-one knockout competitions. For the beginner first boats, this often culminates at Henley Royal Regatta or Henley Women’s Regatta qualifiers to see where you sit against some of the country’s best crews.