Roar spoke with Ryan So, Club Captain of Boat Club (rowing) at King’s, about his feelings during the lead-up to varsity.
He expressed excitement and confidence about the respective squads’ performance, while also noting that varsity season is inherently more competitive.
While So noted that there’s little “difference in how [they] prepare to race against UCL” since the race is an average sprint, it is the varsity comeptition that drives “an incentive to win, a want to really do well and show that [they] can hold [their] own”.
He further commented that “the energy while preparing for it is different – more focused, more determined and that says something about how serious we see this race”.
Unfortunately, poor weather conditions on the Tideway at this time of year have meant that there have been races cancelled due to unpredictable weather.
As such, So says that the nerves extend beyond that average race day feeling:
Like many races, there’s always going to be a nervous feeling, not only for how the race will go on but how well the conditions on the Tideway will hold up… If the race does go ahead, whatever the conditions may be will change how we perceive race day.
For Boat Club, varsity also serves a secondary purpose: testing performance for future races. So says that it, “allows us to test our squads and how much they’ve improved over the past few months,’ as well as being a bit of ‘friendly competition”.
This further helps “gauge how well [the] crews will fare against other universities of similar capabilities in the Head of the River Race that follows”.
When reflecting on how the team have evolved since the beginning of the year, he recognised that the club has undergone some significant changes.
These include the “men’s and women’s squads, which have become more united in training, as both squads train at the same time, both on land and on the water”. According to So, this has “created a more cohesive club culture as well as brought both the men and women together”.
The club has developed a strong team spirit that So hopes will “carry onto following years and succeeding committee”.
So’s final statement sums up his optimism for varsity and the future of the rowing at King’s:
Overall, this team has evolved to feel less like a team and more like a big family, which is what I how I hope everyone, rower or not, to view the sport as, as a sport where you can find your family away from home.
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