The Rowing team is excited to anouce that one of their student-athletes, Robert Walsh, just finished rowing for Nova Scotia as part of the Canada Games! Robert joined the team as a novice last fall, never having rowed before, during his first year at the University of Waterloo. He came to university looking for a sport where he could make lots of new friends while also staying in shape, "something you can approach at your own speed…but if I wanted to work at it and improve, I could do that". Robert found just that when joining the Warriors Rowing team. His constant positive and hard-working attitude made him a welcome addition to the team last fall, and it led him to earn the Novice Men Award and be elected as one of the team's executives.

One year later he can confidently say that one of his favourite aspects of the sport, is the team bonding. "The mentality of being in a boat with your team mates you don't get from many other sports…when every single team member works together, and you pick up speed and take off it is unlike anything else". It was his great experience rowing and being a part of the UW team that led him to then try out for the Canada Games, "I wanted to shoot my shot at representing my province but also to gain all of those amazing memories through training and team work".

In the end, his love of the sport and dedication to it paid off. In 4-seat of the Men's 8+ Robert helped his crew get all the way to finals and a fourth-place finish. Robert, always the one to push himself, didn't leave it at that though. He and his 4- crew then went on to place third in their finals the following day, finally making it to the podium while representing Nova Scotia. A finish we hope he will be replicating this fall, but this time wearing a UW unisuit as a varsity athlete!

If you want to try a new sport with great growth potential (or just a great community), make sure to come to our tryouts this September 8th and 9th. Rowing is a fantastic sport for many reasons, including the fact that many professional rowers started their careers in university, unlike many other sports!

Follow us on Instagram (@uwaterloorowing) for more details about our upcoming tryouts and don't hesitate to contact us via email (uwaterloorowing@gmail.com) if you have any questions!