Maadi Cup: More to being a coxswain than just sitting in the boat and steering

Saint John's coxswain Bradley Kingma (left) and coach, Sean Birdling. Photo / Sarah Morcom

St John College’s coxswain Bradley Kingma competed with his crew in the 2023 Maadi Cup last weekend. Wintec – Te Pūkenga journalism student SARAH MORCOM spoke to him about his experiences as a coxswain.

Bradley Kingma fills the role of coxswain in the St John’s College rowing community.

For the past month and a half, the 17-year-old and his crew have been training hard in preparation to compete for the Maadi Cup at Lake Karāpiro.

It’s been a six-day-a-week training regime for the teenager, who switched codes from hockey, and coach Sean Birding said the school’s coxswain was probably busier than most rowers because he was required for more than one training session.

“The misconception is that they just sort of sit in the boat and steer.

“A good coxswain knows his crewmates very well, knows what motivates them, and has to execute a race plan ... they are the captain of the boat”.

Girls U17 coxed four races at the 2023 Maadi Cup. Photo / Sarah Morcom

Bradley says rowers are very supportive of the coxswain.

“There is the odd rower though that thinks a coxswain does nothing, but most, the seniors especially, they know what a coxswain does and they know that they need them.

“Some boats, if I wasn’t there, we wouldn’t do as well as we could have.”

“A good coxswain knows his crewmates very well, knows what motivates them, and has to execute a race plan ... they are the captain of the boat”

Bradley’s crew has certainly done well for themselves at the Maadi Cup, collecting a bronze medal in the boys under-18 novice coxed four A final.

One of the most well-known traditions surrounding the role of the coxswain is “the toss”.

“When a crew would win a gold medal, the crew will get together and swarm the coxswain and throw him in the water,” said Birdling.

Bradley says that’s never happened to him – but it was something to look forward to.

Before his rowing life, Bradley was a part of the hockey scene at St John’s.

“I was just sitting in class one day and the director of rowing at school came over ... and he was like “do you want to try rowing?”

“I was a bit on the fence because I was quite good at hockey at the time.”.

So he initially turned down the chance – but when asked at the start of the following season, he decided to give it a go.

He says the best thing about the St John’s rowing community is the friendships he has formed and maintained.

“Rowing takes up a lot of your time, so doing it with your mates is pretty cool.”

He’s now looking forward to continuing rowing as a career after school.

“I would really love to keep coxing.”

● Editor’s note: This year’s Maadi Cup final was the closest race in the event’s history, with St Bede’s College from Christchurch winning by 0.06 seconds over Hamilton Boys’ High School.