The rowing season is not quite over for Ōamaru 17-year-old Emma Spittle.

After an impressive season, and a fourth place in the Under-17 single sculls, at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships (Maadi Cup) last month, she has a trial this weekend for the Under-18 South Island squad.

The squad, of 12 boys and 12 girls, along with selected coxswains, will compete against the North Island Under-18s at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge next week.

Being named as one of 40 trialists vying for the 24 spots was a bright way to end the Year 13 Waitaki Girls’ High School pupil’s season, after she was left disappointed by her result at Maadi - also held at Karapiro.

“Fourth is a hard place,” Emma’s mother, Anna, said. “It was an incredible race. It was really close.”

After leading for the first half of the 2km race, and then dropping off the pace, she was agonisingly close to pulling off a gutsy comeback, before finishing less than one second away from a bronze medal.

The teen is her own worst critic.

“I’m not too proud of it . . . I wish I’d done better,” she said.

She arrives at Twizel on Friday (April 14), and will know by Sunday, if she has made the cut for the South Island squad.

“And we either go home, or stay on and train.

“I think it’s a day in Twizel training with the squad that’s been chosen, then we fly up to Karapiro, do a bit of training, then we race and we’re back on the 20th.” 

She was also selected to trial last year, after winning silver in the Under-16 single at Maadi, but had to pull out due to a rib stress fracture.

Emma began rowing competitively in Year 9 after taking part in a six-week Learn to Row programme held by the club a year earlier.

She has been in a mix of boats, both sweep oar (one oar) and sculling (two oars) over that time, but last year was her first in a single scull.

She ended up in the boat, mostly because she was the only one in her age group from Waitaki Girls’, she said. 

“It’s sort of been like that the whole way through, but it’s also fun. I do love doing different boats though.”

Emma in action at this year's New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships (Maadi Cup). PHOTO: Sharron Bennett Photography

This year at Maadi she also rowed an Under-17 double with Kyala Fisilau (who is a year younger), and the two won their B Final.

Emma is unsure where she’ll end up with her rowing, but wants to see how far she can take it. Next season the focus is on trying to gain an under-19 New Zealand trial.

She is looking forward to university rowing, and the more social side of it, and thinks it’s most likely she will end up at Canterbury, although a number of American universities including Duke and Yale have also been in touch.

“It is something I’ve considered, but I don’t know how likely it is.” 

There is “just something about it” which has kept Emma rowing this long, and has also prompted her two younger sisters Sophie (15), who has just finished her second season, and Bridget (13) to follow in her footsteps.

“I love the racing, the whole atmosphere - you don’t really find it anywhere else. You spend the whole summer with the same group of people, so it’s pretty cool.”

Ōamaru Rowing Club head coach Ivan Docherty, who was just named Coach of the Year at the 2022 Network Waitaki Sports Awards held last month, put together an ergometer training programme for Emma, which involved morning sessions on the rowing machine of up to 40 minutes a time, on top of her rowing on the water six days a week.  

As regattas and test ergs would draw near, the rows got shorter in length and more intense, Emma said.

“Ivan plans it all - and sends through weekly plans. I don’t really love it - I love winning, and we love Ivan - but I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who enjoys erging!”

Ivan said Emma is a talented rower, and her selection for the trials is “well deserved for a young girl who works extremely hard”.

“This team is part of Rowing New Zealand’s pathway for promising athletes into the NZ Rowing high performance programme,” he said.

“Emma’s selection shows other aspiring athletes there is a pathway, if you are prepared to put the work in and make sacrifices toward achieving your goals.

Emma is grateful to Ivan, and also Damien Goodsir and Tracey Marshall, who have helped with the coaching at the Ōamaru Rowing Club.

“Also Waitaki Girls’, and (school principal) Ms Hay - because there’s been a lot of support this season, especially for Maadi. And Ms Hay came up to watch the finals for Maadi. I know the other girls and I, we all enjoyed having her there, so that’s pretty cool.”

Anna said it’s hard to put into words what rowing gives to her girls. 

“I’ve never come across a sport like it. I wish I’d rowed, actually. It teaches you dedication, perseverance, resilience…”

“They really are like a family - they support each other. They’re all just so supportive and keen. It’s such a unique sport, I wish everyone could do it,” she said.