The Committee is delighted to announce that they appointed a new Head of Rowing for the 2022 Season. Our previous coach, Alex Brown stepped down in late September, since then the Committee has been working tirelessly to appoint a replacement. After a long search, I am very pleased to announce that Joe O’Neill has been appointed and will start from early February. In his new role, Joe will oversee the senior squads whilst also actively engaging with the development squads ensuring his philosophy and training plan is embedded within the entire structure of the club. The Committee is truly excited about this appointment and has confident that Joe will be able to give the club much needed direction and restore our competitive edge. The Committee would also like to extend their thanks to our membership who have stayed loyal to the club during this turbulent time and to the great work that our Captains have done to bridge the gaps between Alex leaving and Joe starting.
A bit more on Joe O’Neill
Joe has been involved with Wellington Rowing Association (New Zealand) for the past 16 years and during those 16 years, he has held a number of posts
1. 2005 – ongoing – Coach – Women’s Seniors
2. 2008 – Rowing coordinator, coach and sat on the crew selection for the Master’s programme.
3. 2012 – 2017 – Took up the role of Club Captain – where he focused on improving the club’s equipment and results on the water.
4. 2020/21 – Club Captain
As the Head Coach of the senior women’s squad – he has won half of the club’s medal haul over the past 10years at the National Championship of New Zealand, as well as bring success to the Victoria University Club and the Trans-Tasman Team. Joe has also worked incredible closely with Chris Jones who is the Senior Men’s coach at Wellington, Chris Jones for those who are not aware was a lightweight rower at Oxford and London RC. Together they have established an effective training discipline throughout the club, to reinforce a consistent approach to technique and to restore Wellington to a prominent position in New Zealand Club rowing. Joe also ran the successful Corporate Challenge programme which engages adults rowers new to the sport, many of who go on to row for the Club for man years. The will be much more information over the next few weeks as we onboard Joe to Curlew RC.
Joe will be relocating back to the UK after Christmas and will be taking up his duties in early February. We, the Committee are very excited to open this new chapter of Curlew Rowing Club under the stewardship of Joe O’Neil and wish him all the best in his new role with us.
