Congratulations Samuel Fowler!
Sam is a much loved and valued member of the Kempsey Macleay Dragon Boat Club and more recently of the Sydney Zodiacs. His Dragon Boat journey so far has been a busy one!
Sam has progressed in his dragon boat path in leaps and bounds. This season he decided to take that next step in his journey and trial as a paddler in the official NSW State squad (Jnrs) and was successful. Meanwhile, Sams passion for sweeping continued to grow so much so that he trialed in Canberra to sweep the Australian National Team (Auroras) for the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships. Sam was successfully selected. The Jnr division coach Jason Han commented "When I first saw Sam sweep at selection camp, I knew straight away he was skilled beyond his age. His confidence and boat control with a sweep oar in hand is spot on!"
Sam has been a paddler in the Northern Region crew (for the inaugural region v region 2021), and also a paddler in the Northern Region State crew competing in Adelaide at Nationals in 2022.
This year Sam was a paddler in the NSW Jnr squad, and also swept the Joey Jnrs at Nationals in Aubury-Wodonga. Sam is also the Jnr sweep in the Australian National Dragon Boat team - Auroras, who only recently competed at the 16th World Dragon Boat Championships in Thailand.
Since the end of April this year, Sam has traveled to Sydney (5hrs from home) each Wednesday staying with a fellow Aurora family until returning home each Sunday. This enabled him to be able to train all the Aurora sessions with the majority of the crew who are based in Sydney. Kempsey High School accommodated distance learning for Sam through this time so he didn't fall behind in school work, he's in year 11. There have also been a few weekend camps held where the whole crew from all over Australia came together for training and team bonding. Sams integration into the team, his hard work and commitment was recognized by his fellow teammates, and he was elected as one of the Jnr Team captains! A wonderful privilege and an honor.
At the World Championships this year, unfortunately Sam sustained an injury to his dominant leg ACL/PCL. He was able to sweep the first day of competition, coming home with three medals! Sam showed his resilience, and despite his injury, he held his head high. He transformed adversity by seeing this as an opportunity to showcase his leadership skills in his captaincy role, and he helped lead the crew to their combined success!
We hope that Sams experience will be inspirational for other regional youth who may be interested in Dragon Boat, or for youth already involved who think it's not possible, with hard work and loads of commitment it is!
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