By Monty Pierce Jones and Hugo Vogel, Year 11
Our second interview is here! We talked to Zaki Bouaoudia who rows at the Société Nautique de Genève. He is also a student in Year 11 at LGB. So let’s get to it:
How often do you train?
Around 6 times a week. And occasionally 7 times a week. So 12 hours a week total. It can get rough sometimes.
Be honest, how far do you think you’ll go in the sport?
I think I will be fully committed until next year, so as far as that takes me. The IB is on the horizon and it will be very challenging to keep up with the schedule I have currently. In fact, there will even be more training.
How did you get into it?
It was pretty random. I was doing tennis three years ago and I decided I wanted to try something new, so then I joined my rowing club. After a few months I integrated into the competition group where I am currently.
What suggestions do you have for people who want to start rowing?
They have to be motivated and have to learn to be patient with this sport since it takes a lot of time to improve. My biggest advice would be to fully commit. If you even feel that concept of “I’m not sure if want to continue”, you will find the sport very difficult.
What is the main difficulty with balancing sports and school?
Managing homework, tests, grades. There is a lot of pressure on you when you do sports. You have stress from school and also from the sport, which can be hard to manage as a teenager.
Are your teachers helpful and understanding when it comes to you missing class and work?
Usually, I luckily do not miss a lot of class. But whenever I miss class they usually are very nice and try to make things easier for me.
Does rowing affect your grades?
It does because all the time I spent training could be potentially used for tutoring hours or just more time for me to study. It is so hard to manage my schedule sometimes, and I find myself having not revised enough. I often think that I might have been able to do better if I had more time on my hands. Also, when I have to do my homework it is usually after training and so I’m tired and I not at my full learning capacity. Nevertheless, I still manage to get good grades by being organised.
How hard is it to balance sports, school and a social life?
Sometimes it is very difficult. Because when you train everyday you have just enough time to study and if you want to see your friends that makes it even harder.
What do you like the most about rowing?
Winning. Winning is one of the best sensations in sport and I feel that rowing in particular amplifies that ecstasy you feel in victory. It just makes you so happy to see that all the hard work you put in pays of to what you want. It is a very goal-oriented sport.
How understanding are your coaches about your school work?
Some of the coaches are understanding, other aren’t, that ‘s just how it is. Most of the time they do understand. Last year they let me skip a week of training before my exams, which was very generous in my opinion. They tell me to focus on school before rowing, which had not been the common theme before.
Thank you for reading this weeks sports section article. If you or any of your friends feel you deserve to have an interview in this series, please comment below or contact us!
