Natalie’s love for both rowing and coaching started as a junior at her local rowing club, and whilst at university she was a driving force in establishing Chichester University RC.  After leaving university, she was Club Captain and Head Coach at Worthing RC before being recruited by Headington School, Oxford.  Whilst at Headington, Natalie’s crews won medals at the National Schools’ Regatta, and several athletes that she had started off on their rowing journey were in the victorious JW8+ at Henley Royal Regatta in 2021. 

Since joining  Perkins in January 2022, Natalie has had growing responsibility for the day-to-day running of the club, as well as the welfare of the students from J13-15, and has worked hard to steer the Boat Club alongside the Head Coach, performing a huge number of unseen but crucial tasks in order to maintain the smooth running of all rowing operations.  As the Lead Coach for J15s, Natalie’s crews have regularly featured on the national podium, with medals at Schools’ Head of the River and National Schools’ Regatta, as well as some J15 athletes progressing to the Perkins Henley Royal Regatta boats whilst still in Y10!  In 2023, Natalie co-coached the SWPS 8+ which become the first crew from our school to ever qualifiy for the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy for Junior Women’s Eights at Henley Royal Regatta – a truly momentous landmark!

Jonno’s coaching career has spanned the last sixteen years, and has involved working in some of the country’s top school rowing programmes.  The Lady Eleanor Holles School, Latymer Upper School and London Oratory had significant successes during his tenures, with his crews regularly winning national medals.  Over 25 athletes that Jonno has coached at some point during their school careers have gone on to gain international representation in the sport, and countless others have a passion for rowing engrained for life thanks to his boundless enthusiasm for the sport, and love for conveying this to young people.  Jonno has worked as Equipment Manager/Boatman alongside his coaching since 2009, and has a wealth of experience, setting him up well to maintain and organise a large fleet of top-level racing boats.  From 2018-2021 he was the England Equipment Manager, a role that supported the team’s performances at the Home International Regatta each year.  As the Lead Coach for J14s, Jonno inspires the youngest rowers of our club in their first year as full rowing members, which led to SWPSBC’s best ever J14 octuple results at the 2022 National Schools’ Regatta and 2023 National Junior Sculling Head!

Iona rowed throughout her time at school in Aberdeen, gaining early successes as a part of the first Aberdeen Schools’ Rowing Association (ASRA) crew to win a gold medal at the National Schools’ Regatta.  Winning in such a demanding and competitive sport ignited the competitive flame, and Iona has never looked back!  Whilst at school, she won medals at National Schools’ Regatta and the British Rowing Junior Championships, as well as gaining selection for the GB J16 Team, and Scottish Junior Team at the Home International Regatta.  Continuing her rowing at university, Iona was selected for Great Britain at two World Rowing U23 Championships in the Women’s Eight, winning a silver medal in Austria in 2013 – a career highlight.  She has won Henley Women’s Regatta twice, and rowed in the final of the Remenham Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.

As a coach, Iona has previously worked at ASRA, Surrey University, Whitgift School and Molesey Boat Club, and has worked extensively with the Senior Squad at Perkins since January 2022.  Her SWPS crews have won medals at the British Rowing Junior Championships, including the first ever national WJ18 Eights medal for the Club.  She ran the eights project which culminated in the first ever SWPS 8+ qualifiying for Henley Royal Regatta, and is a crucial part of the support network for our Senior rowers, as the whole squad targets developing into the best athletes they can be.

Sam began rowing at Bath University, and quickly realised that she had found a sport in which she had the potential to excel.  Her first GB selection was as part of a development Women’s Eight for the Windermere Cup in Seattle, USA, and this was soon followed by U23 representation in consecutive years.  In 2014 she won a Silver Medal in the Women’s Eight, and in 2015 a Bronze in the Women’s Four, which provided a springboard into her career as part of the Great Britain Senior Team.  2019 saw Sam qualify the Women’s Pair for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and she was subsequently selected for Team GB for what would have been her Olympic debut.  Sadly, the Covid pandemic, the subsequent delay of the Games, and a back injury meant that Sam missed-out on the rearranged Tokyo event.  After rehabilitating from this injury, she spent a further year racing at the highest domestic level for Leander Club, during which time she was a mentor for younger athletes just starting out on their adult rowing careers.  Sam has coached across the age-groups at SWPS, predominantly with our J15s, helping to guide them to everything from their first singles race to medals at National Schools’ Regatta!  Sam’s biggest lesson from her own rowing was that the happier you are, the faster you go, and she is keen to pass that on to all the Perkins Rowers she works with!

Jack learned to row at the University of Surrey having caught the bug for our sport as soon as he tried it out!  Despite a Covid-interrupted time at university, he developed his own training and racing alongside positions of growing responsibility, holding both the posts of Captain and Vice-President during his degree.  Jack was involved in British Rowing’s Student Development Programme, and now he has finished his studies, is rowing at Molesey Boat Club to pursue his dream of winning an event at Henley Royal Regatta!

Anna is a SWPS alumna, and rowed as a committed part of the club during her Sixth Form years.  She built-up a hugely impressive racing CV whilst at SWPS – two National Schools’ Regatta Silver Medals in Championship Girls’ Doubles, Semi-Finals at Henley Women’s Regatta in both the Junior Quad and Double, Quarter-Final in the Junior Quad at Henley Royal Regatta, and Gold in the WJ18 Double at the British Rowing Junior Championships in her last race for Perkins.  Anna had international success in both of her Sixth Form seasons – Gold and Silver Medals in the Great Britain U19 Double at Coupe de la Jeunesse, then Gold Medals in both the WJ18 Double and Quad representing England at the Home International Regatta.  She is currently training at the prestigious Leander Club in Henley as part of her Gap-Year, and has been offered a place at Princeton University, USA to continue her studies next year. 

In her last year at school, Anna led the pupil-body of the Club as Captain of Boats, and is now enjoying giving our younger rowers an insight into the exciting journey they can look forward to as members of our club!