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Athlete Profile - Ollie Parish

Name: Ollie Parish

College: Peterhouse

Studying: MEng Engineering

School: St Paul’s School

 

When and how did you get into sport?

“My dad, Matthew Parish, rowed for GB at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 so rowing has always been a big part of my life. My whole family has been involved in some way, in fact my parents even met in the boat when my mum coxed my Dad at University of London.”

 

What are your top sporting achievements?

“I'd consider my Henley victory in 2018 for St. Pauls to be my biggest achievement, achieving an “Easily” margin and record time over the Eton boat who beat us the year before at National School Regatta. That 2018 crew has had the biggest effect on my rowing out of any boat I've been in so far. Coached by Bobby Thatcher, we won the triple for the first time for St. Pauls setting the fastest recorded 2k time for a schoolboy crew of 6:36 at Marlow, with Bobby's coaching we just clicked”

 

What is your advice for balancing sport and academia?

“The biggest thing for me would be to create positive relationships with your Tutor / Director of Studies to get flexibility with timings that makes sport possible. For me, rowing compliments academics well; when you’re in the boat, you can't focus on anything else, you have to be completely invested in the current stroke and all the academic pressure of Cambridge melts away for the duration of the session.”

 

What has the support from TASS meant to you?

“The TASS support, supplying access to the excellent staff, has been fantastic. I hope many more athletes will be as lucky as me in receiving this support in the future.”

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

“My thanks to Jordan and Rob, the CUBC coaches, as well as all of the other support staff at the club, their work has a huge impact on lives all of the athletes.”