Emma’s first love was swimming until her older sister persuaded her to try rowing at high school. She quickly embraced the challenge of a new sport winning her first gold at the South Island Secondary Schools. She has gone on to have many successes including gold at MAADI, making the U18 South Island Team and securing an U19 NZ trial. In February this year she successfully trialled for the U21 NZ Rowing Team and her grant goes towards the cost of the team’s campaign against Australia in Sydney this year. Emma’s sheer stamina and unwavering determination to push through any obstacle that comes her way is extraordinary - in her last year of high school she was rowing 9 times a week, juggling 5 gruelling shifts at work, tackling school as a prefect, all the while battling long COVID. Yet, amidst it all, she managed to gain an Under-19 rowing trial as a 17-year-old.