Pridwin old boy selected for Olympic rowing team
MELROSE – After completing his junior schooling at Pridwin in 2008, Schoonbee completed high school at Hilton College where he began rowing.
Pridwin Preparatory alumnus and former Melrose resident Kyle Schoonbee (26) looks forward to representing South Africa at the Tokyo Olympics in rowing.
Schoonbee will participate in the heavyweight men’s coxless four event alongside teammates Sandro Torrente, Lawrence Brittain (silver medallist at Rio Olympics) and John Smith (gold medallist at the London Olympics).
After discovering that he had qualified for the event Schoonbee said, “It was a huge relief with a topping of joy. It was an extremely brutal and tough road getting to that point.”
Schoonbee added that the team missed the first of two chances to qualify in 2019 and then Covid-19 postponed the games.
“The weekend we finally qualified was the last chance. It was then or never, so the pressure coming off our shoulders was huge.”
He said with the South African team having such a good track record at the Olympics, he was honoured and excited to be part of the top crew representing the country.
“We have put in so much work over the last five years and my main goal is to have the best possible racing we can put out. But more tangibly, we are there for one reason and that is to win. That will, without a doubt, be our goal.”
Schoonbee said the team had spent many weeks in Lesotho for high altitude training. In a normal week, the team would do 18 training sessions, ending up with close to 220km of rowing on the water as well as strength work in the gym, running and cycling.
Schoonbee said the holistic development offered in his early years at Pridwin meant that he was open to trying a number of sports.
“If I got caught up just doing one sport through my junior school time, I might never have tried rowing and been at the games.”
Executive headmaster at Pridwin Patrick Lees said it was an honour to have a Pridwin old boy represent the country at such a prestigious event.
“Kyle is an inspiration to all our boys, not just in rowing. He is an example of how you can do anything with intrinsic motivation and purposeful practice,” said Lees.
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