Selected for the 2012 Australian Youth Cup team, 17-year old Emma Wilson, from Sydney will be stepping out of her comfort zone when she competes in the prestigious regatta held from June 29 to July 1 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.

Emma, in Year 12 at Loreto Kirribilli, began rowing for the school when she was just 12 years old.

“My family always emphasised the importance of doing a sport. Not necessarily a competitive one but just one that we would enjoy,” she said. After trying a range of other sports, Emma decided to give rowing a go. “I thought: Why not?… and I’m still at it four and a bit years later!”

Emma feels one of her greatest achievements to date is winning the Championship Schoolgirl Double Scull at the State Rowing Championships in February this year. Now competing on a national level, Emma has noted the increase in pressure. “Honestly, I’ve never done anything like this before, and this is a very different standard to schoolgirl rowing.

“I’m a lightweight for this competition and having never done that, it has been a little difficult adjusting… For selections I had to lose five kilograms. But [being selected] is a huge achievement and I’m pretty proud.

“I don’t know what to hope for, except that I will go out and row to a standard that I will be happy with. I have a goal time and a goal standard I’m working for, and I’m hoping everything else will just happen.”

While representative opportunities are likely to open in her future, Emma is adamant that it’s her love for rowing that will keep her career moving.

“How the Youth Cup goes will effect what I plan to do in the future but the main concern for me, as always, is enjoyment. So far I’ve had heaps of fun training with all the other Youth Cup girls and it has all been great, and if I continue to enjoy it like I do, I’ll keep rowing.

“For me, it’s that simple.”

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