Coaching
Available to all members regardless of standard, we have a mix of paid professional coaches and willing volunteers who give up their time for the club. Many of these hold ARA coaching qualifications up to and including Bronze Award level.

The club is organised into several different groups according to age, experience, ambition and gender. These are the current groups:

• Senior men
• Novice men
• Senior women
• Intermediate women
• Beginners
• Recreational veteran women
• Recreational veteran men 
• Racing veteran men
• Single scullers
• Coxswains

These 'groups' have organised outings, usually at specific times. In addition authorised club members may take boats for outings on an informal basis. See below for details of each group and if you're not sure where you fit, email the Captain for advice.

Newcomers to the club are welcome and may join for a trial period before committing to membership. We do ask all new people to complete a membership form, so that you've signed our declaration and provided some emergency contact details for us.

Senior Men
This group is coached by Tim Bramfit and assisted by Jim Russell.

The squad has an excellent fleet of boats at their disposal ranging from club singles to eights. This is a cohesive group who are very friendly and welcoming. They form an essential part of MAA and are always receptive to new members. Email Jim direct for more details.

Novice Men
A newly established group at the club, made up of graduates of the learn to row programme, those who have done some rowing before, plus a few others who enjoy a regular row in a group. Coached by Jim Russell plus other members of the club. Please contact Jim if you are interested in joining the group.

Senior Women
Since September 2007 Ian Roots has been leading this group, ably assisted by George Jones. The coaching team is focused on creating a supportive environment that will enable our small squad to achieve wins at the highest national level (WHR and National Championships), international level (Home International and Commonwealth), with the very top end aiming for GB selection.

In the 2006-7 season, led by Piers Robinson, the women's squad had an excellent season, with every member of the 14-strong group winning at least one of the following:

• Women's Henley Regatta (4 medals - Lwt 4-)
• National championships (11 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze - every althete medalled)
• Home International Regatta (5 participants, 8 golds)
• GB final trials (2 participants - and one selection to Senior International team - George Menheneott)

To achieve these outstanding results, most of the girls spend the winter months in sculling boats (singles or crew boats) to improve boat moving skills and to prepare many of the squad for GB selection trials. As we approach the spring, some of the squad start to focus more on sweep boats, depending on where their strengths and ambitions lie, but all of the squad, whether they scull or sweep for the summer season, benefit from improving their sculling ability in the early winter. Ian and George are both very experienced sculling and sweep coaches and work hard with the girls to develop technique and boat moving skills.

Outings typically start at 7am on weekends, and the week starts with George's Monday night circuits then the rest of the week is a mix of ergos/weights and water sessions, with regular coached weekday morning sessions available to all. The group is relatively small (14-18 athletes at present) which has helped the development of a strong spirit of unity and support over the past few years. This environment has assisted the girls to achieve great success on a national and international stage, and the past 2 seasons have seen the best haul of WHR, Nat Champs and international success in the club's history.

The club is very proud of our athletes and cultivates a welcoming and relaxed, but professional environment. We are keen to welcome any new athlete who wants to develop her sculling ability, as well as sweep rowing, and who has ambitions to achieve success at the highest national and GB level. Club sculling boats are available if required, although most athletes in the group have their own boat. Being situated on the upper reach of the tideway towards Chiswick and Richmond, we enjoy the best of the tideway water, and an ideal environment to develop technical skills. Please email Ian directly if you would like to know more, or have ambitions to join this group.

Intermediate Women
There are actually several small groups: sculling, development, novice sweep and veteran. The sculling section is generally those who have rowed to a reasonable level first and are now sculling for fitness and local competition.

The Development group is competitive and trains hard, achieving 92nd in WeHorr 07 and qualifying for Intermediatge eights at HWR 07, this group is coached by Ken Williams and Sarah Blackburn and follows a similar plan to the senior women with sculling focus in the winter to build boat moving ability.

Novice sweep is coached by Chris Drake and is made up of rowers with 1-3 years of experience who aim at local competition. Our veteran ladies group is coached by Stephen Baxter, slightly older than the novice sweep group, this growing group is focused on sculling and will be racing in some regattas over the spring/summer. Please email Sarah if you are interested in joining any of these groups and you will be put in touch with the correct person.

Beginners
MAA has a strong tradition of teaching novices and raw recruits. We have had beginners, male and female go on to race at the Henley regattas, win medals and in exceptional cases international honours.

Nina Padwick, one of our Presidents, runs the beginner courses assisted by club members. The course lasts for 6 weeks and requires a commitment of 4 sessions per week. At the end of the 6 weeks you can choose to join the club and there will be a selection process to decide which group is most suitable for you. We run 2-3 courses each year depending on demand.

Beginners are generally in the age range 18-30 although we occasionally make exceptions, please email Our learn to row co-ordinators, Chris and Nina for full details and the next start date.

Recreational veteran women
Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9am see a group of old friends who rowed together (many for GB) in the 1950's and 60's enjoy a sociable row together in quads, doubles and other boats. Any club member who is available at this time is welcome to join the group.

Recreational veteran men
Run on similar lines to the Veteran Womens group, this group met on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9am and at 1.30pm on Saturdays for organised outings. This group also mostly sculls, using quads and other smaller sculling boats. Their outings normally consist of a paddle then a race back to the club.

Racing veteran men
Usually a little younger than the recreational veterans, this group races in mainly eights and fours at local regattas. They train throughout the year and are organised by Richard McEvoy. Their regular outings are Saturday mornings at 9am and Tuesday evenings.

If you are interested in joining any of the veteran groups please contact the captain to be directed to the best person.

Single scullers
MAA has indoor racking for over 80 sculling boats and additional outside racking. There is a short waiting list maintained by Ken Williams. Please email Ken if you are interested in racking your single with us. Racking is only available to full MAABC members. Rack fees in 2008 are an additional £160/£110 per year for indoor/outdoor racks. Single scullers in private boats are still subject to all club rules, including following the ARA Water Safety Code and the PLA navigation rules. All boats must be identified with an MAA number which can be obtained from the captain.

Members who want to learn to scull must do so within an organised group. Inexperienced scullers must never take out a club boat unsupervised as the river can be dangerous. If you want to arrange supervision please talk to your coach, or to the captain or safety advisor.

Coxswains
New coxes are always welcome at MAA - beginner coxes and those new to the tideway are normally coached by Sarah Blackburn. Experienced coxes looking to race at national level and the Henley regattas can join either of the senior squads (contact the relevant coach above). If you have less time to commit, our veteran and intermediate squads always value good coxes and there is plenty of race experience to be had. Please email Sarah if you are interested in coxing for us.

Internationals
In recent years, MAABC has had four members represent Great Britain at World Championships, all coached by MAABC coaches:
George Menheneott W4- 2007 - 4th place (silver at Ottensheim World Cup).
Lorna Norris Lwt4x, 2005 - bronze medal. Coach Richard Tinkler (MAABC) & GBR.
James Di Luzio 2x, World Junior Champion 1997 (with partner Matthew Wells). Coaches Ian Roots & Darren Whiter (GBR).
Sue Appelboom Lwt 1x, 1991, 1995, 1996. Coach Tony James (MAABC).

MAABC has also had representation at the Commonwealth Rowing Championships:

Mel Sage representing England 2006 - Gold medals Lwt 2x and Lwt 4x.
George Menheneott representing England 2006 - Gold medal 2x
Lu Bowden, Tracey Matthews, Eva Bishop and Tash Smith representing England 2006 - Gold medals - 4x
Ingrid Hansen representing Scotland - Silver Lwt 4x
Beks Edgar representing Wales - Bronze Lwt 4x

Pippa Wilson representing England, 2002 - silver medals Hwt 2x (with Charlotte Dalton from Thames RC) and 4x (with Charlotte, Jen Smith from Warwick and Jane Fisher from Worcester).

For more information on the different groups of oarsmen and oarswomen please contact the captain.