Lake renamed to celebrate youth rowing coach

By Alice Neil

A lake has been renamed to celebrate a youth rowing coach who has inspired hundreds of children.

Isobel Turner, a 27-year-old from Greenwich is a coach at London Youth Rowing, a charity which aims to develop young people through physical activity and open access to rowing at all levels.

The Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham was renamed the Turner Farquharson Rowing Lake after two youth rowing coaches who have been inspiring young people to stay active throughout the pandemic.

The lake has been renamed for 24 hours as part of the National Lottery’s campaign to recognise unsung sporting heroes.

The lake was renamed after Isobel to celebrate the work she has done to keep young people engaged with sports throughout the Coronavirus pandemic.

Isobel recalls lockdown as one of the toughest tests in her rowing career: “One of my toughest moments was being the only coach who wasn’t furloughed for a period of time, feeling as though I wasn’t making much progress.

“But being able to continue with the work I was doing was great.

“There are usually five or six coaches and there are 65 schools to stay in contact with, over a period of time, I was emailing all of them.

“Throughout lockdown, we were unable to get into schools and couldn’t be as active as we usually would be. We have had to adapt a lot.

“We usually go into around 10 schools a week and for me, not having that connection with the kids has been hard.

“We investigated developing different resources for schools and our coaches have taken part in exercise videos which we have shared with them to try and encourage development.”

Tim Hollingsworth, chief executive of Sport England, said: “With the help of The National Lottery’s players, thousands of grassroots sports workers and volunteers from local clubs and organisations across the UK have been able to continue to help people and communities to remain active, connected and motivated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Grassroots sport also has a fundamental role to play in providing much needed physical and mental wellbeing in these difficult times.”

Other sporting venues across the country have also changed their names for the day, including the Kia Oval based in Lambeth.

Pictured top: The Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham was renamed the Turner Farquharson Rowing Lake after two youth rowing coaches who have been inspiring young people to stay active throughout the pandemic