Young rower Westley learns to court pain
● Embracing pain is a necessary part of Courtney Westley’s journey as a rower.
The third-year geography and environmental student at Tuks recently qualified for the women’s single scull for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She finished second at the African championship in Tunis to secure South Africa’s second rowing berth at the Games, after the men’s pair stamped their entry at the world championships in September.
But the seat doesn’t belong to Westley — she may still have to fight for it. Much will depend on what happens with the women’s double sculls crew at the final qualifying regatta in Lucerne in May next year.
There, Kat Williams and Paige Badenhorst will try to book a third South African boat at the Games, after narrowly missing out at the world championships, where they fell one spot short by less than two-thirds of a second.
They have a great chance of making it in Switzerland —but if they don’t, their Olympic ambitions will turn to the single seat. “If they do qualify, then the three of us will go [to the Olympics] in our respective boat classes,” Westley told the Sunday Times in an interview this week.
“And if they don’t qualify, then the three of us will trial for the single scull. But I back them [to qualify],” added the 21-year-old, who also ended fifth at the under-23 world championships in July, and took silver at the World Student Games in China soon after.
Westley’s young enough to have another tilt at the under-23 showpiece in 2024, but she’s also looking at entrenching herself in senior competition. The continental regatta was her first taste of it.
A sport in which athletes reach their peaks around 30, Westley is undaunted about stepping up, and part of her growth means navigating the agony that descends on elite rowers towards the end of a race or a tough training session.
“I started working on embracing the pain during racing or during pieces, because I think that can bring a lot of emotions and become overwhelming. Instead of letting pain come and slam open the door on you, it’s about how I can open up the door to pain and be like, ja, just embrace it, incorporate it into my race plan,” she said.
After every race and training set, she has to rate her perceived rate of exertion, which is measured on a scale up to 20. “I was working on the ergo the other day and my heart rate was a little bit higher than it should be, but I called it an 11.”
Westley believed that her 11 was tougher than it was last year. “If I compare myself to [when I was in] high school, I’d probably be looking at myself today and thinking, this chick’s mad, you know, putting herself in so much pain the way she’s racing.
“But we’ve learned to tolerate it up to this point. And even now, I know that I still need to be looking for more, and I am looking for more. And right now, ja, I’m thinking there’s no possible way I can push myself any harder than this. And then there’ll come a day where I do.”
Yet there is an irony because Westley fell in love with the sport partly because it helps her to relax. “I think that’s something that I really like about rowing — even in high school. It gives you two hours of the day to really just relax and de-stress.”
She also has another definition of relaxation, which is important in the heat of battle. “The beginning of the season and last season, the stress and pressure of performing would get to me on the water and throughout this season I learned how much speed you can find by relaxing.
“I think during a race, if I tell myself to relax, it’s about letting go of any negative thoughts or relaxing the body, relaxing the mind.”
And embracing the pain. There’ll be plenty of that for her in the coming years.