Becky Pretorius
Between winning a medal at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria and sitting in on an array of surgeries as a UWA [University of Western Australia] medical student, Becky Pretorius certainly has her hands full as she strives to reach her sporting and academic goals.
The young rower has recently returned to Perth after a three-month training stint in Melbourne and competition period in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Returning home with a Bronze medal and first-time experience at a World Championships.
“It was an absolutely amazing experience; it was everything I had dreamed of. It was so cool to stand on the podium at the end; made all the hard training sessions and wait, so worth it.”
“Although the result was so amazing, it didn’t come without it’s challenges – the journey to get to that podium was hard.”
After the announcement of the U23 World Championships Team, Becky was left with two weeks to essentially uproot her life to Melbourne, to join her fellow crew members [Phoebe Robinson, Sara De Uray and Sarah Marriott] and coach [Alistair Matthews] for a training block before heading overseas.
“It was a pretty stressful time, trying to sort out where to live in Melbourne, how to relocate my medicine placement and sorting out transport for while I was over there.”
“WAIS and in particular, Tarryn [Dickerson], was a lifesaver. Tarryn went above and beyond to help me find funding and sort out my Uni – she made the biggest difference, an absolute angel.”
As being part of the U23 Australian Rowing team, each athlete has to pay an eight-thousand-dollar seat fee, upfront, on top of the costs associated with not living at home. Becky was also faced with a fifteen-hundred-dollar university transfer fee, to be able to continue her placement during the relocation process.
“All of the costs associated with the competition and the move interstate were adding up. I know I’m an adult [21-years-old], but it’s a huge adjustment financially and support-wise, living away from home.”
“WAIS helped guide me on ways to secure funding before I left, which I’m really grateful for.”
“I was lucky enough to be successful in attaining the Carbine Club Scholarship, WAIS also helped to support me in line with my scholarship and I set up a support page through the Australian Sports Foundation – which all allowed me to pursue my rowing dream.”
After starting rowing in year eight at school, Becky soon after, joined the Swan River Rowing Club with her friends in the pursuit of taking her rowing to the next level.
“My rowing journey started off a little rough due to the restrictions and cancellations of events that came with COVID-19. So, I had a little bee in my bonnet about wanting to experience everything once the world opened up again.”
“After competing at my first Nationals last year [where we won the U21 pair] and U23 trials, it was then amazing to finally crack the U23 team this year.”
With a couple of weeks off training, to focus on her surgical placement, Becky is enjoying the fast-paced nature of her UWA placement.
“I’m absolutely loving it, it’s definitely hectic and the hours [7am – 5pm] are insane, but the work and experience of the placement so far has been really interesting and we’re allowed to do so much.”
With two and a half years to go of her Medical degree, Becky will look forward to the next training block of her program in preparation for another big season next year.
“It would be amazing to be able to trial for the Olympics next year, but I’m not sure if I’m quite at that stage just yet, but I’ll be training the same regardless and if Olympics is not the path for me. I’d really love to make the U23 Worlds team again next year, which will be hosted in Canada.”
We wish Becky a huge good luck with the remainder of her placement & we look forward to tracking her progress on and off the water over the next year!