Published on May 06, 2025
I have always loved setting ambitious goals for myself and the commitment to keep improving has driven me in the pursuit of these goals. Constantly learning and making measurable progress has been central to my life both in and out of sport. I take so much enjoyment in problem-solving and the great thing about sport and life in general is that there will always be another area to improve, however big or small. Although I have wanted to push myself from a young age, managing internal vs external drives and learning how to effectively turn this drive into outcomes has changed greatly as I have progressed through my life and I hope to continue improving this skill through my future career in and out of sport.
Dressage and rowing are physiologically very different sports however, there were some key transferable skills that I took from my competitive career in dressage when I started rowing at Cambridge University. Firstly, time management, efficiency and prioritisation of tasks that I had learned when balancing dressage with school exams were extremely useful when it came to managing rowing with my degree at Cambridge. Secondly, psychological resilience and flexibility were key to success in both sports. Riding horses meant often overcoming setbacks and reacting quickly and calmly to a situation. This taught me the importance of analysing what went wrong, adjusting my approach and trying a new approach which I often came back to when rowing.
The biggest thing that gives me confidence in high pressure moments, is the feeling of being prepared and knowing I have done everything in my power to give this dressage test or boat race the best I have got on that day. I have a few tools I use to build this confidence including visualisation, keeping a training diary, and identifying what my key strengths are that will make the most difference to my performance on the day. So when it comes to the moment of anticipation before the dressage test or race begins, I just run through my key focuses, take a few deep breaths and off I go!
This is an interesting one! I think the biggest things in both dressage and rowing are trust and respect for your teammate (whether that is your horse or your cremates!). This can take months of training with each other and building an understanding of each other inside and outside of training. I made a point to spend as much time as possible with the horses outside of training to strengthen the trust they had in me and similarly in rowing, we dedicated many hours to discussing our goals and openly addressing challenges and supporting one another as a team. Ultimately, “being one” comes down to investing int he relationship and practicing consistently together so that come race/test day, the connection is seamless and instinctive.
The main skills that I have taken are based around resilience, teamwork, and organisational skills, which have shaped how I approach challenges in my personal and professional life. Setting specific and actionable goals and breaking down complex tasks into manageable steps are skills I often draw on in projects in work and when setting personal targets. In addition, rowing highlighted the power of effective communication, and aligning over a common goal to strengthen a team and improving performance which is something I often draw on when building relationships outside of sport. Both dressage and rowing showed me that failures are a key part of improving and success never comes without setbacks which is a core lesson from my sporting career and something I bring to every new challenge in my life!
“Control the controllables"
Clare Hole will be presenting our Leading Note session on May 16th. You can book here, and the session will be available as part of our Podcast series, available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Published on May 06, 2025 by Ella Thomas