Phil Bourguignon

Boat Club

Being the Head Coach of one of Sydney University's premier clubs is not an easy task. Factor in a sport with training commitments as demanding as rowing, and there is not a lot of time for anything else. But for Sydney University's Boat Club coach Phil Bourguignon, 16-hour days, no weekends and no holidays are just part of the job. And what a job it is. Sydney University Boat Club is one of the oldest clubs at the university and holds an important place in Australian rowing history. Created in 1860, it is sometimes referred to as the home of Australian rowing. Despite a fire ripping through the Linley Point boatshed in 2006; nothing has deterred the athletes from paddling up and down Lane Cove with Bourguignon in tow. And since his arrival at the club, Bourguignon has been creating some waves.

Despite never making a national team as a rower, Bourguignon has never struggled helping others reach their representative dreams. Starting out coaching at a girl's school in Brisbane in 1998, it took a few years for him to gain the confidence to really make an impact in the coaching scene.

"It was probably about 2001 when I really hit my straps in terms of confidence and control and being able to run good programs,'' he says. "It took about three years to get my feet firmly planted."

Proof that he was quickly becoming one of the country's finest up-and-coming coaches came in 2005 when he was awarded the AIS Development Coach scholarship. At the completion of the year Bourguignon made the move to SUBC, although there was less of a difference between the two training venues as he first imagined.

"This [SUBC] is about as close to the AIS as you can get without actually being there," he says. "It's very well set up; the professionalism is fantastic."

It didn't take long for his athletes to taste success, with SUBC winning 20 gold, nine silver, and six bronze medals at the 2006 NSW State Championships. Included in this medal haul was Liz Kell, who went on to win the World Championships in the women's double.

Awarded for his coaching triumphs, Bourguignon was also given a squad of four national crews to take to the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in Belgium. Of the four boats, the women's coxless four won gold, the women's pair won bronze, the women's eight placed fifth, and the double finished ninth. The dual-medal haul continued Bourguignon's run as having every international crew return with a medal. Fellow SUBC athletes - Fergus Pragnell and Christopher Clyne - rowed in the men's coxed four that won the silver medal.

In 2007 Bourguignon was once again given the honour of taking an Australian crew overseas - to the Under 23 World Championships. This time it was the men's eight who were taken under his wing, training out of the Riverview/SUBC shed and facilities.

Of the nine athletes, seven were from SUBC crews that Bourguignon had coached all year. The eight raced exceptionally well in a tough field and came away with a bronze medal- a fantastic result given the youth and international inexperience of the crew.

But all this success comes at a price. The amount of skill, time and dedication that a coach like Bourguignon puts in is not unlike that of an athlete. Bourguignon wakes at 4.30am and then works 16 hour days, with no weekends off and no summer holidays (camps are abundant over Christmas and New Year) and there is very little time to stop and relax.

"They say I've got four weeks off [after World Championships], but athletes, don't know what time off is," he says. "They have to be trained every day. Athletes don't know when holidays are."

So much is his dedication that Bourguignon can usually be seen in his office the day after landing back in Australia post-World Championships. Both on and off the water, his dedication cannot be questioned. Bourguignon is energetic, whole-hearted and above all passionate.

"If I'm enthusiastic, they'll [athletes] be enthusiastic," he says. "If I'm tired and morbid, there's no way they're working.

"Fortunately I love waking up every morning. I love it because I've got such a great diversity of athletes that I'm seeing something new every day. I see a change in somebody that wasn't there yesterday and I say, ‘Yes! Thank god, that's it, stay with that.' And you really do look forward to waking up to see that."

So what's next for the man that never stops - coaching over in beautiful Europe and chasing the Euros? Or making use of his pilot's licence? No, not in the near future. For the time being it's all about SUBC.

"I think coaching's my thing now," he says. "I've spent too much time and money to get this far. Now that I've got the job [at SUBC] I want to go upwards and upwards with it."