SIĠĠIEWI ROWING CLUB COACHES OBTAIN PARALYMPIC ROWING COACHING BADGES
- Malta Paralympic Committee
- May 17
- 2 min read
Siġġiewi Rowing Club coaches Leanne Xuereb Ungaro and Markus Schembri became the first Maltese coaches to obtain the Level 1 Paralympic Rowing Coaching and Classification certification awarded by World Rowing.
The two coaches have been instrumental in coaching athletes with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities who train alongside able-bodied athletes with Siġġiewi Rowing Club (SRC).
The course was organised in phases, with phase one consisting of a week-long intensive Para Rowing Coaching and Classification Programme organised by World Rowing and supported by Türkiye Rowing and held at the IBB Halic Water Sports Center in Istanbul, the programme was led by the World Rowing Educator and Classification Team.
The course involved specialist training on topics such as classification of Para athletes in Paralympic rowing, moving and handling on the indoor rowing ergometer, boat rigging and handling, safety drills in the water, warm-up, stretching routines for Para athletes, and venue accessibility and risk assessment, among others.
Following the sessions in Turkey, the coaches carried out a local risk assessment and a capsize drill at the Inspire Pool in Marsacala.
This milestone is an important moment for Paralympic Rowing in Malta being co-developed by Malta Paralympic Committee (MPC) and Siġġiewi Rowing Club. MPC remarked: “Investing in specialist skills for coaching athletes with disabilities in the sport of rowing is essential to allow us to offer training sessions by qualified coaches, in a manner that is safe and tailored to individual needs, including various types of disabilities. This compliments the investment made in adapted sport equipment for both indoor and on-water rowing. With multiple athletes with various disability types already training and competing in indoor rowing, we look forward to this exciting new chapter where on-water rowing will soon be available in Malta. We thank Leanne and Markus for their commitment to championing inclusion and excellence.”
This milestone is part of the ambitious project for rowing that MPC and SRC embarked on together. In 2022, MPC Secretary General, Dr Julian Bajada, completed the Julian Bajada 28 km Rowing Challenge, raising over €60,000 to purchase a fleet of Paralympic rowing boats. The boats arrived in Malta earlier this year and training sessions are expected to formally launch in summer 2025 in collaboration with SRC. In addition, MPC and SRC have invested in building up a group of athletes with disabilities who train indoor rowing at the sports facilities at Dar Tal-Providenza in Siġġiewi.
SRC is the only inclusive rowing club in Malta that offers training and competition opportunities for athletes of all ages, with or without disabilities, all disciplines - from indoor rowing to traditional regatta, and modern Paralympic, Olympic and coastal on-water rowing.
This project has been funded by the Training Initiatives Scheme managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector supported by the Ministry for Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector (MIV).
This press release is also available in Maltese:
Malta Paralympic Committee
17 May 2025
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