Hi! My name is Florence Hennessy and I’m a year 11 rower from St Catherine's School Sydney, Australia. I am incredibly proud and excited to have been selected as one of 12 girls for the U19 Australian rowing team.

I will be representing my country at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Lithuania - a dream I have been chasing since the beginning of my rowing journey 5 years ago. 

Rowing has shaped who I am. It has taught me the importance of discipline, commitment, perseverance and what it means to be part of a team. I am very excited to be competing in the Women's U19 Eight alongside my boat mates Maddie Swain, Chelsea Baker, Zahra Taylor, Tamara Bates, Grace Barrera, Millie Cullinane, Mika Naito and our coxswain Melody Yin.

Australia has only ever sent five other Women's eights in the history of Junior Australian Rowing at the international level so it is an exciting opportunity to see what this crew can do on the world stage. Our training campaign has already commenced in Sydney where we are training 6 days a week and twice a day on many days. 

See the U19 Australian team announcement at: https://rowingaustralia.com.au/latest_news/australias-top-junior-rowers-ready-to-take-on-the-world

This opportunity is a result of years of early mornings, tough training sessions and a deep passion for the sport of rowing. Being selected to wear the green and gold is an honour, but it also comes with significant costs. Rowing Australia heavily subsidises this trip however there is still a significant seat fee of $8000.

I am currently raising funds to help cover the expenses of travel, accommodation, training camp, uniform and team fees that are required to compete at the international level. 

Alongside the U19 Aussie Rowing Team I will be flying to the AIS facility in Italy on the 20th of July for a two week training camp before travelling to Trakai, Lithuania to compete from the 6th to the 10th of August.

Any support that I can get will help me on this journey to proudly represent Australia at the Junior World Rowing Championships. Thank you for believing in me and helping me to achieve my goal!

Florence Hennessy