'Teamwork is central': How rowing boats with Meitheal Mara boosts confidence

Being part of a Meitheal Mara rowing crew helps teens develop skills and build an understanding of teamwork

Finn Paterson (far right) rows with Meitheal Mara on the River Lee. He had zero rowing experience when he went to his first summer camp in 2024.

AGED 16, Liam McCormick started rowing with Meitheal Mara, a maritime cultural organisation and community boatyard on the River Lee in Cork City.

“It was a way to get out of class,” says the now 24-year-old, a student of outdoor education at Atlantic Technological University, Castlebar.

“I’d never done any water sports — my family went to the beach once or twice a year — and I had no mad yearning for the water, because I have severe eczema. If I touch water, my skin flares up,” says McCormick, from Farranree in Cork.

Though he wasn’t good at rowing to start with — “people would refuse to get in the boat with me”, he says — he was getting a lot out of being on the water.

McCormick says: “I had big anger issues at the time, and I could take all my anger out on the water; splash water with the oars as much as I wanted. It was a huge release. I had extreme anxiety back then; you’d barely get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ out of me.

“My confidence grew from the rowing. You wouldn’t think there’d be much social interaction with it, but there’s plenty. I went from being a participant to being a volunteer to being part-time staff with Meitheal Mara.”

Meitheal Mara has been making the River Lee accessible to the young people living along its banks for 20 years.

Bádóireacht, with its youth focus, started in 2002, and, earlier this year, Meitheal Mara launched the Bádóireacht Pathways Programme to enable young people to participate in maritime activities.

Through Bádóireacht Pathways, 12- to 25-year-olds can progress from being novice rowers to a lifelong engagement with maritime activities, either for recreation or as a potential career pathway.

Meitheal Mara works with youth groups across Cork, including Foróige, CDYS, YMCA, and Cork Life Centre.

Many groups begin with a rowing taster session in Meitheal Mara’s traditional currachs. From this first experience — travelling beneath Cork’s bridges and seeing the city from the river — groups often go on to a 10-week rowing training programme, preparing for the Ocean-to-City youth race.

Clare Hayden, manager at Bádóireacht which helps 12- to 25-year-olds to progress from being novice rowers to a lifelong engagement with maritime activities.

Bádóireacht manager Clare Hayden says: “In the past, there was a lot of emphasis on training for the Ocean-to-City youth race, which is 4km from Blackrock to the city. It happens the same day as the main Ocean-to-City race — the young people cross the same finish line. 

"Graduates of the Ocean-to-City race then started asking: ‘What next?’ They were challenging us to develop different progression routes for them,” says Hayden.

Prior to covid, Meitheal Mara started running four-day summer camps in August on the marina. “A lot of young people move from the Ocean-to-City to the summer camps. This means rowing in different styles of boats: Progressing to more technically difficult, larger currachs. And there’s opportunity to explore different stretches of water.”

Hayden says they can experience everything from the adrenaline of regatta racing to the calm of a picnic row along the Glashaboy River.

While participants of the spring rowing programme — preparation for the Ocean-to-City youth race — can bring friends, at summer camp they meet a very diverse group.

Hayden says: “They don’t know each other. Rowing is what they have in common, so it really unites them. They learn to take more responsibility for the boats: To launch and recover them, rather than everything being set out waiting for them. Teamwork is central to the experience.”

Navigating life

Glanmire 14-year-old Conor O’Sullivan started rowing with Meitheal Mara three years ago.

Conor says: “It was new to me. I was nervous the first day. I found it great fun. I got to see nature and under the bridges.”

Conor O'Sullivan from Glanmire who was introduced to rowing at Meitheal Mara in Blackrock, Cork. Picture: David Creedon

He has attended two summer camps and is all set to do this year’s. “We do scavenger hunts on boats of bigger designs; we rowed up to Glanmire one day.”

Conor’s mum, Siobhán, says rowing “wouldn’t have been on our list of things to try”. Describing it as “a great interest”, she says: “Some people don’t like contact sports; rowing would suit a lot of kids.”

Finn Paterson, also 14 and from Glanmire, had zero rowing experience when he went to his first summer camp in 2024. “I did the Ocean-to-City race in 2025. It was fun to be with two friends. I was in the captain’s seat. We ended up winning.”

His mum, Elaine, says it gave her son confidence, being able to do something he’d previously never considered. “He loved learning how currachs are made. And he loved the teamwork — the lads in the boat together became great friends.”

The new Bádóireacht Pathways Programme incorporates the summer camp, Bádóireacht Youth Council, the Youth Leadership Programme, and Fionnbarra (Bantry longboat) youth voyages.

Finn Paterson from Glanmire who was introduced to rowing at Meitheal Mara in Blackrock, Cork.  Picture: David Creedon

The leadership programme is new, says Hayden. “Young people expressed interest in becoming assistant trainers on the water, so we developed a one-day programme to happen in summer.

“We spend half the time on the water, focusing on skills and group management; and the other half on land, learning about tides, weather, and safety equipment.

“We also ensure external certified courses are available to participants, in particular, first aid and manual handling training.”

When participants first become involved, they start one-to-one with a trainer in the rowing boat. “It’s about getting them comfortable on the water, familiar with the rowing stroke, then working towards giving them more responsibility in the boat, though they’re still with a trainer.

“As they gain skills — steering the boat, manoeuvring in different directions, reversing, berthing back at the pontoon — they progress to rowing with one of their peers.”

At that stage, Hayden says they start exploring the river, going on trips.

“The beauty of Cork City being on an island is you’ve the option of going up the north or south channels of the river, or going downriver [towards] the marina.

“Every trip’s different, because tide and weather are different.”

Trusted on the water

Meitheal Mara is all about inclusivity and among the participants are young people with learning and behavioural difficulties.

From seeing them step out of their comfort zone on day one in a currach, Hayden witnesses all kinds of progression. “Their first week on the water can be overwhelming. Week two, their brain has had a chance to process and you see when they start to get it.

“They’re learning new skills, trying to keep cool under pressure. Sometimes, conditions aren’t always favourable because of the tide, wind, or the release from the dam. They gain resilience and problem-solving skills. It’s a real opportunity for building teamwork and being able to communicate clearly with one another.

“You see the pride and confidence: ‘I’ve managed to steer a boat under the bridges without walloping off the piers. It’s a huge vote of confidence: We’re saying to them, ‘We trust you to get out safely in a boat with your friends and to get back safely’.”

McCormick now teaches multiple water sports: Sailing, windsurfing, powerboating, and kayaking. “I don’t think I’d have finished school, or gone to college, if I didn’t have the rowing. I’m proud I went through it, that I kept it up.

Finn Paterson (left) and Conor O'Sullivan with their trophies. Picture: David Creedon

“Meitheal Mara set me down the water path. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything different. I’m a pure water baby.”

Hayden says many young people have progressed via Bádóireacht to doing outdoor education courses. 

“Even if they don’t end up in a career out of it — that’s one goal — but gain confidence and skills, that’s enough for me. Even if they come out rowing for just one day and they’re able to go home, tell their mom, ‘I rowed under Parnell Bridge’, that’s a huge achievement.”

• Ocean-to-City race, begins Blackrock, 1pm, Saturday, May 30. Bádóireacht rowing summer camp, August 10-13. 
• Rowing taster sessions, Thursday, April 9 — limited spaces available. Email [e-mail]; meithealmara.ie/badoireacht