Tom Barras

The highlights, which immediately spring to mind, are the field trips with my Biology and Politics courses. It again was what the college did you well – blending learning and enjoyment supremely well. I just remember having a great laugh on both of them, and as we were treated more like adults, there was that bit of extra freedom that wasn’t there at school.

My teachers at Esher were fantastic! They seemed to love their subjects and couldn’t do enough to help everyone get the best grades they could. They made their subjects interesting, and they really inspired me to want to learn more than just what was on the curriculum.

I knew that I wanted to carry on doing some rowing, in the hope of breaking into the GB setup, whilst I also knew that I wanted to study physiotherapy. This is where my career advisor at Esher was amazing. She really guided me through the process of choosing a university which would satisfy my needs, and even suggested the University I would eventually end up at.

I would say that when I chose to leave school and go to Esher I was following my gut instinct. It felt a brave move at the time (I think I was the only one from my school to leave before sixth form), however I just loved the feeling I got from Esher. So, I think the advice would be to trust yourself, believe in yourself and make the decisions that you feel are going to be best for you.

I was rowing at a small club just outside of Staines called Burway Rowing Club. It is such a cosy, friendly and unpretentious club – run by an amazing group of volunteer coaches. I loved every moment at that club and I now really consider it my second home.

Yes, it was difficult on occasion, but I found some work arounds. When the weather was good, I tried to cycle to college and back (a good two-hour round trip). Whilst in-between lessons I could either do homework, or train at the college gym. Personally, I found it useful to have that break from studying and feel that I probably ended up doing better in my studies because of it.

Plan your time well. Know both what things you want to do, and have to do, and then hopefully time won’t feel like its running away from you quite so quickly.

Amazing. I have not been to a Games before, and with all the Covid mitigations I had initially been a touch sceptical as to whether The Olympics would quite live up to my expectations. However, I need not have worried as they far exceeded anything I could have imagined. The place was in a sense magical, and on a scale far greater than anything I had ever seen before. The Japanese people were incredible hosts, always so polite, friendly and supportive. I had an awesome time and really hope that I may be able to experience that buzz again in Paris.

I think saying: ‘when I won a medal’ would be too obvious. So I shall give two other stand out memories instead; the first being when we first arrived at the athlete village and all the messages, gifts and presents that were bestowed upon us. Then the second has to be the food hall – where nearly 100,000 meals were served daily and we had an almost unlimited choice of different dishes from across the World. It was great for us, but I dread to think how those athletes who had to make weight survived!

I would love to say that I now take it everywhere with me, however it is safely tucked up at home, in its case to protect it from any damage.