Adam Tripp (2000-2006)

Adam Tripp lived up to the potential he displayed as a school boy by representing New Zealand in rowing at the World Championships in 2010 and being selected as a reserve for the gold medal winning rowers at the Olympics in 2012.

When we caught up with him earlier this year, Adam was enjoying his first non-sport related overseas trip since he was five years old: “ Since retiring from competitive rowing in 2013, I’ve found that I need to take care of my body as it’s too easy to do irreparable damage, so I’ve moved from high impact sports like volleyball, basketball and rugby and taken up surfing.

I still coach rowing from time to time and intend to become more involved when I am more stable professionally.” After school, Adam completed a Bachelor of Science degree from Waikato University and a post graduate diploma in teaching. He then followed that up with a four year stint as an elite level New Zealand rower. After a spell as a rowing coach and tutor he completed a carpentry apprenticeship and is currently a residential housing builder in the Waikato. “Building is a balance of using your head and your hands. It also has plenty of variation and skills that can be applied to everyday life or entirely different professions. I have always taken satisfaction from visual progress so seeing something transform from a patch of land or a shoddy old shack into a nice modern structure is great to see.

The downside is that I hate the cold!” Adam considers that the quality of education he received at Lindisfarne gave him the confidence to pursue a degree which in turn made the bookwork side of his apprenticeship a much simpler process: “In the technology department Mr Rennie and Mr Arnall always challenged the process not only the final outcome. At the time this seemed pointless because all we wanted were NCEA credits but they were actually laying the foundations for good habits.” When he left school, Adam came to appreciate the value of learning in an environment which imposed high expectations and he encourages our current boys to “Make the most of the opportunities you get given because soon you will have bills to pay!”

Unsurprisingly, Adam was heavily involved with sport while at school and by Year 13 was playing either volleyball, basketball, rugby or rowing every day of the week. Apart from teaching teamwork, the benefits of all this sporting activity extended well beyond his school days and became a valuable networking tool for many aspects of his life. Adam has particularly fond memories of the UK rugby tour: “We were playing the final game of the tour and Nathan Ebbett who had been a workhorse for the 1st XV for 49 games, had disappointingly never scored a try. We were thumping Whitgift by halftime and Mr. Gilbert challenged Ebby to get his first try for the 1st XV before fulltime. During the last play of the game, the ball ended up in the hands of the World’s Strongest Teenager, Laurent Simutoga, who started a maul and gave Ebby the ball. ‘Lolo’ then started throwing these poor English schoolboys out of the way, one by one, while Ebby mauled over and scored in his final play as a Lindisfarne rugby player. I’m pretty sure ‘Gilby’ had a tear in his eye!”

In between all the sport, Adam did find time for his school subjects, including Physics with Mr. Workman which provided an interesting take on a traditionally unpopular subject. He also played the guitar and still regrets that he did not keep that up. Adam forged lifelong friendships at Lindisfarne and regularly catches up with other old boys especially James Hair. The greatest accomplishment of Adam’s life to date is his rowing performance, especially his selection for international competition and representing New Zealand in front of family and friends at the World Championships. “Although I did not get to race in the Olympics, knowing that I was in the stands as the training partner for some of the greatest rowers the world has ever seen was weirdly satisfying. I still claim Mahe Drysdale needs to chip a small piece off his gold medal and give it to me!”