Gemma Wood studied at Hymers College from Junior School in 2011 until completing her A Levels in 2021. She has continued in further education studying History at Oxford University.  She has recently become Women’s Captain of Worcester College Boat Club.

I was very sporty at school! I played in the 1st XI Hockey team and went on the 2019 South Africa sports tour. I was also joint captain of the tennis 1st team. I absolutely loved sport at school and really wanted to get involved with sport at university.

I play in the university hockey team but also wanted to give rowing a go since I’d never done it before and it’s such a big sport at Oxford. I started rowing at the start of my 1st year and got into my college’s women’s 1st boat for Torpids at the end of Hilary term (term 2/3 in Oxford). Torpids and Summer Eights are the two big college rowing competitions in Oxford in 2nd and 3rd term that involve bumps style racing, unique to Oxbridge where you try to catch the boat in front that starts ahead of you and stay away from the one behind.

I’ve now just become Women’s captain for my final year and really looking forward to it alongside still doing hockey. My college (Worcester) was the most successful boat club overall this year for Torpids and Eights so I’m really looking forward to captaining the club hopefully to more success next year! 

Congratulations, Gemma. Good luck with your final year.