I congratulate your team on another success! Your student Zsófia Nagy and Eszter Kovács, a rower from the Szolnok Sports Center, achieved another success in the double sculls in Slovenia a week after they finished fourth at the European Youth Championships in Bled, after winning their event at the international regatta. Last year, Zsófi won the Olympic Hopes Competition in a single pair, but this year is even more promising! Did last year’s ORV victory bring the breakthrough?
Yes, after that he became a member of the youth team. But in 2021, as a first-year teenager, he could have already been a member of the youth national team, but at that time we did not undertake the competition. I thought the challenge was premature. Last spring, I saw that the time had already arrived, that’s when he won the ORV, then he was a member of the four-pair rowing team at the European Youth Championships, and the eight-rowing team at the World Cup.
The girls got off to a good start, this year in France, they finished in fourth place at the European Youth Championship, contributing to one of the most successful performances of the national team (one silver, one bronze medal, and two fourth places). What is the secret of their success?
At the spring selection competition, in single sculls, behind Luca Pádár, who has since won the youth European silver medal, Zsófi came second, and Eszter Kovács from Szolnok came third. That’s how they ended up in a boat with two oars. Two girls with completely different bodies and characters, but they can die for each other in the ship. The harmony between them is enormous, the profession already established at the selection that we have found a treasure. They entrusted me to be their preparatory coach. Zsófi is the lead rower in the unit, he had someone to inherit the knowledge, strength and aptitude from, since his mother, Anikó Nagy-Kapócs, is an Olympic rower.
How long have you been training Zsófi?
From the beginning. In the beginning, we trained with VVSI together with Erik Vida. I’ve been making it for four years.
If you have already joined the VVSI line, the question cannot be missed: why did you decide at the end of 2020 to leave your parent association – which has since been operating under the name Rowing Replacement Foundation – and go your own way in the Balaton Kayak-Canoe Rowing and Sailing Sports Association – also in Venice on a lake?
Professional and personal things led to the separation. I was very sorry, because I rowed in the VVSI and was selected. I came back after a seven-year break, and Erik Vida and I were able to work together very well, we rowed together in the Agárdi MEDOSZ at the end of the eighties. I found a partner in the person of György Jakócs, owner of the Balaton club and former board member of the Hungarian Rowing Association, and that’s how the new chapter began. By the way, our plans include the appearance of Lake Velence in addition to the Hungarian sea in the name of the club.
What were the beginnings like?
Zsófi and I were together for a year, and of course his mother also helped a lot.
A bold undertaking…
In the middle of the epidemic, we held the training sessions at the Anikós’ house in Venice, only a rowing ergometer machine and hand weights were available. Then more and more people joined us, the team is made up exclusively of girls. We store our boats at the University of Physical Education’s hotel in Venice, from there we row over to the track in Sukoro. We don’t have a motorboat, so I accompany the girls on the course by bike as much as possible. A very good Masters community was formed after the 2019 Masters World Championship in Lake Venice, and their momentum continues, they help us a lot: they bought a big tent, helped us buy a boat. We move forward in the points competition year after year. We had a good year last year, at home we won the adolescent singles with Zsófi, they took second place with Eszter in the doubles, and we won the bronze medal in the quadruple rowing.
Creating something lasting as a newcomer is a serious confirmation…
I just add my own, I try to help my competitors to complete themselves. Girls are the most important! I always tell them that anyone who “comes with us” can be anything, I can’t want success more than any of my competitors, it doesn’t bring results. Zsófi is a great pulling force, and next to him I have another selected competitor, Míra Rozmus, who will start the Olympic Hopes competition in two weeks.
The head of the rowing department, Anikó Nagy-Kapócs, is also a major driving force in the club, and apparently takes an active part in community events as well.
He took part in the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics as a rower – that speaks for itself. He accompanies us to all our domestic competitions and helps a lot, massaging the girls and giving them advice. It is difficult for her to separate the role of mother and helper. I am authorized to let you know if – to put it jokingly – he “drops the sluky”. But there is no need for that, we are in good harmony.
In addition to rowing, you are also connected to football, and even your son. In a family soccer game, you can immediately put two goalkeepers out!
While I was rowing, I couldn’t play football competitively, but I loved playing at the Vasvári school in Fehérvár. After I stopped rowing, I didn’t play sports for ten years, and then one day on a village day they saw me defending and immediately signed me to Sárszentmihály in the second division of the county. I agreed that I had never defended my main course in my life! We were promoted to the first division, and then I was also expected in the old boys. I was lucky in several ways, on the one hand, József Szabó, the living legend of Vidi, coached the team at the time, and on the other hand, he asked me to take his place in the Vidi old boys, since Péter Disztl was not up to it. At first I only joined them for one or two gala matches, then I got stuck there. There were times when Peti defended in one half, and I in the other. It’s sensational to play with them! I took my youngest son to József Szabó Vidibe when he was seven years old, and then he was trained by Attila Kuttor. Then he confirmed to Iváncsara. Now he defends in the Tihany team, because otherwise he would not be a referee in Fejér, he also plays futsal. It is a gift from God that there was such a gala match that the composition of both teams started with Elijah! He is more and more interested in officiating, he practices teqball at an increasingly serious level, he is also invited to international competitions, he has also visited Madrid and Skopje. Rumor has it that it will be an Olympic sport, which also holds enormous opportunities for him.
Your student, Zsófi, won the Olympic Hopes Competition, she is also well on her way to the five rings…
It has the intention and the motivation. He takes rowing very seriously. When we had to leave VVSI, we had nothing, the Anikós bought a one-row boat – which is not cheap. This also shows how serious they are, we think.
In 2028, it wouldn’t be bad if you could be there with your son and your student at the five-ring games in Los Angeles! But let’s not run so far ahead. What is this year, the rest of the season, about?
What is certain is that Zsófi Nagy will also compete in two pairs at the Youth World Championships in France, on the Olympic track in Paris. In less than two weeks, Rozmus Míra will measure himself at the ORV in Szeged in fours and eights. Then at the beginning of July, the National Championship, also at Maty.
