GIFT OF GAB: Gabrielle Zammit makes a call from her coxswain spot as the Princeton National Rowing Association (PNRA)/Mercer Junior Rowing men’s varsity eight competed at the Royal Henley Regatta in England earlier this summer. Recent Princeton High grad Zammit helped the Mercer boat advance to the quarterfinals of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley. Zammit will be continuing her crew career this fall as she joins the Stanford University men’s rowing program. (Photo provided by Gabrielle Zammit)

By Bill Alden

Heading into middle school, Gabrielle Zammit’s athletic focus centered on the ice rink.

“My whole family is like a huge ice hockey family,” said Zammit, whose older siblings Alexa and Victoria starred for the PHS girls’ hockey team while John was a mainstay for the Tiger boys’ program. “I started skating as soon around I could walk and then I played through middle school.”

But as Zammit entered high school, she shifted her sporting efforts to the water.

“I started by doing the Mercer rowing summer camps, going into 8th grade, I did a few of the camps,” said Zammit. “My parents were the ones who got me into it. We had a family friend who was a rower on the Mercer women’s team. Being around the Princeton community and being around Lake Carnegie and seeing the rowing teams out there all of the time made me want to try it out.”

As Zammit got into competing for the Princeton National Rowing Association (PNRA)/Mercer Junior Rowing program, she saw the coxswain spot where she could steer and guide a boat as the best role for her.

“I was rowing for the girls’ team and then I wanted to start coxing,” said Zammit. “They didn’t really let me cox that much in my first year. Then the boys’ team needed a coxswain in their bottom level boat for one of the races so they kind of just threw me in there because I wasn’t really needed on the girls’ team.”

Thriving in that role, Zammit made a rapid ascension up the coxswain ranks. She coxed the second boys’ varsity eight in her sophomore year before moving up to the first varsity eight as a junior.

In the summer after her junior year, Zammit made the U.S. U-19 team and guided the men’s eight at the 2023 World Rowing Under-19 Championships in Paris.

As a senior, Zammit helped lead the Mercer boys’ varsity eight to a fifth place finish at both the Head of Charles Regatta and the USRowing Youth National Championships. She capped her Mercer career last month by helping the varsity eight make the quarterfinals in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at the Royal Henley Regatta in England. Next month, she will be starting her college career at Stanford, coxing for its men’s rowing program.

Zammit has found a home guiding boy rowers. “I have just stayed on the boys’ side,” said Zammit. “I really like the aggressiveness and competitiveness of the boys’ team. There were a lot of really good coxswains on the boys’ team when I was really getting into it. Having them to edge off of and feeding off of the talent that was already there on the team really helped me improve.”

Getting exposed to talented rowers and coaches in her U.S. U-19 experience proved to be a key learning experience for Zammit.

“It really boosted my development as a coxswain, just being in such a high level environment with the amazing coaches that were there,” said Zammit. “It gave me a little bit of perspective on how amazing the Mercer program is. There were a lot of rowers coming from smaller programs who definitely didn’t grow up with the same coaching that I did at the youth level so it made me really appreciative of Mercer.”

Zammit enjoyed an amazing final season for Mercer, starting with guiding the varsity eight to a fifth place finish last fall at the Head of Charles in Boston.

“We got a fifth to get medals at the Charles which is a huge deal,” said Zammit. “It was a really stressful course. I raced it in my sophomore and junior as well so I was a little bit familiar with it. I spent a lot of time studying the course map and watching other YouTube videos, trying to get a feel for the course. A lot of preparation went into it.”

In June, Zammit helped the varsity eight take fifth at the Youth Nationals at the Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Fla.

“It was a hard race, we were in second place for most of the race,” said Zammit. “It was a densely packed field, everyone was really close. We kind of just ran out of gas at the end. We felt really good about the race, it was a very good race.”

This July, Zammit found herself in another hard competition as the Mercer boat competed in the world famous Henley event on the Thames River near London.

“That was a more stressful course for me than the Head of Charles,” said Zammit. “It was probably one of the most difficult courses, I have ever practiced or raced on. It took a lot of getting used to and just adjusting. It is on a river which in a coxswains’ view, you have to be really on it. You can’t just sit in one spot for too long. You have to make decisions or else you are going to be pushed. It is funny because in the U.S. we race in meters and in international racing it is all in meters but on that course, the markers are in miles. It just throws you off.”

Racing in Henley’s Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, Mercer posted wins over Shrewsbury and Abington to advance to the quarterfinal.

“It was such a good feeling to have all of the work we put in during the training season led up to that moment and to see where we were that allowed us to compete overseas,” said Zammit, reflecting on the first round victory. “Winning that race felt so good. We were all, yeah we won it, it was good, but we were looking to win again the next day and stay focused. We were definitely going into it less nervous, that was a more fun race. We were relaxed and focusing on the rhythm of the boat. I could just take a deep breath out there and race the race.”

In the quarterfinal, the Mercer boat got edged by just over a boat length by eventual champion St. Paul’s.

“They won the Charles, they blew everyone out of the water so we knew that they were really fast,” said Zammit. “They had won the English schools national competition as well. We knew going into it that we were going to have a big fight. We just stayed internal, I think we rowed a good race. It was sad to be out of the competition but it was a respectable loss. They were such a good team.”

Overall, the Henley competition was another good step in Zammit’s development.

“It was a really crazy experience to be in a huge venue like that, you don’t have that many spectators at an average regatta in the U.S.,” said Zammit. “There were just so many people there. Every time I go to a new regatta, it definitely puts another race under my belt. It is another experience of putting myself in an uncomfortable situation with where I can learn to adapt to things on the run. It definitely makes me a better coxswain. It builds my confidence a lot to make the transition into collegiate rowing. I feel like I can roll with the punches and learn as I go.”

In a few weeks, Zammit will be heading west to start her Stanford career.

“There is a little bit of nerves,” said Zammit. “I am definitely just really excited to be competing at the collegiate level and to be exposed to new coaches, new training, new rowers and all of that.”
As Zammit looks forward to collegiate rowing, she is primed to make an immediate impact.

“I would like to push for the highest crew and be on the highest boat that I can,” said Zammit. “I am excited for some coxswain competition when I get there. They do have quite a few amazing coxswains, I am excited for all of the seat racing and everything.”

Zammit is also planning to keep pushing on the national scene as she looks to join the U.S. U-23 rowing program.

“That is the next level, it is usually the older rowers who make the team,” said Zammit. “Right now the goal is to shoot the shot and try to get invited to camp again. I want to keep going with it and take it as far as I can.”

No matter how far she takes it, Zammit has certainly come a long way since she left the rink for the water.