When Temple rowing head coach Brian Perkins traveled to the United Kingdom for the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta, an international crew event, he was expecting to meet a quiet high school junior who had little knowledge about what he wanted to do in life. Oliver was presumably a young rower who simply loved the sport but had little sense of direction, according to his previous coaches.
Perkins had spoken with Temple senior rower Adam Oliver and his parents weeks before he arrived but it was not until he reached Europe that the coach saw the potential in Oliver.
“We made a really good connection with Adam and his father,” Perkins said.
Hailing from LVS Ascot, a private school in England, Oliver found a true love for the sport. When his coaches saw how much talent he possessed, he eventually moved on to become a member of the Tideway Scullers, a rowing club he is still part of today.
Oliver recently rowed in Varese, Italy, at the U23 Crew World Championships, and represented his home country of Great Britain where he competed as a debutant double scull alongside British teammate Joseph Adamson.
Oliver’s double scull finished 12th overall out of over 20 teams at the event, a feat he was proud of but not entirely satisfied with, Oliver said.
He took roughly a week and a half to rest during the offseason, transitioning straight from Temple’s rowing season to training with the Great Britain national team. During the season Oliver needed to work harder to receive a position on his country’s 83-person squad, which is an accomplishment on its own given only 46 U23 rowers made the cut.
In order for Oliver to participate in the tryouts, he completed three different timed fitness tests in America that were all sent to Anna Liddell, the head coach of the Great Britain national team. After the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships in late May, where Oliver’s boat placed second, he flew directly back to the United Kingdom.
“We went through a process of selection to see who is faster, and I came out just making it in sculling,” said Oliver. “It was a dream come true.”
Oliver has the skill to row at the fourth and sixth positions and the power to pull from the eighth position in any type of boat, so when he speaks up, his teammates listen, Perkins said.
“We all dial into what he is saying,” said sophomore rower Rares Nechita. “He knows how winning boats should feel. He just leads by example.”
Yet even with his pure talent and work ethic, Oliver’s adaptation to the American style of rowing took several months, Oliver said.
American rowing, compared to the UK’s individualized men’s crew, is focused on a team-based approach in which the team all works together to move the boat as quickly as possible Oliver needed to adapt to the trust component, learning how to synchronize his stroke with teammates, working together as a unit and not solo. And as time went on, the trust in his teammates evolved into true bonds.
“I knew literally no one when I came in, but everyone was so welcoming,” Oliver said. “The team became my new family,”
When he’s back rowing in the UK, Oliver is focused solely on his own stroke, allowing him to become the best all-around rower on Temple’s team, Perkins said.
Oliver is an anthropology major who remains without a true sense of what he wants to do. Yet one thing is for sure, with the 2024 Paris Olympics looming, Oliver now believes he has what it takes to make a future out of the sport. The rower could turn his passion into a career, a thought that Oliver contemplates to this day.
“I have to see where life takes me, see where I’m at that time,” Oliver said.
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