On board with RMB National Squad Rowers and Plantronics South Africa

As proud partners of Plantronics South Africa for almost a year, CN&CO has focused on helping to develop the brand’s social presence as well as assisting with communications and PR for the South African market. Plantronics South Africa is extremely excited to have RMB National Squad Rowers Kirsten McCann and Thabelo Masutha on board.

Kirsten McCann and Thabelo Masutha are amongst South Africa’s finest rowing talents who have chosen Plantronics South Africa as their headset of choice. Whether they are in the gym, travelling or on the water, their BackBeat FIT headsets are always charged up and ready.

Here’s a bit more information on the RMB National Squad and why Kirsten and Thabelo love Plantronics…

About the RMB National Squad

The RMB National Squad is based in Hatfield Pretoria. The medical and administrative headquarters are based there and it is where the majority of the land training gets done. The land training is comprised of gym work as well as rowing on the indoor rowing machine, all of which is done at the University of Pretoria.The University also provides majority of the sports science services that the team requires.

The RMB National Squad perform their water training on Roodeplaat Dam, just north of Pretoria. Roodeplaat Dam is the National Rowing Venue and is host to the South African Schools Championships as well as the South African Senior National Championships.

The squad train between 2-3 times a day, 6-7 times a week. The training program is comprised of on-water rowing, indoor rowing, running and gym work. The official training season begins in October/November each year where the team trains and competes in the national rowing events. The national season then culminates in April every year at the South African National Championships, the premier event of the season. The international season then starts in May/June every year where there are three World Cup Events between May and August and are usually held in various countries in Europe:. The final event of the international calendar is the World Championships which usually takes place in September.

In 2018, the RMB National Squad competed in the World Cup 1 , Belgrade Serbia where the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls crew of Nicole van Wyk and Kirsten McCann won a silver medal.

The squad will also be competing in World Cup 3, being held in Switzerland in July 2018 and the World Championships which will be held in Bulgaria in September 2018.

Kirsten McCann – Lightweight Rower, World Champion and RMB National Squad member.

I am very fortunate to be able to row as a profession. I took up rowing at the age of 13 and I am now 29- going on 30 years of age. There is no doubt in my mind that I consider myself to be very fortunate to be able to row as a profession and compete at the highest level- internationally. Every race that I race, is just as important. There is no doubt that when I race locally I feel just as nervous and prepare just as well as I would if it was an international race.

Each year, we race at the South African National Rowing Championships and there is no doubt in my mind that each and every single year, I want to win and come away as national champion. We don’t receive any prizes in the material sense yet the winner comes away with the greatest prize of all- the title of South African National Rowing Champion.

This year was no different in my approach, preparation and racing strategy. I wanted to come away with the national title in the women’s single scull. I am a racer and racing comes naturally to me, as I love to push my body and mind beyond what I think is possible. I love to challenge myself physically and mentally. Having raced some tough opponents in this year’s scull race, I came out as the winner. I was very happy. When I was notified that along with my national title, I had won a pair of Plantronics headphones, I was even more excited.

Headphones are an awesome addition to training, and every day living as an athlete. I travel a lot with the rowing team, attending training camps and international tours where we race. So far this year we have attended one 3 week training camp in Lesotho and two international regattas to compete. I made use of the headphones for the first time during training runs which made the runs so much more enjoyable. Our runs are usually at the end of a long weeks training and my body is tired. I need some motivation to get going and to keep up my energy throughout the run to make my run as productive as possible. The Plantronic headphones have allowed for easy and enjoyable training runs due to the fact they are wireless and sit nicely in my ears, and have a strap around the back of my head. They don’t get in the way, and are so comfortable that I even forget I  have the headphones on/ in my ears. The sound quality is excellent too.

I used the headphones on the airplane when traveling to our latest international regatta- World Cup one in Belgrade, Serbia. What made them so awesome was that they connected with my phone and there were no cables getting in the way when I moved position on the plane. The quality of the sound was excellent and that added to my travel comfort, as I did not hear any other passengers or the drone of the airplanes engines.

I continue to use the headphones on a daily basis when listening to music in my ‘down time’ or when watching series/ movies off my phone or iPad. They connect easily and as soon as I turn them on and that makes for quick and efficient use. Another highlight of the headphones, is that they are really attractive, as they are pink (my favorite colour) and discrete. Just perfect for a girl.

I look forward to making more use of my Plantronic headphones in both training, and socially.

Thank you to Plantronics for giving me the opportunity to use the headphones. I look forward to many more hours of listening to music and watching movies in comfort.

Visit Kirsten and  RMB National Squad‘s social media pages to keep updated on all their exciting ventures and upcoming competitions and don’t forget to keep an eye out for Thabelo and Kirsten rocking their BackBeat Fits. You may want to purchase a pair of your own in order to get that champion feeling 😉