LIKE many Wimmera families, Nhill’s Stephan family’s weekends revolved around football and netball.
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But the family’s only daughter Lucy decided she wanted to do something different.
Now her parents Gus and Mandy Stephan are getting ready to cheer her on when she heads to the Rio Olympics as part of Australian women’s eight rowing team.
Mrs Stephan said rowing was never on the agenda for the family.
“I’m a netballer and my husband was involved in football – rowing wasn’t something we knew about, plus there was never any water anyway,” she said.
Despite this, Mrs Stephan said her entire family was very proud of Lucy’s determination.
“Being from Nhill, she had to be determined,” she said.
“She has always shown resilience – we as family are very resilient and I tried to teach my children that it was important not to give up.”
Lucy started rowing in year 10 when she attended Ballarat Grammar as a boarder.
Mrs Stephan said she never thought her daughter would grow up to be an Olympic rower.
“School rowing is completely different to the elite rowing she is now doing,” she said.
“It involves a lot of hard work and Lucy has had to make lots of tough choices over the years.
“But they were choices she had to make if she was going to succeed and we’ve supported her through that process.”
Mrs Stephan said Lucy always had a back-up plan.
“She is still studying, but she was determined to find something in rowing,” she said.
“The rowing community has helped Lucy out so much and looked after her – they even helped her find somewhere to live.”
Lucy’s team originally did not qualify for the Olympics after they finished third at a regatta in Switzerland in May.
The team received the call up this week after one of Russia's crew was banned from competing because of her doping history.
“When Lucy came back from Switzerland we had a chat and talked about setting some different goals to make her Olympic dream happen,” Mrs Stephan said.
“Since then she’s been training for the marathon.”
The Stephan family will probably not make the journey to Rio for the event.
“It’s been a roller coaster ride since we found out Lucy was going to Rio,” Mrs Stephan said.
“We will probably watch it from home and I’m sure Lucy will enjoy it more without us there anyway – it’s her moment.”
Mrs Stephan said her daughter’s success was great news for the region.
“It’s fantastic for Nhill and for the Wimmera,” she said.
Ballarat Grammar rowing director Luke Pougnault said it had been a six or seven year journey for Lucy to get to this point.
“It’s a culmination of a lot of work,” he said.
"It shows the tenacity and toughness of Lucy, she did a couple of years when we had no water.
"She was committed, focused, had all the drive, but you never know when students leave school which way they'll go, there's so many variables.
"It's certainly not surprising she got there, she was certainly capable of it but again it's those that stay the course.”