Dashiel Withnall

Coach’s Reference

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is James Burton. I am the Head Rowing Coach of Nudgee College. I was a member of the Australian Rowing Team at the Sydney Olympics and rowed the single, double and quad scull for Australia at senior A level.

Put simply, Dash is a coach’s dream. He asks the right questions, responds when given advice and is meticulous in his preparation. He refuels during sessions, he comes early and gets his (and others’) equipment ready before sessions. He stretches before and after sessions. In the weight room he is a beast for his weight: squats, chin-ups — extremely strong. He is ridiculously professional in his approach for any athlete, let alone a school-age athlete.

He is an introvert. However, Dash has an amazing laugh. I hear it and see how it changes the group dynamics just by his bellowing laugh. We had a vote for Captain of Boats. There were 9 votes — 8 voted for Dash, 1 voted for another boy. The boy who voted for someone else was Dash.

Dash had several technical issues this year. Relaxation during the stroke and missing water at the catch. He was able to gradually relax and was persistent to see video and see if he could identify more relaxation on the recovery. His catch slip measured by Peach telemetry went from above 12 degrees to below 5 degrees. Olympic-level catch slip (300 Newtons of force applied before 5 degrees from max catch angle).

I am a Maths Teacher at the college and enquire about the rowers among my colleagues. The reviews I get on Dash’s class performance are paralleled from what I see at the rowing shed: disciplined, respectful, and curious.

I know a bit about the college system in the USA, and know enough to know that Dash would flourish in that environment and make the university proud and the rowing program stronger.

We don’t do many ergometers at Nudgee. We mainly train in single sculls and sweep. Technically Dash is outstanding. On the ergometer he pulls a 6:25 for 2000m at 79kg. I have no doubt he could go closer to 6:10 with some ergo-specific training but that isn’t what our program is about.

If Dash wasn’t so committed to the school program I have no doubt he would be rowing for Australia in either a sweep or sculling boat class. He is the Sculling Champion at school for the last 3 years.

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND DASH FOR ANY OPPORTUNITY YOU CONSIDER HIM FOR.

You will not regret selecting Dash Withnall.

Kind regards,
James Burton
Head Rowing Coach & Academic Staff
St Joseph’s Nudgee College
jbu@nudgee.qld.edu.au · +61 477 691 972

Character Reference

August 27th 2026

To whom it may concern.

I have come to know Dashiel Withnall over the past six years through my association with St Joseph’s College, Nudgee where I have had the honour of being the College Board Chair and now as a member of the College staff. Dash is an exceptional young man.

When you first meet Dash you are immediately impressed with his ease within himself. He has a quiet confidence but not one built upon arrogance but on a deep sense of self. It is this quality that has made him a natural leader among his peers and the Nudgee College community. It is no accident that Dash was voted by his peers to a Leadership role within our College Rowing program.

Dash is highly respected among his peers. This respect is the result of Dash’s ‘can do’ approach to life. He is a calm young man who just gets in and gets the task done – whether that task be on the football field, at a rowing regatta, with the younger students of the College or with his studies. I don’t believe I have ever seen Dash flustered.

One of Dash’s finest qualities is his deep people sensitivity. He is highly intuitive and has a great sense of community. Dash would be one of the most self-disciplined young men I have worked with in a Professional Career of over forty years. I have been in ‘awe’ of Dash when he is in his zone, especially at a Rowing Regatta. Dash has an emotional maturity that results in his setting of very special and specific goals and then an organised plan to attain them. Dash’s extraordinary work ethic rubs off on those around him and within our Rowing community Dash has deeply admired by all but especially the younger oarsmen.

Dash has handled the roller coaster of feelings associated with any high-performance situation and culture brilliantly. What I deeply admire about Dash is that he was a rower within our College community at a time when we had just lost a highly regarded coach and some highly talented rowers had graduated. Dash, as a result, found himself as the lead oarsman in a rowing program seeking to rebuild – no easy task. But in this situation, Dash gave everything. He worked so hard both in the gym and on the water and with the ‘other rowers in the shed’. This energy, hard work and persistence paid off and has led to our rowing program slowly rebuilding.

Dash’s resilience is to be admired. Nudgee College has a proud rowing history. This College has only been in the Greater Public Schools Rowing Competition for twenty-four years but has won the Head of the River multiple times in that short history. As a result, Dash, had significant expectations placed upon his shoulders during this rebuilding time; he handled this pressure with discipline, determination and strength.

Dash is a great team man. Rowing in an Eight requires great self-discipline but also a great sense of ‘crew’. Dash’s emotional maturity has come to the fore in his ability to bond his crew members while still having fun and achieving goals.

Dash has a wonderful sense of humour and his cheeky grin, his energy and enthusiasm and his ability to mix and mingle with rowers from the youngest to the oldest is what builds a great shed.

Dash has an emotional maturity way beyond his years. As I mentioned previously, he is ‘at home’ with himself. Dash has a personally owned and deep set of values, and he lives and works from these values. The line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “To thy own self be true!” applies beautifully to Dash.

Dash is extraordinarily generous with his time and talent. He is ‘everywhere’ around Nudgee. He leads from the front and yet, mysteriously, also from within. He is the leader that the lads aspire to be – and yet he is still beautifully ‘one of them’. That is the sign of a great leader. He is never about Dash – but always about the community and calling the community forward to be its best self. Dash is a young man of honesty and integrity and these qualities will take him far in life; he has and will earn the respect of his peers because of this. Dash is deeply loyal to his family and his friends.

Dash is a very good student. He brings to his studies the same discipline, focus and determination that he brings to every aspect of his life. I have been in awe of the balance that Dash has shown between his many life commitments and his studies. Dash will bring this balance and focus to all that he does.

I have been deeply impressed with Dash’s desire to make a difference in this world, to be the best he can be and to seek to grow emotionally, physically and intellectually in pursuit of his own personal excellence. Dash has a beautiful faith, and he has engaged with the spiritual journey with great integrity and honesty. Dash has come to the Catholic faith from a place of great maturity and his choice to receive the Sacraments was made by a young adult who is searching for meaning and a moral compass point in his life.

My name is Damien Price and I am an Edmund Rice Christian Brother. We are the Irish equivalent of the St John Baptist De La Salle French fraternity. The crest of Nudgee College, Dash’s alma mater – is the De La Salle crest. I reference this because I know that Dash, if offered a place at La Salle University, will be ‘at home’ in the culture there – both intellectually, physically and spiritually.

Finally, all of the above might indicate that Dash could be too serious; nothing could be further from the truth. Dash has a wonderful sense of humour, a twinkle in the eye and a mature balance and perspective that mean people enjoy and value his company.

I have every confidence in Dash and have no doubt that he will go a long way in life; professionally and personally. It would be an honour to discuss the details of this reference with any interested party.

Yours sincerely,

Br Damien Price cfc Ph D
B.A., Grad Dip Rel Ed., Masters of Education Counselling, Masters of Social Science.
Staff, St Joseph’s Nudgee College
Former Chair of the College Board.

The signed original is held privately and is available to coaches and admissions staff on request.