MSc student Jasper Tissen from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is the winner of the open weight elite category at the Open Japanese Machine Rowing Championships in Kyoto. Tissen took part in the competition, which took place on 18 January 2015, in his quest to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
Around 800 athletes, mostly students, participated in the annual Open Japanese Machine Rowing Championships, which is for experienced rowers. Jasper Tissen, who completed RSM’s BSc in International Business Administration (BScIBA) in 2014 and is now in RSM’s MSc in Marketing Management programme, took part in the open weight elite category where he raced individually against 13 other athletes. Tissen joined former Olympian Meindert Klem in the indoor talent race, which took place on 18 January in Kyoto, one of Japan’s oldest cities.
Tissen got into rowing when he started his studies at RSM in 2011. In his third year of RSM’s BScIBA, the pace changed when he met rowing coach and RSM faculty member Dr Otto Koppius who saw Tissen’s rowing potentials. The now 22-year-old student has participated in several international rowing events, including the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston in 2013, and the World Rowing U23 Championships as part of the Dutch national rowing team in Austria in 2013 and Italy in 2014.
Sports and studies
“Combining my studies with rowing has always been difficult but was made easier after I had participated on the world stage in 2013 and earned an NOC*NSF status,” said Tissen, adding that RSM and the examination board gave him the opportunity to take several exams while on a three-week training camp in Spain. This allowed Tissen to catch up on his bachelor backlog and pass all his assignments and exams within the required time frame.
In addition to his future career in business, Tissen plans to continue his international rowing career and is fighting for a place in the Dutch Olympic team for the 2016 games in Brazil. He says the selection for the rowing team has not been finalised. “All that I can do is make sure that I train hard, don’t lose heart, and keep making steps in the right direction. So that is what I am doing.”
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is a top tier European business school and ranked among the top three for research. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who carry their innovative mindset into a sustainable future thanks to a first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes. RSM also has offices in the Amsterdam Zuidas business district and in Taipei, Taiwan. www.rsm.nl
For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@rsm.nl.