It would be fair to say that rowing - whether due to class hatred, a lack of funding or simply the general disinclination of Scots to grace their nation's waterways - is a minority sport north of the border. All the more remarkable then that, as of last weekend, Scotland has a junior world championship silver medalist.

Sean Dixon, a recent graduate of George Watson's College in Edinburgh, was part of the Great Britain crew which lost out narrowly to Germany in the coxed four event at Linz, Austria. Dixon, Matthew Tarrant, Jason Phillips, Toby Mumford and cox Max Gander matched the Germans for pace from the gun and led for a while before being passed.

Dixon, 18 and a Morningside native, is, like most other boys of his age, blissfully without any grand, long-term plan. Yet in his short career to date, he has already shown the sort of determination and focus common to most sporting success stories.

It is a career which started inauspiciously enough. "I started rowing at school when I was seven, mainly because I wasn't so good at rugby." (An early piece of luck, one might argue. The curse of many a privately-educated sportsman is that he leaves school with a flat nose.) Coached by Jim Ferguson, head of rowing at the school and a man revered by Dixon, his progress as a rower is also the perfect illustration of the merits of perseverance, particularly in an age when a win-at-all-costs mentality puts so many youngsters off sport altogether.

"I was never all that amazing at rowing when I was younger," says Dixon, no doubt with considerable modesty. "I just did it recreationally. My coach was always just really supportive of everyone, no matter what level you were at. It was only once I was 15 or 16 that I started really getting competitive and started approaching rowing with more focus."

In Edinburgh, he has always trained on the Union Canal, which he says is "probably the worst place to train in Britain". Competing against English schools, however, opened his eyes to new horizons. "Rowing isn't so big up here," he acknowledges. "Down south we'd row against a different class of people.

"At Eton College, they not only have the Thames estuary to row on, they have their own 2000-metre, eight-lane rowing lake. But it was rowing against these schools that I realised I was able to compete with the best England had to offer."

The selection process for Great Britain's rowing crews is a gruelling one, consisting of a series of endless trials - 500m time trials in winter and 2000m regattas during the summer months. "It's a cliche, but you really are only as good as your last result," says Dixon. "You're training all year; it's very demanding."

Having first made the GB team at under-16 level in a match against France, Dixon last year went to his first junior world championships in Beijing - "the best course I have ever rowed on, anywhere" - the venue having been chosen in order to provide a dress rehearsal for this month's Olympics. A far cry from the Union Canal, then, but also an expensive one. The two-week trip and flights cost around £6000, a sum to which the Dixon family had to contribute, although most of it was covered by Lottery funding.

While Scottish rowers do receive such funding, however, they might be forgiven for throwing envious glances at those dipping their oars in southern waters. "There is generally more money available in England," says Dixon. "There is money from the Lottery, from Sport Aid, and through the Sporting Heroes scheme. By comparison, it's harder being a rower in Scotland."

Not that Dixon's complaining. As of next month, he will embark on a new chapter in his sporting career, having been awarded a 100% scholarship at Boston University, where he will also study Business. That might mean his future will be provided for in the broader sense, but as for the rowing itself, he's trying not to look too far into the future.

Rowing events at the London Olympics will take place at Eton's aforementioned big pond, but Dixon maintains he's taking each year as it comes. "I need to develop hugely," he insists. "In America, the facilities are just incredible, so much better than in the UK, so hopefully I will. My aim this year was to get a medal and I achieved it. Hopefully there's more to come."

Let's pencil in 2012 as a gap year, shall we?