He graduated from Waikato University with first class honours in financial marketing and Japanese. In 1999 he won the Nationals, retained his World Indoor Championship in March in a world record time, and in an event so competitive that no one had won back to back titles for a decade, Waddell went on to retain his World Championship title, also setting a world record time in the process. To succeed in rowing requires discipline. It is a matter of being professional in all parts of your life. Diet is just a part of it.
Hard training is the biggest part.
Rowing is Waddell's focus, but outside the rigours of routine, he designs websites for organisations such as the Waikato Chiefs Rugby Team and Education Waikato, and engages in public speaking for groups from Telecom New Zealand, to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Waikato University and at local schools. Pre-Olympics, Waddell took out the 2000 World Cup in Europe and then went into preparation on Queensland's Gold Coast. The work paid off. New Zealand Olympic rowing has a proud tradition. If it was easy to train hard and to study, everyone would be world champions and A students.