What kind of rowing program do you recommend for someone between senior year and college?
Assuming you rowed in high school and will be rowing in college (vs. not having rowed before and planning to walk on as a freshman)…
Become a member at a local rowing club
If you live in a city like Boston or Philadelphia where there are private rowing clubs all over the place, I’d recommend joining one. This will give you the opportunity to have a consistent place to row out of when you’re home from school and a team to be affiliated with if you race anywhere over the summer. Do some research and see if there are clubs near you and find out what it takes to become a member.
Attend summer camps
Your age will determine your eligibility for a lot of camps since most limit it to high schoolers ages 14-18 and you’re at that tricky age between “junior” and “collegiate”. If you find a camp you’re interested in though email the coaches and see if there’s space for you to attend (or ask if you can be a counselor or something, that way you get paid and can row on your own time while the kids are practicing).
Learn to scull
If you don’t have the opportunity to go to summer camps but have access to singles or doubles, learn to scull. It will be an invaluable resource to you down the line. Not only does it help your sweep technique, it also makes you more rowable, meaning if there’s an excess of people at practice one day and you’re picked to sit out you can ask to take out a single. Your coaches will be happy that you’re not wasting the time and that you’re committed to rowing, even if it’s not an ideal situation.
Learn to row the other side
If you’re a port, learn to row starboard and vice versa. Same with sculling, it makes you invaluable to the team. If you go to camps and can say “I row both sides” you are making it SUPER easy for the coach to put you in a boat since he won’t have to cater to someone who can only row one side. You can now row in all eight seats instead of just four.
Coach
Does your high school have summer rowing programs? Ask to join the staff. If they don’t have one, start one. Teach kids how to row. Not only would that look great on a resume, but it makes you a better rower. It forces you to really go back to the stripped down basics and think about the stroke in a very primitive way. As you get more experienced as a rower, you start to naturally over think things. Forcing yourself to go back to the basics will make you think about the simple stuff a little more when you get back on the water. Getting that coaching experience is also great to have under your belt because that sets you up perfectly for coaching jobs in the future while you’re on summer break.
Any one of those would be good but if none are an option for you, just try to get a few workouts in each week so you don’t show up to campus totally out of shape. If your coach doesn’t send you a summer workout plan, email them and ask what they suggest you do (usually some combination of steady state, lifting, and cross-training).
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