Whats the difference between Youth Nationals and Club Nationals? I know you have to qualify for Youth Nationals but is Club Nationals still a big deal? I’m a novice and just heard my coach talking about them the other day and was curious! Hopefully one day I’ll race in one (or both) of them!
The differences between the two lie in eligibility, classification, and affiliation. If you go here and here you can scroll through the entry packets and read what they say.
Youth Nationals is held sometime in the first week or two of June. In order to attend you have to qualify by placing in one of the events at a qualification regatta. After placing, if you’re awarded a bid you can either accept or decline. If you accept, congratulations, you get to race at Youth Nationals. As far as affiliation goes, you have to be registered with the same club/team for the entirety of the spring season, which USRowing defines as being between January 1st and June 15th. Youth Nationals is also strictly for youth rowers, classified as “juniors”. Anyone over the age of 18 and/or not working towards their high school diploma is considered ineligible.
Club Nationals is later in the summer, usually in mid-July. It’s definitely “a big deal” because it’s one of the big summer regattas (the others being IDR and Canadian Henley). The eligibility requirements here reflect what classification you fall under, those being “senior”, “intermediate”, “junior”, or “junior B”. (You can read the definitions of each on the PDF.) Basically all it says is that you can’t compete in a classification below you. Racing is open to crews of all ages, as well as crews not from the United States. Crews are also allowed to be made up of rowers from multiple clubs (known as “composite” crews), but if you place the points you get won’t go towards the team points trophy.
