A large part of the presentations we sometimes give to teams deals with the various mechanisms utilized to support athletes in the admissions process. We deal with this everyday in our counseling practice – however, with the mission of serving both the college rowing community and our clients. As such, it is our mission to […]
Our consultants are often asked “what regatta results belong on my rowing resume?” or “what should my coach put in their reference?” There is a general human desire to standardize things. Much like what we’re about to discuss in this article, many have asked us about parity according to division in erg scores – i.e. […]
In a previous post we wrote how one of the most important advantages you can give yourself as a recruit is to submit video. This is absolutely true, and in this article we’ll talk about how to do video the right way to maximize that advantage. Hardware Video technology has come a long way in […]
As a senior in high school, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I signed my National Letter of Intent. The transition from high school rowing to college rowing was definitely no walk in the park. College rowing was a means to an end for this 110lb, Hoosier with big dreams […]
Complex training programs, fancy functional exercises, and “rah-rah” motivational speeches are necessary to having a winning season, but many athletes and even coaches forget to plan the most important thing: Recovery. We can be so focused on the end results, we forget to plan for athletes recovering between important workouts and regattas. This was apparent […]
I am often asked, “what is the best way to make the national team?” I love this great question because it tells me a coxswain has a goal and willing to work for it. This question is even more important this year as we will have three Sparks coxswains vying for different US Junior National […]
“When I first started I was horrifically unathletic,” said Michelle Sechser. “I couldn’t even do the warm-up run.” In high school at Capital Crew, Head Coach Chris Manibusan saw something special in Sechser and worked to turn her raw material into speed. Sechser eventually pulled a 7:16 on a 2K erg test as a junior […]
We get a lot of questions about the recruiting benefits of institutional (short term) rowing camps. In other sports, attending an institution’s camp is one way to gain recruiting interest. However, in rowing this is not generally the case. We also receive a lot of question about longer term, more competitive camps, which can have […]
The NCAA defines a recruiting service as a firm that provides information on “potential student athletes” (PSAs) to “member institutions”(college programs). Essentially, recruiting services act as third party facilitators for the recruiting process. Sparks is often mistaken for a recruiting service given the firm works with junior rowers and coxswains on recruiting, but our function […]
The NCAA has announced that effective August 1, college recruiters may contact juniors via text, phone call, or e-mail starting September 1 of their junior year, which means recruiting season may be starting earlier for juniors. Previously, coaches were not allowed to call athletes until July 1 before their senior year. They could still e-mail […]
Whenever we give a presentation to rowing teams about the recruiting process, someone generally raises their hand and asks what are the Women’s or Men’s “Division I 2K erg times” or similar. The question indicates a disconnect in understanding the use of 2K scores in the college recruiting process and is definitely worth exploring because there is a lot of complexity […]
Back when I was coaching and recruiting rowers at Louisville, Florida Tech, and other programs, I always looked at three major factors beyond the usuals of erg score, height/weight, and grades. Ergs are definitely important when predicting future boat speed, but I consider these other three factors to be key differentiators. This is especially important when […]
The collegiate athletic scholarship has long been a mark of pride for those that receive it and their families – especially in an esteemed sport like rowing. However, there are a number of assumptions about coxing & rowing scholarships that cloud junior athletes’ understanding of them and families’ ability to evaluate their meaning in the […]
Writing an op-ed piece in our newsletter, I feel kind of like the executives who write columns in their airline magazines–does anyone actually read that stuff? I’ll endeavor to be entertaining here, brief, and informative, though my topic this quarter is something I could write volumes on: the importance of developing self-awareness during the recruiting […]
Before the start of his freshman year at Wisconsin, Ross received a recruiting postcard from the crew team. The postcard sparked his interest, claiming that height was an advantage in non-ball sport. Ross and his twin brother, Grant James, were sought out at freshman orientation for their looming height of 6’5″ and broad build. There […]
This is an interview with Kevin Harris, head coach of Tulsa University women’s rowing. The subject is “growth of collegiate women’s rowing in the Midwest.” Coach Harris has been at the helm of Tulsa’s rowing program for the past 12 seasons. Tulsa competes in Conference USA.
“Keep your mouth shut. Don’t tell me–Show me!” The number one thing most coxswains (including me) like to do is tell everyone just how good we are at coxing. We like to talk, because it is part of our job. So we talk, and talk, and talk some more. We tell our parents that we […]
For this article, we polled a group of coaches from universities all across the country–men’s and women’s programs–to find out what the top mistakes recruits are making during the recruiting process. If you’re a junior rower (or the parent of one) and you’re interested in getting recruited for the next level, check out these 17 […]
There’s a wide range of rowing programs to pick from and if you’re a junior athlete looking to row in college, you might ask yourself, what type of program is right for you? For this article, I want to do a compare and contrast of the various program types and add in a little of […]