FREE Resources for High School Coxswains

PickyKidPix is a coxswain at CRI and is highly motivated to improve so that she can cox in college. I was a coxswain at Radcliffe, back in the day when they had a Freshman program, and the minimum weight for women’s coxs was 100 pounds. Now it’s 110 pounds.

Things have changed in college women’s rowing since I was in college thirty years ago. With Title 9 as boon, women’s college rowing has grown tremendously, and with it, an industry for rowers and coxswains to help them get recruited.

This is my working list as I learn more about resources for coxswains, rowers, and the college recruiting process (which is so different from soccer). Still, the NCAA rules are the same and I have a post on that: How to Get an Athletic Scholarship, though only 2% of athletes get a full ride scholarship (Full Ride Scholarships are Rare).

Free Great Advice for Coxswains

1. Coxswain Nation: advice from Yaz, DVDs for purchase, and downloadable PDFs and links. Lots of great resources, many of it free.

Yasmin “Yaz” Farooq has been involved in coxing and coaching for over 30 years. As the coxswain for the United States National Team from 1989 to 1996, she competed in the 1992 & 1996 Olympic Games. She was captain of the Olympic Women’s Rowing Team at the Atlanta Olympics. She was the head coach at Stanford University from 2006-2016 and won a National Championship in 2009, along with five podium finishes. She was also the on-air rowing analyst for NBC’s telecasts of the Olympic Games from 2000-2012. Yaz was inducted into the National Rowing Foundation Hall of Fame in 2014.

2. Ready All Row: coxswain recordings, feedback on your recordings. Kayleigh D. shares free advice and resources. She’s MIT Heavyweight Men’s Volunteer Assistant Coxswain Coach.

Do you have a question about rowing or coxing? Are you a coxswain looking for someone to listen to, critique, and/or give you feedback on your recordings? If so, send me an email at rowingandcoxing@gmail.com.

Coxswain Camps

1. The 9th Seat: coxswain-specific summer camps with Olympic coxswain, Mary Whipple. 5 Days in Seattle at the University of Washington’s Conibear Shellhouse. Campers will be staying on the University of Washington’s Campus in either Haggett Hall or McCarty Hall. The Coxswain Leadership camp costs $1950. The Rowing Camp at the University of Washington costs $1250. The Coxswain leadership camp is limited to only 20 coxswains to ensure a 5 to 1 coach-to-student ratio for quality coxswain instruction.  Each camper will have the opportunity to work directly with Mary Whipple within the group setting when we listen and constructively critique the camper’s audio examples.

2. Development Camps/U.S. Rowing Junior National Team: Identification Camp.

Can coxswains attend Identification Camps?

Yes, coxswains can also attend ID camps. Coxswains should bring recordings of themselves during both practice and a race so that coaches can get an idea of their skill level and style. Depending on the location, weather, and number of athletes at the camp, there may be an opportunity to cox on the water.  Please note that the International weight for female coxswains is 110.2 and male coxswains is 121.5.  We need coxswains that can live and train comfortably at weight.

After you have attended an ID Camp, national team coaches will contact you directly if you have earned an invitation to a selection or development camp. Invites are typically sent out via e-mail in early April, around 30 days after the last Identification Camp has been held. Athletes will only be contacted if they have been invited.

Women’s Camps:

• Selection (Jr Worlds Team):
  • 4 to 6 coxswains 
  • ’98’s are eligible for this camp only
• High Performance Team: 
  • 4 coxswains 1999 or younger
• Development:
  • 5 coxswains
  • ’00’s or younger

3. Row 2K Rowing Camps: A directory of rowing and coxswain camps.

4. Stanford Overnight Rowing/Cox Camp: Eligibility: Co-ed ages 14-18 with at least one full year of rowing experience. 4 Full Days, $1095.

5. Cox Only Camp: Sparks Consulting. My daughter’s friend went to the camp in Connecticut but doesn’t recommend it. They do an hour of public shaming feedback to rowers and coxswains that is probably meant to toughen them up, Marine style, but it didn’t sit well with her.

College Counseling for Rowers and Coxswains

Rower’s Edge: Rowing-specific college coaching. Does not include the academic piece. Has a la carte offerings: $850 for a 2-hour overview of colleges and rowing programs, $2200ish for college counseling specific to getting recruited for rowing through July of Junior Year. I think the last piece is $2400 or so and that focuses on college Official Visits and sealing the deal for July year through the end of Senior year of high school. Their qualifications are that they are parents of rowers/coxswains at CRI and have rowing-specific knowledge of the recruiting process. One is an ex-CPA; the other is an ex-attorney.

Top Division 1, 2, and 3 Colleges for Rowing

1. College Rowing database at Sparks website. There are search filters as well. These are academically selective colleges with rowing programs.

Division 1 Rowing Programs at Academically Selective Colleges

Boston University, Boston, MA, Division 1 (29% acceptance rate)
Brown University, Providence, RI, Division 1 (9% acceptance rate)
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, Division 1 (24.8% acceptance rate)
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, Division 1 (28.7% acceptance rate)
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, Division 1 (37% acceptance rate)
Columbia University, New York, NY, Division 1 (6% acceptance rate)
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Division 1 (14% acceptance rate)
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, Division 1 (5.2% acceptance rate)
Duke University, Durham, NC, Division 1 (10.4% acceptance rate)
Georgetown University, Washington, DC, Division 1 (16.4% acceptance rate)
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Division 1 (5.2% acceptance rate)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, Division 1 (7.9% acceptance rate)
Northeastern University, Boston, MA, Division 1 (28% acceptance rate)
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Division 1 (6.5% acceptance rate)
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, Division 1 (4.7% acceptance rate)
U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, Division 1 (7.9% acceptance rate)
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, Division 1 (17.5% acceptance rate)
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, Division 1 (18% acceptance rate)
University of Miami (Florida), Coral Gables, FL, Division 1 (37.8% acceptance rate)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Division 1 (28.6% acceptance rate)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Division 1 (30% acceptance rate)
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, Division 1 (18.3% acceptance rate)
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Division 1 (9.4% acceptance rate)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, Division 1 (16.5% acceptance rate)
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Division 1 (29% acceptance rate)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Division 1 (53% acceptance rate)
Yale University, New Haven, CT, Division 1 (6.3% acceptance rate)

Division 2 Rowing Programs at Academically Selective Colleges

University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, Division 2 (35.9% acceptance rate)

Division 3 Rowing Programs at Academically Selective Colleges

Bates College, Lewiston, ME, Division 3 (21.8% acceptance rate)

Colby College, Waterville, ME, Division 3 (17.5% acceptance rate)

Connecticut College, New London, CT, Division 3 (40% acceptance rate)

Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, Division 3 (32% acceptance rate)

Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, Division 3 (25% acceptance rate)

Smith College, Northhampton, MA, Division 3 (36% acceptance rate)

Trinity College (Connecticut), Hartford, CT, Division 3 (33% acceptance rate)

Tufts University, Medford, MA, Division 3 (14% acceptance rate)

Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, Division 3 (28% acceptance rate)

Wesleyan University (Connecticut), Middletown, CT, Division 3 (17.7% acceptance rate)

Williams College, Williamstown, MA, Division 3 (16.8% acceptance rate)

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, Division 3 (25.6% acceptance rate)

Union College (New York), Schenectady, NY, Division 3 (36% acceptance rate)

U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, CT, Division 3 (16% acceptance rate)

Club Rowing Programs at Academically Selective Colleges

Amherst College, Amherst, MA, club sport (14% acceptance rate)

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, club sport (14.3% acceptance rate)

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, club sport (25% acceptance rate)

Haverford College, Haverford, PA, club sport (21% acceptance rate)

Lafayette College, Easton, PA, club sport (28.2% acceptance rate)

Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, club sport (16% acceptance rate)

University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, club sport (40.7% acceptance rate)

Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, club sport (16.2% acceptance rate)

2. NCAA Division 1 College Women’s Rowing Ranking

NCAA Division 1 College Women’s Rowing Championship History

NCAA Division 2 College Women’s Rowing Ranking

NCAA Division 2 College Women’s Rowing Championship History

NCAA Division 3 College Women’s Rowing Ranking

NCAA Division 3 College Women’s Rowing Championship Ranking