To win Henley Royal Regatta at junior level remains the inarguable peak of any young rower’s career. Many would trade international vests, national titles and everything in between for a precious red box and the four Trophies on offer to juniors limit the winning allocation to just 26 athletes per year. Behind the ever-increasing competitiveness of events like The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup though is an arms race for talent that is slowly but surely consuming the junior rowing community and consolidating ever-greater power in the hands of a few key schools.
Recruitment is no new phenomena in rowing. The major US universities – who stand alone as the world’s premier collegiate rowing institutions – have been hoovering up talent from across the globe for years. Only Oxford Brookes have come close to matching their searing pace. Within junior rowing though, the same trend has begun to take hold in the UK.
Several of the most impressive junior performances at Henley Royal Regatta in the recent past have come from schools and colleges whose recruiting drive has led them to build boats of athletes who are almost entirely imported. Often, young athletes develop from entry to the sport to the age of 15 or 16 at a local club before a larger school swoops in with a lucrative scholarship that offers both significant on and off-water opportunities. The question is whether this is an important catalyst for performance improvement in the UK – in an era when international competition seem unable to break the domestic stranglehold on Henley Royal Regatta Trophies – or whether it is damaging for the broader UK rowing community.
Speaking to one junior coach – who until recently led a club program – the feelings are mixed. “It’s clearly a fantastic opportunity for the kids,” they acknowledged. “These larger schools and colleges are using rowing as a way to improve these children’s outlook. One of our girls took one of these scholarships at 50%, which was a life-changing moment for her and her family.”
On the other hand, the persuasive nature of money has laid waste to many a promising junior crew. “We had a really strong J16 boat a couple of years,” said the former junior club coach. “They were all approached by large programs and three of the four left the club, leaving one of the athletes on their own, which then led them to leave for a neighboring club. We had another athlete this year who was showing promise but was approached by a school with an impossible-to-turn-down scholarship. It makes it really challenging for clubs to stay afloat if all of their talent is being poached.”
Another prominent rowing coach – who leads a top school program here in the UK – also raised concerns about the mass migration of talent. “Since the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup has opened to clubs, there has been an influx of US crews but nothing from the UK,” they noted. “Part of the reason is that there’s a few schools that recruit all the talent from the clubs. It’s getting to a point where some school first eights are 100% imported and on rowing scholarships.”
They continued: “The purpose of opening up the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup was to encourage the development of clubs. This isn’t possible with top schools recruiting all their best athletes. Some feedback I’ve had from club coaches is that it causes the non-recruited athletes to quit as their squads get decimated as soon as they have any talent. We have to invest heavily in coaching and resources to develop our own talent in order to compete with them.”
It’s important though to acknowledge the opportunities these scholarships provide to young people who otherwise may not be able to access that quality of coaching and education.
Schooling in this country – particularly at the top end – is brutally expensive and the gateway nature of our educational system means that parents will – rightly – do anything to ensure their children are in the best possible position to succeed. Partially or fully-funded scholarships to top schools that also provide a fantastic chance to excel in rowing – and potentially gain access to top-class universities, whose primary shopping list is the likes of regular Henley Royal Regatta finalist-calibre programs – are extremely hard to turn down.
Another leading coach from a UK-based school explained that the opportunities and pathways that private education can offer those who otherwise could not afford is a good thing.
“We are always very grateful for the work that has been invested into athletes up until year 12 from dedicated and often unpaid club coaches,” they explained. “However, if they truly want what is best for an athlete’s development (private education often has access to superior facilities and resources) and future (American universities contacts etc) then it is hard to not support the scholarship route into private education. I do completely understand and appreciate the frustration of losing athletes to scholarship programmes though.”
One way to perhaps stem the tide but still allow schools to provide these valuable openings to young people is to introduce a homegrown cap. Similar arrangements have been made in other sports, including football; the Homegrown Player Rule is an initiative of the English Premier League to allow for more domestic players to be developed from an earlier age in the hope of nurturing more homegrown talent.
Restricting recruitment entirely is not a fair or smart option but to ensure the continued lateral growth of the junior rowing pyramid – and not just deeper and taller concentration at the top-end – there is a strong case for some sort of intervention from either the national governing body or the top domestic races. Events like Henley Royal Regatta, the National Schools’ Regatta and the Schools’ Head of the River have significant sway over the community and if they were to look at some sort of homegrown quota for each school, college and club, it would immediately bring greater balance.
Recruitment is the name of the game for performance sport, whether we like it or not. The drive to win at the highest level – and the career-defining effect this can have on both athletes and coaches – mean that leading programs will do anything to create superior crews. Unfettered and unlimited access to the talent cohorts of thriving clubs is not a sustainable option for the community though and perhaps it is worth a reflection from decision-makers in our sport to ensure we have a wide pool from which to nurture the next generation of national, international and Olympic champions.
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