Three Smartphone Apps Every Rowing Coach Needs to Have.

It is a cliche at this point to say, “There is an app for everything.” Even in our community of competitive rowing, there are always new apps for the iPhone and Android springing up to make the coach’s (and by extension the club’s and the athletes’) life just a little easier. 

If you run a search for ‘rowing’ in either of the app stores, hundreds of titles come up.  Many apps are out of date, and some of them are just fitness apps that include “rowing” in the search terms to improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A coach could go crazy trying to determine which apps work, which don’t, and lose a small fortune in $.99 increments in the meantime.

I’m going to share with you three apps I know work really well, have an established customer base, are very well vetted, and that I believe every rowing coach (and rowing club by extension) should be using. 

1. CrewNerd (for iPhone and Android – $49.99)

I’ve been using CrewNerd for over a decade at this point. This app is essentially a NK GPS Speedcoach on your phone. The price point may be intimidating for some, but the useful life of this app puts the cost for me at less than a penny a day. My typical usage is to simply let the app run in the launch to gauge boat speed while running alongside a crew (or even crews). I find that it is typically accurate within +/- 2 split seconds if I’m effectively tracking the crew. You can also use it to mark out distances with some accuracy, with the margin of error within 5-10 meters. You can use it to track stroke rating by just tapping the “SPM” window. It is designed to be used in the rowing shell (like an NK Speedcoach), so it has functions like meters per stroke and stern check. (Which I’ve never tested, I’m not brave enough to have my phone that close to the water.)  I never used it much as a workout programming tool, but you can program workouts into it (and it does have some pre-sets like 2K, 1K, 500m, 500m on 3’ rest etc.) Finally, if you’re really committed enough, you can track the workout and interval data and export it. 

For me (and I think many other coaches) it serves as an effective dashboard for a training session, providing distance, speed, and occasional rating when needed. Use it consistently enough and you eventually learn to gauge things like current and crew fatigue based on how fast or slow a crew is going at a particular point in the training session. There is always the risk to losing your phone while on the water. This has never been a problem for me, but there are steps you can take to either safely tether your phone or secure it in a water-tight and buoyant case. 

2. RowHero (for iPhone and Android – Variable subscription pricing per athlete)

This is a newer app on the market, albeit one that continues to impress me. Originally designed as an erg data aggregation tool, over the years it has become so much more than that. 

The idea behind RowHero is that every athlete on a team can download the app on their phone, connect the phone to the erg via bluetooth (this would require a bluetooth enabled PM5 monitor), and their erg scores would be automatically be uploaded to the cloud to be accessed by the coach (or anyone else on the team). My first reaction to seeing this app was admittedly, “Well, this is what coxswains are for, right?” After 27 years of confusing notation, complaints from rowers, and the dreaded, “I forgot to write down their score so now I have to find the erg they were on (even though they’ve all been put away) and look up its history etc.”, I’ve changed my mind. I’ve come around to the idea that this app is more reliable than your gaggle of well-intended but error-prone coxswains, and since it first came out, RowHero has been actively working to improve its functionality:

• The app allows for real time tracking of erg performance during a workout. Tired of bouncing between two athletes that are within tenths of seconds of each other on the 2K but 10 ergs apart? Just stand behind one and have the other’s open on your phone. Or just chill at the back of the erg room and just scroll……
• The app automatically graphs data (split, rating, watts, etc) so you can review the literal ups and downs of a piece/workout with an athlete. It also offers a more detailed force curve than just the PM5 monitor. 
• One feature that I believe to be unique to this app is the “off strokes” button. The app will identify the specific strokes that are egregiously off of the average pace and highlight them. From a coaching perspective, it is incredibly valuable to identify the exact “breaking point” for an athlete, and to review that moment with them. Is everyone on the team having “off strokes” around the same point in the piece? Then you know where you need to focus your training efforts. 
• Finally, another step forward towards a paperless coach’s office is always good. Say goodby to the random erg score notes and messy, sweaty handwriting!

3. iCrew (for iPhone, Android and PC – Variable subscription pricing per athlete)*

Finally, for a complete boathouse and athlete/squad/team management solution, iCrew is the most popular and feature rich in the rowing community. Boasting over a 100 customers world-wide, iCrew has proven itself an effective, reliable and well-vetted system. 

iCrew attempts to organize the two biggest variables in day-to-day rowing club operations; athletes and equipment. With this service, coaches and administrators can actively track athlete attendance/activity/performance, boat usage & maintenance, and team/squad scheduling for practice and regatta planning. The system also has a billing feature which allows for active dues management. No more questions around who is current for the month! 

The overwhelming number of features for this service precludes listing them all for time and space limitations. What I have found most effective about this service via smartphone is the ability to

assign assets (athletes or boats) tactically. Having the service in your hand around the boathouse or in the launch makes this tool indispensable when managing people and maintaining equipment.

The smartphone as we know it today has a million other “applications” for day to day training use. One of the most obvious is of course taking pictures and video for sharing and athlete review. I also like to record training notes on the water with my phone. Just take a video of the interval times recorded on your NK stopwatch, with verbal notes on conditions, switches, lineups etc. and you completely remove the need for a notebook in the launch. 

There are other rowing apps out on the market in various states of development. The three detailed here are apps that I would recommend with a clear utility, an established user base and are well vetted by that customer base. For specifics regarding pricing and functionality I recommend you reach out to the developers directly. As the rowing community continues to grow, and new operational and strategic challenges appear, I expect these apps will grow with those challenges.

*iCrew is a client of Madder Consulting. iCrew did not compensate Madder Consulting or JRN in any way for the writing, editing or publishing of this article.”

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John Wojtkiewicz

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