Youth Rowing: when is young too young?

We have seen a sudden resurgence in rowing in the past few years, especially among the younger cohort. This is great for the years that are at the right age to row, but what about those who are too young to start? The youngest beginners tend to be around age 10, or sometimes younger.

As I’m sure we have all found, rowing is an enjoyable way to keep fit. The feeling of being on the water can bring many of us stress release. Even when doing a piece, the ability to switch off from everything around us in life and focus on one thing is beneficial, especially during periods of high stress. This benefit can also apply to those younger. Being young does not exclude them from having to deal with stress, and this ability to switch off could be a helpful tool in helping younger people with mental health.

Getting younger people into rowing early ensures that there will be a reasonably sized cohort. Rather than waiting for a massive rush of new rowers at J14, a young start to rowing would ensure a drip feed. This rush to join rowing usually means that it is not sustainable for keeping squad numbers. A drip feed would allow new rowers to get engaged with rowing, and with a smaller squad, it will ensure that they get high-quality coaching, but most of all, that they enjoy it. Further, it would will allow a higher retention rate among rowers, as many squads tend to reduce drastically in size between J14 and J15.

While there are positives in allowing younger rowing squads, there is one notable problem, growth and development. If proper technique is followed, the risk of injury is low. However, if you do not have good technique and posture, there is a high risk of injury, especially to the back. To achieve proper technique, coaches would need to spend thorough time with each rower to ensure they have the correct technique and posture when rowing. If rowers aren’t looked after properly, injuries could end up being long-term, ending a career’s before all potential has been reached.

Not only that, but rowing requires a lot of strength, which younger ages may not have, due to their young age and lack of muscle development. The workload on the indoor rowing machine is up to 4.6 times your body weight, with similar amounts on the water, and with rowing being highly repetitive, this load is pulled regularly. The lack of strength at such a young age would make rowing a lot more strenuous than it already is for senior rowers. Adding onto that, if they are rowing on the water, it will be fairly difficult for them to lift boats, especially as beginner boats, which tend to be quite wide to help balance, can be quite heavy, and with J14s struggling to lift these boats, children younger are going to have a much harder time . Even with assistance from a coach, it will not make the outing easy.

So is there a middle ground? Yes. Younger rowers could row in small boats and sessions, ensuring they are getting the necessary attention from coaches to allow them to be technically proficient. These should also be fun, to help ensure long-term participation in rowing. Another option is for younger years to cox, which could fill any gaps years may have in terms of coxing. Or, to ensure that they up are for rowing when the time comes for them to start, future rowers could participate in strength and conditioning sessions, to help with muscle development, however I feel this will largely remained ignored by rowing schools (which ultimately determine the patterns of competition in younger age groups) due to both lack of resources and a hyper-focus on ‘first boats’.

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Lily Nguyen

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