The US Junior National Team runs a selection process every year based of athletes' birth years. Kids attend “ID Camps” around the country early in the Spring where they’ll pull an erg and go on the water. The athlete is then required to update the junior team coaches on their progress. Based on their progress, they’ll either be invited to development, high performance, or selection camp.
The third tier of the programming is known as "Olympic Development" - but competes with many private camps around the US, and this has caused discord in the rowing community as the private camps dispute the use of the word "Olympic" to describe a C-tier program. In our experience, this level of camp does not help with recruiting prospects.
Development camp is the second tier and generally made up of four eights and is typically for freshman and sophomore kids who have potential. Inside the community, it is still considered an honor to be a part of this camp and it is considered to be the building block of the US Junior National Team.
High performance camp is the next tier. The men's and women's camps run differently. The men's camp sends their top four to the World Championships whereas on the women's side the top 8+ head to the CanAmMex regatta (Canada/US/Mexico). Depending on their ranking, athletes will compete at different final regattas - click here for more.
Selection camp is made up of kids who have the potential and athletic maturity to attend the Junior World Championships in late summer, regardless of date of birth. It is as it sounds - a selection program for the junior world championships, and attendance does not guarantee a seat. Though it is not always the case, many who attend this camp will have attended development or high performance camp previously. The selection processes generally takes three weeks. If selected, these camps will generally take a student’s entire summer, but do contribute to their recruiting processes.
