Coxing Leadership Program
Please Join Us
Coxswains who apply before January 31 will receive a Sparks Arc'Teryx Beta GORE-TEX ePE jacket.
TBD
Category
Leadership
Ages
16
-
19
Advanced Water, Teamwork, & Racing
A small cohort of 6 coxswains or less, a dedicated coach, two regattas over two weeks - including one at Henley, the most famous regatta venue in the world - and the Thames. This is where the sport was born, the site of the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, and provides some of the most challenging racing to cox in the world.
Twice daily water sessions combine crew with coxswain training to prepare for racing. This camp combines with our Thames Racing Program to enable coxswains to go beyond honing technical coxing skills and do work with coaching on teamwork and leadership. The hybrid format enables you to cox the rowers you race with, which makes this program unique amongst our advanced coxswain camps given the rowers at the other camps are rented.
Our earlier dates session at Thames Rowing Club on the Tideway is our most selective program for advanced coxswains alongside our Coxing Leadership Program in Holland and can include collegiate athletes. At this camp, you'll cox the St. Neots and Henley Town & Visitors regattas your first and second weekends of the program. These are dual format 750-1,000m sprint regattas where losing boats are eliminated and winning boats move to the next round of racing.
The size of the cohort and length of the program allows for intensive work. Successful candidates for this program are able to utilize the personalized coaching and program length to address their personal strengths and weaknesses. Coxswains are expected to be self-motivated, mature, and engaged in their ability to support their own growth in London and their teammates' journeys.
This program features a 1:3 staff to athlete ratio - 1:6 on the operations side and 1:6 on the coaching side. As camp intensity increases, we find smaller ratios to be more supportive. Prior to camp, you will receive six months' access to Sparks coxswain eLearning to prepare. You will also complete required reading, pre-camp writing, and the British Rowing coxswains' safety course.
Coxswains at our leadership coxing programs also compete for a single recommendation at the end of camp from a notable member of the coaching staff. The point is to encourage a greater degree of competition within the program as much as to generate an award for the top coxswain, given competition's utility to raise awareness.
The most important element of our coxswain curriculum is pursuing greater awareness. The Thames itself will raise your awareness given the attention you'll need to pay to the course and its flow: just check out the video below. Intermediate steering and boat handling skills are a pre-requisite for this program given the challenge presented by the venue.
You can learn more about coxing in two weeks than some learn in two years, though much depends on your own thoughtfulness and ability to utilize the resources available to your advantage in a foreign country - particularly if the country is the motherland of the sport.
Given this is an advanced camp, you will partner with staff in your learning process. As we say in the admissions criteria, "you should have the desire to engage and manipulate the process and mechanisms of your development during camp." Good coxswains don't expect things on a silver platter - but rather take all the variables into account, adapt, and pursue improvement so the platter comes at the end of the regatta.
From the admissions process to the pre-camp writing, expect to form and share a vision of how camp might help you improve. Then expect to arrive at camp and take in the venue, coaching, athletes, and training and adapt your plan accordingly before communicating with coaching staff to implement a process of improvement to pursue your goals. This cycle of approach, adaptation, process, performance, and reflection is key to successful coxswain development.
You will be challenged to reflect on your experiences to crystallize what you're getting out them and to help you move forward in getting more. Your coaches and your team will provide much in the way of feedback and support. Of course, there's also the culture and beauty of London and England to experience along the way.
This program is selective in that experience and boat handling skills are necessary for safety on the Thames. Your coxing experience will be considered along with your goals, your essay, and your video interview. Sparks holds the most in-depth admissions process in rowing, and each candidate is considered on a case by case basis. The result are groups committed to each other and the sport.
Admissions
Sparks leadership level coxswain camps require coxswains know how to coach themselves prior to camp. They improve their process via intensely collaborative work within their cohort of six, their coxswain coach, and their operations staffer. Camp provides the contexts to test and improve your development processes with support from your cohort and coaching - but much like coxing - you can only be successful via engagement of your learning process.
First: You should understand your strengths and weaknesses as a coxswain so as to inform your plan for camp.
Second: You should have the emotional maturity necessary to support your cohort and while you each improve your personal processes of improvement during camp.
Third: You should have the desire to engage and manipulate the process and mechanisms of your development during camp.
Athletes accepted to our coxing leadership programs tend to be older - with rising seniors/grade 12/upper sixth in the largest group, then split evenly between incoming collegiate/university first-year athletes and rising juniors/grade 11/lower sixth.
Step 1: Initial Application
Submit your registration and pay the $895 deposit; we will accept the deposit to process your application and hold your place. If you are not offered a place, the full deposit is refundable.
Step 2: Written Application
This program informs athletes' approach to rowing performance by enabling the self awareness to guide independent development. Athletes should possess a prior relationship with rowing performance, strong drive to learn and improve, and an adventurous spirit.
The Coxswain Leadership Program Written Application is comprised of six response prompts:
- Tell us about a specific time a high level of awareness has been required of you as a coxswain.
- Evaluate your coxing ability: what are your strengths and weaknesses?
- If possible, include an in-depth evaluation of your boat handling and steering abilities.
- If possible, include an in-depth evaluation of your boat handling and steering abilities.
- How have you tried to coach yourself?
- How do you think this program could help you?
- Evaluate yourself as a teammate. Discuss the ways you are a supportive teammate and explain how you'd like to grow.
- Provide a brief summary of your coxing experience.
The prompts will be submitted on your Sparks user dashboard and are due within 14 days of initial application.
Step 3: Zoom Interview
You will schedule your interview from your Sparks user dashboard after you submit your written application. During the interview we will talk about the program, your written application, and how the opportunity aligns with your experience, values, and goals.
Step 4: Decision
Upon acceptance full payment is due by March 1. Full payment is due within 14 days for applications received after March 1.
Admissions occurs on a rolling basis. Timeline for decisions is within a week of the interview; if your timeline is shorter, we can work with you. Written applications must be submitted within 14 days of initial application, and interviews must be scheduled within 30 days of initial application.
Included in Camp Fee
Lodging and Meals
Camp Gear
Coaching & Equipment
1:3 Staff to Athlete Ratio
6 Months of Sparks Coxswain eLearning
British Rowing Steering Course
Not Included in Camp Fee
Personal Gear
Airfare to and from camp
Trip Protection (strongly recommended) - Learn More
Week 1: Approach and Adapt
After everyone is collected, we'll spend some time getting to know each other, our athletes, our staff and coaches, and talk about our goals. We'll also orientate to the site. You'll need to quickly become aware of boat handling complexities on the Thames, coxing protocols, your athletes, their training, and your coaches. Staff will challenge you to utilize all of that new information and adapt your process of improvement to meet your goals during the program.
We'll race the St Neots Regatta on Saturday, which is a dual format sprint regatta meant to prepare the group for Henley. Coxswains will be selected for boatings and crews will race multiple times if they are not eliminated. Then, we'll spend time seeing the sites in London - from Buckingham Palace to Big Ben - on Sunday!
Week 2: Process and Perform
Now that you've got an approach that takes all the variables into account, we'll spend time reviewing your process of self-evaluation and goal setting. If you have not already, you can begin to apply your process of improvement to the specific items you mentioned in your admissions essay. Steering will continue to be a challenge for everyone, though you will be able to use it to the advantage of your steering skills and enjoy sharing that experience with your fellow coxswains.
We'll begin prep for Henley Town and Visitor's Regatta. All athletes (including coxswains) will undergo selection for boatings. Henley Town and Visitor's is a 800m dual elimination format race on the Henley Royal Regatta Course. Again, crews will race multiple times if they are not eliminated.
Accomodations
The group stays the entire camp in a three star hotel, which is walkable from the training venue.
At A Glance
Excellent Staff at Low Ratios
Thoughtful Admissions
High Standards of Behavior
Reading and Writing at Camp
Healthy Hospitality
The Reflective Cycle
Camp Focuses
Teamwork
Racing
Coxing
Large Boats
Leadership
FAQ
What is the cancellation/refund policy?
Camp purchases are fully refundable minus transaction fees until March 1 for summer camps.
- We strongly recommend you purchase travel protection with cancel for any reason coverage.
- We offer these plans from Travel Insured International during the check-out process for our four and five day camps and during final balance payment for deposit-based multi-week camps.
- Learn more about travel protection here
- If you withdraw after the above dates, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever (including, but not limited to: voluntary withdraw, illness or injury, summer school, security concerns or other reasons).
- If your camper leaves camp after it starts, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to: voluntary withdrawal, illness or injury, dismissal by Sparks (due to discipline, behavior, lack of fitness or motivation, etc.) security concerns, or any other reason. Any costs incurred by Sparks as a result of an early departure are the sole responsibility of the parents
- In the unlikely case a camp does not proceed, we'll work to notify you by March 1. You'll be offered a different program or a refund. In some cases, we may extend the 'go, no-go' date. We recomend buying your flight after March 1 or later, if we advise.
Do you offer scholarships or discounts?
We do not offer discounts on our Coxing Leadership Programs.
Regarding Scholarships:
Please see this link to our NCAA Compliance webpage
What level of experience is necessary for this program?
100% engagement with the sport, a prior relationship with rowing performance, and a strong desire to improve in coaching yourself are pre-cursors to success at our leadership level coxswain camps. As with all of our leadership level programs: what you put in is what you'll get out.
Experience levels vary, but average around 2.5 years. Given the level of applied critical thinking necessary, successful applicants tend to be older. Safety on the Tideway also demands above average boat handling and steering skills, which we evaluate on a case by case basis in the admissions process.
The goal of this camp is for you to improve in how you coach yourself to perform. As a result: we seek thoughtful, courageous individuals who desire challenge in their relationship with rowing performance in order to grow as athletes and people.
Tell me more about admissions for this program - how selective is it?
We are selective in our admissions process for this program - safety on the Tideway demands steering and boat handling skills in the US junior level's top percentiles. Beyond that, we expect athletes to have the coxing self-awareness to know their strengths and weaknesses and actively communicate with coaching staff in addressing their improvement. The size of this program and the availability of coaching makes it imperative that students participate in driving their learning process.
Ideal candidates will be adaptable and excellent communicators given the need for the skills in coxing success. Coxswains who wish to apply must by necessity be more mature in their daily comportment and decision-making than the average high school athlete.
Finally, we also consider your ability to live, train, and support others in a community committed to utilizing challenge for personal growth. Sparks camps are unlike traditional training camps in that progress in self-awareness per your relationship with performance is as important as acute technical progress. Ideal candidates will complete the program with gains in both self-awareness and corresponding leadership ability as well as higher coxing and racing IQs.
We welcome your questions either via phone or in the chat box in the right hand corner.
What differentiates Sparks camps and this program specifically?
We are the only camp in rowing with a full-time staff that has academic and professional backgrounds in experiential education. We also have a summer operations staff (many are returners that teach during the school year) who buy into the idea of personal growth at camp not just for campers - but for themselves as well.
The result is a culture sincerely committed to the power of rowing as a personally transformative experience built on vulnerability, thoughtfulness, responsibility, and initiative. These qualities along with our values of growth, kaizen, and plus one stroke dictate the culture our camp community forms around. Our focus is on utilizing rowing to create the self-awareness necessary to master one's relationship with performance.
England is a small coxswain cohort with a dedicated coach: 6 coxswains. Second, coxswains will participate in hybrid rowing/coxing training that enables them to focus on improving their coxing skill while also participating on a racing team. Third, athletes will race in two regattas. We could go on about individual attention, improvement, supportive peers, and fun - but we hope you get the picture!
What can you tell me about college recruiting and this program?
It's important to say that coxswain recruiting is no piece of cake regardless of who you are or what you've done.
First and foremost: you need excellent academics. Coxswains are given slots to selective institutions, but their ability to raise class average is often leveraged to the disadvantage of coxswains with average grades.
Second, you need a level of experience that makes collegiate recruiters feel confident in your management ability specific to their teams. This is partially about what we call "coxing IQ" - and we can help you with that at camp, but by no means does working with us guarantee a high success rate with recruiting. Your ability to communicate effectively with recruiters dictates as much about coxswain recruiting success as your experiences.
Regardless, rising Division I scholarship athletes have attended this camp. We have had a number of program alumni who have been recruited on the Division I level - and even receive scholarship dollars for coxing, which is a true rarity - but our belief is that recruiting is a byproduct of a deep relationship with the sport and appropriate school "fit."
You can come to Englandd and learn a lot more about coxing, improve tremendously, and be able to speak with recruiters with far more rowing IQ than other recruits, but you will still have some miles to go to lock that slot down given how competitive coxswain recruiting is. We're excited to cheer you on!
How big is the program?
The cohort size is six coxswains, with one dedicated coach and operations staffer - for a 1:3 staff to coxswain ratio.
This cohort combines with our Thames Racing Challenge Camp. Total group size in London maxes at 26 - with a max of four coaches and four to five operations staffers to maintain our 1:3 staff to camper ratio. The number of rowers enables up to five coxed fours and/or two eights for each of the races - producing the opportunity for selection as a learning opportunity for the coxing program.
The size of the group allows students to experience varying degrees of connection with different instructors and peers. Activities occur in large and small group formats to build community and enable exposure to all instructors and peers throughout camp.
At Sparks, we have reflected deeply on optimal group size for camp type and length after over a decade of running rowing camps. The standard in the outdoors education (e.g. hiking trips) is 12 campers at a 1:6 ratio with staff - who are generally undergraduates. We have improved this model for this large boat camp with a larger maximum group size for a better team feel while pushing ratios down with highly qualified staff (educators with graduate degrees are normal in our staff pool) and an organized structure to better affect consistent performance improvement.
What can you tell me about housing and supervision at camp?
Campers will stay at the MK London hotel - a 10 minute walk from the Putney embankment.
At Sparks camps, we have two staffs: a coaching staff and an operations staff. Our operations staff is responsible for the experiential education and pastoral care at camp. We seek to maintain industry-leading 1:3 staff to student ratios at this program.
The staff lives amongst the athletes, and has oversight 24 hours a day. Unhealthy substances and/or behaviors are strictly prohibited.
Tell me about safety at Sparks
We employ safety and risk management practices from the adventure education industry, where some risk is inherent but must be quantified insofar as educational value. These practices are initially employed in program design and we work hard to train operations staff to seek to maintain an awareness of specific risks at all times. No outdoors programming can guarantee safety, however professional management of risk is key to the art of providing consistently excellent experiential education programming.
Please also see our essential eligibility criteria here.
How do you handle travel to/from the camp?
Travel to and from London is not as big a deal as getting to Japan, but we recognize it's definitely a bigger deal than flying domestically. We seek to help families connect who would like their students to travel together, but there are a lot of ways to fly direct to London (LON). We provide a direct flight recommendation from a major US hub for those who would like to fly together.
The journey itself is part of the experience. Our international camps invite athletes to take a personal journey with the sport at its center. The time and maturity required in getting to and from London enforces a sense of distance and accomplishment in itself.
Our Program Director (already on the ground in England as students depart) tracks student travel into London, where they are picked up from the airport.
Needless to say, you will fill out a travel form after registration that enables our staff to make sure your camper arrives and departs camp safely.
If your camper needs to depart the day after the program ends, we will have a staff member at the Holiday Inn Express: London Heathrow T4 the final night of the program. Staff cannot be responsible for campers as the camp will have ended, but they will be able to help your camper get checked in and answer questions.
If you have questions, we're happy to answer them in the box in the lower right side, or you can schedule a call with us.
I have questions before I apply. Is it possible to speak with someone?
Certainly - we completely understand your need to connect about this commitment!
We just ask you schedule a call with us (click here) given we're a very small office.
Where are camp forms found?
Camp forms are issued at least six weeks prior to camp on our site via your dashboard.