Coxing Leadership Program
Please Join Us - Coxswains who apply before January 31 will receive a Sparks Arc'Teryx Beta GORE-TEX ePE jacket.
The mission of Sparks leadership camps is to provide supportive opportunities for athletes to challenge themselves in their relationship with rowing performance so they might learn to coach themselves in a more poised, refined manner in rowing - and in life.
Category
Leadership
Ages
16
-
19
A New Level of Awareness
A small, intense cohort of 6 coxswains or fewer, a dedicated coach, racing, and a variety of crews enable you to intensively practice water skills as you wind through Amsterdam on the Amstel for two weeks prior to coxing racing shells at the Dutch International Youth Regatta - the power of awareness in coxing performance becomes extremely evident. You can learn more about coxing in two weeks than some learn in two years.
You'll engage in a coxswain coaching session and water session with different crews each day on the Bosbaan - one of the older and more storied courses in the sport - or the Amstel river, which runs through Amsterdam and contains centuries old bridges, barges, and a number of rowing shells. Steering and boat handling skills will be tested. The size of the cohort and length of the program allows for intensive work. The Dutch are famous for their direct, egalitarian nature - and you may find yourself enjoying communicating directly with your coaches and rowers to facilitate your growth.
This program aims to allow students to gain more confidence in their coxing identity by exercising their adaptability in a high rowing IQ culture. Different crews will require different things from you as a coxswain - you may cox a 70+ masters crew one session and a junior national team men's crew the next. The question is how you choose to adapt, and who that ultimately makes you as a coxswain.
You'll cox racing at the Dutch International Youth Regatta. The junior national championship regatta is a premier event in one of the world's top rowing countries. The Dutch rowing culture is extremely different, and Holland has historically been more successful at international rowing performance on a per capita basis than the US. Dutch athletes can qualify at the regatta for the Dutch national equipe, the Coupe de la Jeunesse, and the World Rowing Junior Championships, so stiff competition is guaranteed!
The only limit to your learning will be your own ability to process information at speed. Coxswain coaching focuses on building skills to help coxswains improve long after camp ends. Of course, there are distractions: your cohort combines with our Dutch Racing Challenge Program to form your camp community. You will get to know the rowers, lodge and eat with them, and do some site seeing as a group.
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 and pre-camp writing.
The most important element of our coxswain curriculum is pursuing greater awareness. Coxing in Holland will raise your awareness given the difference in the athletes' expectations, your ability to be clear with your command skills, and the differences in the general culture of rowing.
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 implementing a process of improvement to pursue your goals. This cycle of approach, adaptation, process, and performance is the key to successful coxing performance.
You will be challenged to reflect on your experiences such as 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 Amsterdam and Holland to experience along the way!
This program is selective in that experience is necessary to inform your process of approach and improvement. 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 a specific evaluation of your ability to adapt when working with different coaches and crews.
- If possible, include a specific evaluation of your ability to adapt when working with different coaches and crews.
- 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.
- Please 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
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 arrives, we'll get to know one another. We'll orient to the Amstel and Bosbaan, Dutch rowing protocols, and defining common vocabulary to use with the rowers. Dutch rowing water is very busy, the boats are more diverse, the rowers are direct with feedback, and you'll find the coaching style different - beyond the fact it's coming from a bicycle rather than a launch. Your initial time is about utilizing your situational awareness to adapt your process of improvement - all the while supported by your coach, our staff, and your cohort.
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.
We'll finish the program by racing the Dutch International Youth Regatta (Junior National Championship) regatta. Coxswains will race at least once with a Sparks or Dutch crew.
Accomodations
The group stays the entire camp in a two star hotel in South Amsterdam, close to Amstelveen.
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 recommend buying your flight after March 1 or later, if we advise.
What differentiates Sparks camps and the Dutch Coxing 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.
First, Holland is an incredibly small coxswain cohort to have a dedicated coach - 6 coxswains. Second, coxswains will have access to rented athletes similar to our domestic camps such that on-water training may be focused on them. Third, you race in the Dutch senior and junior national championships. We could go on about individual attention, improvement, supportive peers, and fun - but we hope you get the picture!
What level of experience is necessary for Holland?
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. Adaptability and resilience are critical to mastering the art of using your awareness to inform your coxing performance.
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 Dutch Coxing Program admissions - how selective is it?
We are selective in our admissions process for this program - ability to negotiate a foreign rowing culture and successfully implement a process of improvement over two weeks requires a familiarity with coxing that goes beyond many juniors. 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.
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 can you tell me about college recruiting and the Holland coxing 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 Holland 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.
The cohort combines with our Dutch Racing program (12 rowers) for group activities, lodging and meals. Total group size maxes at 18, with three coaches and three operations staffers - maintaining a 1:3 staff to camper ratio.
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 camp with a larger overall group size for a better team feel while pushing ratios down with highly qualified staff to better affect consistent performance.
What can you tell me about housing and supervision at camp?
Campers lodge in far south Amsterdam at an IBIS hotel and are combined with our rowing program to form a maximum group size of 18. We ride bikes throughout the city, which is the defacto Dutch mode of transportation (campers go through "bike safety school" at the start of the program)
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?
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 Amsterdam's Schipol (AMS). We provide a direct flight from a major US hub for campers interested in traveling together.
The journey itself is part of the experience. Our Program Director (already on the ground in Holland as students depart) tracks student travel into Amsterdam, where they are picked up from the airport.
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 camp ends, we will place a staff member at the CitizenM Schipol Airport that night; you can register for this option when you provide travel details. Staff cannot be responsible for campers as the camp will have ended, but they will be able to help your camper get checked into the hotel 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.