Rowers Choice - Innovating Rowing

3 time Olympian.

3 time World Champ.

Who wouldn't want to row for Bryan Volpenhein. Penn's Heavyweight mens rowing coach, Bryan Volpenhein, is a fierce competitor and is bringing that energy to Penn. Late to the sport, Bryan started rowing at Ohio State and quickly climbed the USRowing ladder. After a heartbreaking silver at the worlds in 2003, his race in Athens was legendary. Now Bryan is building Penn into a tough competitor.

Asiya Mahmud got her start at a small program in Oak Crest, NJ. Now she is the Associate Head Coach of Rowing at Drexel University. Additionally, Asiya spent the summer of 2021 coaching the US Junior National Womens 4+ to Gold at the world championships!

She is an amazing leader around the water and Drexel is very lucky to have her. To learn more about Drexel Rowing and connect with Asiya, check out Drexel Rowing at https://drexeldragons.com/sports/womens-crew/roster/coaches/asiya-mahmud/1475

Martin Stone got his start as a freshman at St. Marys College, started in a wooden Pocock 8+ and he was hooked! After coaching at Navy for a few years, Martin had the opportunity to build a program at Notre Dame and jumped at the opportunity. After taking the job in 1997, Martin has spent the last 25 years building an incredible program at Notre Dame.

To learn more about Martin and get in touch with Notre Dame Rowing, check out https://und.com/sports/wrow/!

He could have been a landscape architect... If it wasn't for a quick conversation with his coach Stew Stokes on a dock when he was a senior at UMass, Eric Carcich may have never ended up in coaching. After graduation, Eric got into coaching, starting at Umass, and quickly had the coaching bug. Over a 20 + career at starting at UMass, Yale, Penn, George Washington, and Cornell, Coach Carcich is now back at UMass leading the Minutewomen. His career is defined by hard work, and strong networking.

To learn more about Eric and UMass rowing, check out -https://umassathletics.com/sports/womens-rowing

Cory Conzemius has been around rowing for a long time. He is constantly making programs faster, first up and down the east coast, then in the midwest, and now in the central plains. Cory's willingness to grow and try new things has given him the opportunity to grow into the great coach he has become. Now at Oklahoma City University, Cory has a vision to make Oklahoma City into the powerhouse program it should be. To learn more about OKCU rowing check them out here:https://www.ocusports.com/sports/mens-rowing

Things could have turned out much different for Columbia University coach Nich Lee Parker. The goal was music, the result is being one of the top lightweight mens rowing coaches in the country. Things weren't always perfect for Nich, but after a humbling introduction to rowing a 2000m piece [thanks to Olympian Bryan Volpenheim], Nich got hooked on rowing and never looked back. Ohio State, Purdue, Yale and currently Columbia, Nick has some great rowing stories to tell.

To learn more about Nick Lee Parker and Columbia rowing, check out this link - https://gocolumbialions.com/sports/lightweight-rowing

To find Nich's awesome Be Here Now hat, check out https://sunlifeorganics.com/collections/all

"Tall Athletes Wanted; or those tough enough to make up the difference!"

Looking for something to do while at college, Rebecca wasn't going to shy away from that note. Rebecca first learned to row at UCSB, and now, just a few years later has worked her way up and earned herself the head coaching role at Fordham University in New York City. Alex and Rebecca have a great conversation about her path to Fordham and overcoming the obstacles she faces being one of the youngest women to coach a D1 program!

To learn more about Fordham Rowing, you can get in touch with Rebecca by visiting this link:

https://fordhamsports.com/sports/womens-rowing

Rowers Choice Live - January 2022 - Dallas

On January 31, 2022, We brought two coaches to Dallas to talk rowing.

Dave O'Neill of Texas and Nick Johnson of Barry came to Dallas with us to discuss three main topics.

1. The Future of high school, college and national team rowing.

2. How do you prepare for the transition between High School and College?

3. What is the best way to navigate the recruiting process.

We also gave parents, coaches and athletes in the audience an opportunity to ask questions directly to the coaches.

This was an incredible show and one not to be skipped.

Its very fitting that John Boyd is now the head coach at Iona College, after all it is where he first learned to row!

John was part of a successful Iona team as a student, and in 2019, returned to Iona to take the helm. Alex has a great conversation with John, discussing his journey through coaching, starting at Radnor in Philadelphia before his return to Iona.

If you are interested in learning more about Iona College rowing, you can check it out at https://icgaels.com/sports/2020/2/20/recruiting-information.aspx

Sam Pratt was 5 years old when he first sat on a rowing machine. Son of two British rowers, Sam was destined to be in and around rowing. Alex has an excellent conversation with Sam about his journey through rowing to his current role as head coach of Adrian College Crew.