Learn-to-Row Camp
2025 dates
To be announced soon!
DESCRIPTION
Our 5-day LEARN-TO-ROW overnight camp is open to campers with no prior rowing/coxing experience or those with limited experience seeking to advance their skills (e.g. those with only prior camp or clinic experience).
Campers will receive a comprehensive introduction to the sport. Campers will start on the rowing machines and quickly progress to our training barge and then racing shell. By the end of the week, campers will have put together a very fundamental rowing stroke and be ready to move into a novice program back at their home rowing team. (Note: campers with prior camp/clinic experience will be grouped with other campers of similar experience and follow a more accelerated curriculum to continue advancing their existing skills.)
THE NAVY CAMP EXPERIENCE
In addition to developing each camper's individual rowing/coxing ability, our Navy Rowing Camps introduce campers to the Midshipman concepts of honor, integrity and discipline. Campers experience life for the week in a Midshipman rower's shoes by rowing out of the USNA's Hubbard Hall (the boathouse), living in Bancroft Hall (the world's largest single dormitory), and eating family style meals just like the Midshipmen in King Hall (the Academy's primary dining hall). It is truly a unique experience that extends beyond the work done on the river all week!
TUITION
2025 cost to be announced soon! | includes all coaching, seminars, housing, meals (Sunday dinner through Thursday breakfast), Navy Rowing Camp t-shirt, supervision, camp shuttle service to/from BWI Airport and Amtrak station (pre-registration required), and a one-of-a-kind experience at the Naval Academy. Our camps check in Sunday afternoons and check out Thursdays just prior to lunch.
room & board
Campers are housed in the Midshipmen’s dormitory, Bancroft Hall. Rooms are doubles, triples and quads complete with sink, shower, and lockable closets for valuables. All meals from Sunday dinner to Thursday breakfast are provided family style in King Hall, the Midshipmen’s dining facility (please make sure to review our dining section if you have any food allergy or special diet needs).
During the day, campers are under the guidance of experienced coaches and college-aged counselors. At night, counselors and coaches stay in the campers' dormitory, providing 24-hour supervision.
Note: our Developmental & Learn-to-Row Camps will operate separately for rowing activities, but will be together for housing, meals, and many land seminars. Roommate requests between these two girls' rowing camps *can* be accommodated.
typical daily schedule
0730 Breakfast
0830 Rowing Session I (will include boat handling & land work the first day)
1130 Lunch
1300 Seminar(s)/Campus Tour
1500 Rowing Session II
1800 Dinner
1900 Sunset Row/Seminar/Group Activity
2200 Lights Out
*the above is the typical Monday - Wednesday schedule. Sunday and Thursday are shortened due to arrival and departure (please refer to our check-in/out page for arrival/departure timing). A more detailed camp schedule will be provided close to the start of camp. Example seminars include strength training in our varsity weight room, an NCAA recruiting information session, erg instruction, mobility work, Q&A session, etc. Additionally, there are coxswain-specific seminars covering race and practice management.
rowing/coxing experience
None! We will teach you everything!
This camp also accepts campers who have had prior camp/clinic experience but have not yet joined a club or school team as well as former coxswains interested in trying rowing -- these campers will be grouped with other campers of similar ability and taken through a more accelerated/next level of learn-to-row to continue advancing their skills and better prepare them to join a school or club program after camp.
If you have some rowing experience and are uncertain if you should apply for this camp or our development camp, please email us with more information (your age and grade, details on where and how often you rowed, what kind of boats you were in, etc.) and we can help determine which camp is the most appropriate fit. We manage our camper numbers very carefully to ensure fair rowing time (an extra person can significantly impact an entire boat's participation time), so it is important that you are registered for the correct camp prior to arrival as switching once here is likely not possible.
age
Campers must be between the ages of 13 and 18. Campers turning 13 later in the summer but prior to the start of the 2024-2025 school year are allowed to attend as long as they will be at least be entering 8th grade. Campers who have graduated from high school are welcome to attend as long as they have not yet matriculated to college.
PROOF OF PHYSICAL
All campers must provide proof of a physical completed within one year of the start of camp. Full details can be found here.
Requirements
Camp Life