The Junior Squad
The Junior Squad
The juniors section at City of Oxford Rowing Club provides coaching for children aged 11 and up, from our location on the Isis river in the heart of Oxford. Rowing is a skillful sport that rewards effort and builds resilience. Our coaching team are dedicated volunteers who guide our juniors to develop their rowing technique, fitness and strength and achieve their rowing potential.
For more than 25 years, the Junior Squad has been competing and winning medals at local and national events, producing rowers who have gone on to enjoy a lifetime in the sport. Among our alumni, we are even fortunate enough to count Olympic champions. Parents are an important element in the success of our juniors, providing support and encouragement from the bank and occasionally from the boat! Even while we provide sporting and social experiences for our juniors, we aim to make all members of the family welcome in our squad.
Each year, in September, we run a course for beginners to teach them to row, introduce them to how rowers train and provide a route into joining our squad. For more information about our beginners courses, or to enquire about joining our squad as an experienced rower, contact juniors@oxfordrowingclub.org.
About the Squad
The junior squad includes rowers and coxes aged 11-18 years old. Training emphasizes long term athlete development, good technique, and racing well. Juniors are encouraged to develop proficiency in all boats, especially the single. Training takes place up to 6 times a week (increasing with age). We introduce British Rowing omnium skills at J14, and compete in weekly Sunday morning time trial races, as well as local and national competitions. Children older than 14 will only be considered if they have had appropriate prior experience of rowing, and after vetting by our coaches. We are usually unable to accommodate older novice juniors – not because teenagers can’t learn to row, but because of the subsequent gap in experience and training load.
The Development Squad itself is composed of those athletes who can commit to the demanding training programme from September until Henley Royal Regatta – we train hard, and play hard!
If you have rowing experience and you are interested in joining the CORC Junior Squad for this season’s campaign please contact us via email: womens.captain@oxfordrowingclub.org.uk