Multi-Sport Athletes, Part 1: The Pros and Cons for Programs – Rowing Stories, Features & Interviews

To learn more about this series and to see the topics we plan to cover, please visit the Youth Coaches Corner index page. Youth coaches are welcome to contact row2k to contribute to future columns.

This week, the answers we received to the first of two questions we asked about multisport athletes.

Are you looking for multisport athletes for your program or would you rather just focus on rowing? Do you see pros and cons for each approach?

ED FELDHEIM – FAIRFIELD PREP – MEN’S HEAD COACH

It’s good to have both. You need athletes to take over the rowing and kind of act as your foundation. If you have that then you can mix it with multisport athletes and they will learn from the rowers on the team.

The multi-athletes come fresh, eager and fit. I will never understand why high school or younger kids should focus on one sport all year round. It’s just so bad for them, mentally and physically, that one wonders who the real beneficiaries are. If we can’t teach an athlete to row in 10 weeks, that’s on us. They may not be the most technical rowers on the team, but they add an element that goes well beyond technique. It’s also better for the sport as more people get involved and see that they don’t have to dedicate their lives to it to have fun and thrive.

Head of the Passaic, 2022

HEIDI HUNSBERGER – GREENWICH CREW – CO-HEAD WOMEN’S COACH

We’re not getting as many multi-sport athletes as we’d like and I think we’re a bit of a victim of our own success because once an athlete starts they get tunnel vision. This is both her social scene and her sport.

We are also in an area where athletes specialize at a very young age, so we have to catch multi-sport athletes in the summer or as a result of injuries. We once got a little basketball player who rowed in the fall and spring and then played basketball in the winter. She really stuck it out and understood what it meant to be responsible for that decision and her fitness. She was an incredible seven-seater and also ended up winning silver in the straight fours at the youth nationals.

It’s not about the sport, it’s about the athletes.

JOSH BAKER – ATOMIC ROWING – HEAD MEN’S COACH

I will never turn down an athlete who wants to row but also wants to explore other activities and opportunities and more often than not they are a better rower and teammate for it. While their overall rowing development and performance may suffer slightly, they will enjoy their time on the team much more and become a more versatile student-athlete.

VSRA Champions, 2014

WILL PORTER-ST. ANDREWS SCHOOL – MEN’S HEAD COACH

We are looking for multi-sports people in our admissions process. It’s great when kids have a favorite sport, but as we only have 160 boys in our school, they need to play other sports or at least be willing to try other sports.

I am excited about our system of multisport athletics for many reasons. In general, I think college sports should be about getting a range of experiences from which life lessons can be learned. Being on many teams, building bonds with teammates and getting input from different coaches are invaluable experiences. Multisport athletes also have excellent body awareness and overall fitness – each sport brings something different. The no-oar period means that when the rowers return to the boathouse, they often surprise us. Above all, our short season makes the time together really fun and special.

The best crews at St. Andrew’s have always been made up of multisport athletes. For example, our eight who reached the HRR Finals in 2011 included soccer players, soccer players, runners, squash players, swimmers and basketball players. They were really good at the other sports they played and had already achieved success at the state and even federal levels in their other disciplines. Also, many of them were captains of the other teams they played on. When they came together this spring, there was a tangible joy and intensity around them.

The downside of our approach is that it’s getting harder and harder to find multisport athletes because the pressure to specialize is even earlier than it was a few years ago. There are multisport athletes out there, but we’ve also gotten pretty good at developing them. In a school of the size of St. Andrew’s, talent development is just as important as talent recognition.

Pacific Rowing Club Novice/U17 Regatta, 2023

PARKER WASHBURN – DEERFIELD ACADEMY – WOMEN’S HEAD COACH

I encourage members of the team to compete in a different sport during the fall and winter seasons. It is a valuable experience to be part of another team, to contribute to their successes, to develop and to look forward to rowing when the rowing season begins. Athletes who have committed to rowing will find ways to supplement their off-season exercise with some erg training or cross-training.

DREW COMBS – LITCHFIELD HILLS ROWING CLUB – HEAD COACH

The pros and cons include the challenge of running a club and what you see fit. I encourage all athletes to compete in multiple sports. To each of our junior high athletes, I tell the athletes and their families that they should only row 1 or 2 seasons a year and the rest should be dedicated to other sports. I welcome freshmen/sophomores to play other sports and if they don’t row they must be in another sport. If they want to row through junior year of college, I explain that unless they already excel or are good at another sport, it is in their best interest to focus on rowing. Most tend to specialize in the second year. Of course, I’m always looking for new athletes that I can turn into rowers.

Youth national team, 2022

CASSANDRA CUNNINGHAM – POWER OF 3, LLC/P3PE – PERSONAL COACH

For my high school group that comes to the barn to train, I admire, encourage, and love that they all play a different sport. I think it builds a young athlete’s character and prevents the burnout that one could get from continuing to play just one sport.

I tell my teenage athletes who play multiple sports that most collegiate rowing coaches are looking for a well-rounded, disciplined athlete who is physically, mentally and emotionally balanced and has a passion for the sport.

RUDY RYBACK – LAKE OSWEGO COMMUNITY ROWING – MEN’S HEAD COACH

You could go down the rabbit hole of early specialization in esports, but that’s another whole discussion. I like to think of the athletes on an incline: the younger the athlete, the more diverse the athletic profile. As the athlete ages, the athlete (not the parent) should continually reassess their athletic profile. Usually rowing rises to the top and “sells” itself, but when it doesn’t . . . no love lost!

It’s the worst thing to let an athlete really burn out in high school. It feels like I failed as a coach to guide her on the rowing journey.

ZACH SPITZER – NEREID BOAT CLUB – MEN’S HEAD COACH

It’s always great to have an athlete who played sports before rowing. They almost always come with body awareness, so the transition to rowing isn’t too difficult because they’ve learned to move their hips in other sports. We do not discourage most athletes from playing secondary sports, especially early in their careers.

We only talk about it when there is a junior or senior who says they want to row D1 but want to excel in another sport for half a year. For some top athletes, that’s no big deal: they can always jump on the erg and be competitive. The average high school athlete would have to invest more time in the sport to achieve that goal.

We never say that to an athlete have to do anything, but we only give them advice that is in line with what they want out of the sport. If someone is dying to do a winter sport like swimming, we simply create a training schedule that will keep them in contact with rowing throughout their other sport’s season.

Youth national team, 2018

GEORGE KIRSCHBAUM – JUNIORS COACH – AUTHOR OF THE DOWN AND DIRTY GUIDE TO COXING

I’m happy when athletes participate in other sports as well, as long as they do their best. You’ll come back to rowing with a new perspective, ready to try it, and hopefully with fewer rowing-specific injuries.

It’s really up to the athletes and individuals: if they do something they love, they will bring something positive to the team.

MATT GRAY – THREE RIVERS ROWING – WOMEN’S HEAD COACH

Our program is definitely looking for multi-sports people. It’s good for the long-term development of the individual athlete and can often lead to bringing some friends along to try rowing.

It gets tricky when someone wants to be a multisport athlete during spring water season as at that moment you really want to focus on rowing. I think the biggest “disadvantage” for multi-sport athletes is when their expectations of the season on the water don’t match their participation, but I think the pros far outweigh the cons.

Charlie Butt Regatta, 2022