Developing passion in new rowers

At Sweeps & Sculls, one of our top priorities is helping youth rowers develop a lasting passion for the sport. We offer a variety of opportunities for junior high and high school students—starting as early as 6th grade—to discover rowing and progressively build their skills over time.

Privateers Youth Programs

Explore Rowing & Continue Learning...

Discover Rowing Camp & Rowing Lessons

For those that are just beginning their rowing journey, we offer a couple of options to get started. Our Discover Rowing Summer Camp is a great way to get an introduction to the sport and have the opportunity to see if rowing might be a fit for you. We also offer weekly rowing lessons for 6th through 12th graders. These lessons build skills giving our rowers a chance to expand their technical skills and fitness.

Beginner Team - Grow your Skill

If you’re new to rowing, our Beginner Rowing Team is the perfect place to start—no prior experience required! Open to students in 6th grade and up, this team is designed to teach you everything you need to know to get started in the sport.

The Beginner Team focuses on building a strong foundation, both technically and physically. You’ll learn how to handle and care for rowing equipment on land and on the water, gaining essential skills and confidence. Each season, the team also has the opportunity to participate in a regatta, offering a great introduction to racing and competition.

Experience Rowing Casually & Competitively

Recreational Team Blends Rowers with lots of Activites

Once rowers have advanced enough in their skill level to move past the Beginner Team, they have two choices, they can elect to join the Mentor Team if they would like to focus on being more competitive, or they can continue to row on our Recreational Team. The Recreational Team gives rowers that love rowing, but also have other priorities, the opportunity to participate in the sport in their own time and at their own pace. Recreational Team practices are offered three days a week and practices are never mandatory, so you can make rowing fit your schedule. The Recreational Team can also elect to participate in regattas and other team activities.

Our Competitive Rowers Building for Regionals

The Sweeps & Sculls Juniors Rowing Team consists of rowers in 8th grade or older who wish to compete at the highest level possible for youth rowing. This group starts in the Fall and finishes in the spring with the Midwest Junior Nationals Regatta in Ohio. This program will develop the rower for the highest leveles of competion and requires a commitment from these rowers for the year.

Tryouts for this team are open in Fall and rowers can use this time to determine if they want to make the commitment needed to grow are a competitive rower. A boat does not row itself. It is a team effort that starts with attendance. In rowing if one rower doesn’t show up, the boat does not get to row affecting the entire team.

Sweeps & Sculls teaches these young rowers responsiblity and commitment and helps them reap the benefits from a focused approach.

Sweeping - Juniors in a 4+

Juniors Boat Yard at the Fox River

Race Day - Launching a 4+

Adaptive Rowing Program

Rowing is an inclusive sport. It’s goal is to provide opportunities through rowing to many people as possible. The Sweeps & Sculls Adaptive program is trageted for individuals who may need additional support to be a rower.

Adaptive rowing is a large category in US Rowing. If you have a child who may be interested in rowing as an experience, please contact us to discuss their needs and how Sweeps and Sculls programs can be adapted to help them become the best rowers they can be.

Rowing Seasons, Regattas and Events

For those new to Sweeps & Sculls rowing, you may be curious about what each season is about. The Fall season targets long distance rowing and building a solid core for steady state rowing. The Winter season focuses on building a rowers engine and transitioning them from head race endurance to sprint race speed for the spring. This is accomplished with training on ergs, visiting rowing tanks and participating in indoor regattas. The spring racing season is then focused on the 2K spring distance which is the same distance crews race in the Olympics and various world rowing events.

Below is an overview of approximately how those seasons work for Sweeps & Sculls rowers. Note that below is a listing of suggested options that the club has for consideration and not neccessarily an expect list of activities.

Fall Season

The Fall season for our youth teams lasts from late August until early November. Below is a list of potential regattas and events held during the season.

Regattas possible in the Fall

Wisco Chase (early September)
Head of the Rock (mid October)
Blake Haxton/Speakmon (late October)
Head of the Hooch (early November)

Team Events in the Fall

Team Breakfast
Family and Friends Open House
Fall Team Awards

Winter Season

Winter season starts in December and lasts until mid March. Below is a list of indoor regattas and events held during the season.

Indoor Regattas

Southside Smackdown
Chicagoland Shiver Erg Sprints

Team Events in the Winter

Erg Marathon 26.2 miles
Team Breakfast
Virtual Team Challenge (World wide)
University of Wisconsin Tanks Training
Skokie Tank Training Sessions

Spring Season

Spring season starts in late March and can last until late May or early June.

Regattas possible in the Spring

Illinois Regatta (early April)
Dogwood Junior Championships (mid April)
Indy Regatta (mid May)
Midwest Junior Rowing Championship (late May)

Team Events in the Spring

Team Breakfast
Spring Team Awards
Senior Honor Guard

Coaches

Sweeps & Sculls coaches represent a wide range of experiences and skills. Our Director of Coaching, Sue Koscielski is currently finishing her Level 3 certifciation through US Rowing, the highest level of certification in the United States. She looks forward to bringing new processes, learning techniques and experiences back to the Masters and Juniors Program for SSR. Many of which are used to varying degrees by the US National Team.

Overall, the coaches at Sweeps & Sculls have over 40 years of experience at all levels of rowing. The coaches have a wide range of actual rowing experience as juniors and high school rowers, experience as collegiate rowers and many years of masters rowing experience.

Our coaching group also fit into the jack-of-all-trades category. They repair boats, plan team events, organize regattas, build boatyard additions and sometimes even row. Our coaches and there long term involvement with Sweeps & Sculls make them a valuable assest to the club, its programs and its mission.