To learn more about this series, see the topics we plan to cover, and to read part 1 on this topic, please visit the Youth Coaches Corner's index page. Youth coaches are more than welcome to contact row2k to get involved in future columns.

This week, the answers we received to the second question we asked about Multi-Sport Athletes.

For multi-sport athletes you might have on your team, have you found any sports that 'cross-over' really well to rowing, or any that don't work out as well?

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

Because rowing is an endurance sport, I believe these sports that compliment rowing the best are water polo, swimming, cross country running, cross country skiing, soccer, and mountain biking. Volleyball, which I have witnessed in the past, is a tricky sport to compliment rowing: even though you may get good height, it may not transition in terms of aerobic quality.

Manny Flick #2, 2023

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

I think any other sport only adds to your strength, fitness, and mental toughness. Your body gets a different kind of workout (think cross-training) that helps prevent it from overuse injuries, and teaches you to push yourself in ways that are different than rowing. Different perspectives, different strengths, fewer weaknesses.

All that said, I think swimmers have a tendency to come back fittest. The aerobic aspect coupled with the core and upper body strength can connect back to the boat well. I found that wrestlers take a bit longer to come back to rowing strength because of the aerobic component--they don’t have as large an aerobic capacity and base. Their overall strength and mental toughness are great though. In the end, any athlete that trains and competes that the highest level is going to come back to you offering your teams something positive.

JOHN MARTIN - BRUNSWICK SCHOOL - HEAD MEN'S COACH
We have had (or currently have) kids who also do cross-country, football, soccer, water polo, wrestling, hockey, basketball, squash, and swimming. We encourage kids to play multiple sports if they enjoy doing so.

Head of the Charles, 2022

ZACH SPITZER - NEREID BOAT CLUB - HEAD MEN'S COACH

We have a couple of swimmers and a basketball player or two. In my experience, while a sport like swimming is great for cardio, their strength is much worse when they come back. We advise our swimmers to do some erging during swim season to keep those rowing muscles at least active so the transition back is easier. Other sports like basketball and track seem to send athletes back out of shape in almost every aspect: stamina, strength, etc. Not sure why, just something I’ve noticed.

JULIA HOWARTH - BAYLOR SCHOOL - HEAD WOMEN'S COACH

No one sport stands out that matches up really well, but I encourage the athletes to try something else in the winter season to mix things up. Lots of swimmers do come over to rowing and fit in really well. At Baylor this winter, we had some athletes do wrestling which I hadn’t experienced before but it seems to be similar level of conditioning. Overall, it’s great to have athletes who have a great base level of fitness, who are motivated and excited to try something new when they come and check out the team.

Manny Flick #1, 2023

WILL PORTER - ST. ANDREWS SCHOOL - HEAD MEN'S COACH

The best rower I’ve coached in recent years is Tad Montesano, the stroke of the Williams eight that won the IRA DIII championship last year. He was an all-state runner and swimmer. Just in his senior year, he raced in 22 separate events before the rowing season started. That kind of side-by-side racing experience is invaluable, and hard to replicate with fall rowing. The result of all that racing is that he’s a killer.

Some of my favorite athletes to coach have been soccer goalkeepers. Talk about calm under pressure: nothing in a crew race is as scary as standing in front of a soccer goal, in my opinion.

Wrestlers are also fun to coach. The suffering in rowing is pretty trivial to them, and they race through the finish line better than other athletes--after all, a wrestling match is never over until the final buzzer.

I also like coaching coxswains who are good at other sports. The rowers respect them more, and they know how to cox intuitively because of their own positive self-talk in their other sports.

RUDY RYBACK - LAKE OSWEGO COMMUNITY ROWING - MEN'S HEAD COACH

Certainly, swimming is one of the most transferrable sports to rowing. Cross-country runners typically have the 'legs and lungs' to excel in rowing, but it often conflicts with fall rowing. A growing trend is toward indoor rock climbing in the winter. This is a nice opposition to running, and upper-body and grip strength gains can come quickly. The neural stimulation to rock climbing can often be quite fun, especially in the winter. One detriment is that the athlete can often quickly become aerobically deficient when transitioning back to rowing, so topping up on the cardio is key.

NYRA Fall Invitational, 2022

MATT GRAU - THREE RIVERS ROWING - WOMEN'S HEAD COACH

We are happy when our athletes choose to do other sports, as early specialization isn’t ideal for long term athlete development. The fall and winter sports are easiest to work around, and spring sports can be the hardest.

In my experience most sports work well for multi-sport athletes as long as their other sport has a developed, informed training program and positive coaching. We have had hockey players, swimmers, soccer players, track and field athletes, rock climbers, and basketball players all find success as multi-sport athletes with us.

DREW COMBS - LITCHFIELD HILLS ROWING CLUB - HEAD COACH

Each multi sport athlete comes in with some challenges but also pluses. Swimmers: great cardio and mental focus, but hips and hamstrings are often horrible with tight backs. Hockey players will be strong and aggressive, but cardio will be area to work. I think we all can agree golf doesn’t have much cross over (though it is fun). My approach is to look for the bonus of each sport and then train the weaknesses.

JOSH BAKER - ATOMIC ROWING - HEAD MEN'S COACH

We have several athletes that have found success in rowing coming from other sports, especially swimming, volleyball, track and cross-country. Transportation sport athletes (swimming, cross-country, track) tend to come in more fit based on their previous training, whereas skill sport athletes (football, baseball, softball, basketball) tend to be able to pick up on the mechanics quicker.

We do find that athletes who have played another sport prior to rowing tend to pick up on the mechanics much quicker than those who haven't.

Youth Nationals, 2022

PARKER WASHBURN - DEERFIELD ACADEMY - WOMEN'S HEAD COACH

Swimming is terrific! I have many rowers who run cross country in the fall, swim in the winter and row in the spring. It is a nice complement of activities. I have also had success with volleyball and basketball players.

ED FELDHEIM - FAIRFIELD PREP - MEN'S HEAD COACH

Swimming is easy on the one hand, but it also presents the challenge of adding strength to those guys since they are essentially year round endurance athletes. Hockey has been another great cross-over sport. For one, hockey players don't blink at getting up early in the morning, but they also have a great competitive drive, understand balance and aren't afraid of a little discomfort. What was interesting was seeing their heart rate graphs after a typical on ice practice: it was all really high spikes, like living in the 180-210 range for short intervals. So they are really good at short strength pieces, but we learned that those athletes need to come in and get a lot of distance work in to get ready for 1500 or 2000 meters on the water.

Husky Open, 2022