Junior Rowing
Join the Team!
Who is Eligible?
- Anyone in grades 7-12 (ages 12-19)
- No Experience Necessary
- Athletes welcome, or we will train you to be an athlete!
A Little History
Rowing is one of the oldest sports in the world. It was the first American Intercollegiate sport ever when Harvard raced Yale in 1852. Rowing first came to Nevada in 2016, when Coach Jim Andersen started the club. We have hosted many large collegiate rowing events and smaller junior events on the lake.
The Junior Program has been successful from the start, winning medals at local races in Long Beach, Phoenix and Utah. Juniors have competed at the USRowing National Championships in 2022 and 2023. So far, 15 LLVRC athletes have gone on to row in college, with some earning full scholarships.
How it Works
As you start learning to row on the lake, we go slow and learn the basics in stable boats. Your physical training will be mostly off the water on rowing machines and land training (lots of good steady state cardio). When you have the basics down we will move into skinnier and faster boats. Every new rower is considered a “Novice” and will get to race other novice teams from California, Arizona and Utah. We will go to one race a month in October, November and early December. Every member of the team will race. There are no teammates “on the bench”. Most races also use age categories based on your age on December 31st of the current year. The categories are Under 15, Under 16, Under 17 and Under 19.
Why Is Lake Las Vegas Rowing Special
Our Founder and Head Coach, JIm Andersen has over 45 years of junior coaching experience. He coached for over 17 years at Marin Rowing, one of the premier rowing clubs in the country. His crews have won 5 gold medals, 7 silver and 4 bronze at the USRowing National Championships. He has taken junior crews to race in Boston, Toronto and London and sent athletes to all the best Universities and the Olympics.
Lake Las Vegas is one of the best sites for rowing in the world. It has predominantly flat water, no motor boats allowed (except our safety boats), a fantastic 2000 meter race course and the support of the community.
Getting Started
Fill out a Junior Crew Interest Survey, Then come to our next athlete and parent meeting on August 31st at 4pm at the Lake Las Vegas Sports Club 101 Via Vin Santo. Once there you will meet the coach and talk about the program before we all caravan to the boathouse at the end of the Lake.
Junior practices are held Monday thru Friday from 3:30-6:15 pm and Saturday and Sunday 7-9:30 am. We understand some schools get out late so we wait till 4 pm to go out on the lake. Parents and Juniors can decide to join the 3-4 days a week program or sign up for the 5+ days a week program. Middle School athletes can sign up for the 1-2 program with coaches permission. We will be giving you information so that you can set up carpools once you feel comfortable with the kids and parents. Every once in a while a parent can ask to ride the launch for practice and watch and talk to the coach about the team.
Don’t forget to fill out our Junior Crew Interest Survey, You can also download our Junior Team Packet Draft
Lake Las Vegas Boathouse Directions: The Boathouse is located on the dam at the northeast end of Lake Las Vegas Parkway. Take LLV Parkway all the way to the east end. You will see our LLVRC A-Frame sign on the fence at the end of the cul de sac. Drive to the right of the sign and over a small curb, then down onto the dam and through a yellow gate. Once you pass the yellow gate look for two green traffic cones on the left about 1/3 of the way on the dam. Turn left between the cones and park on upper road to the right. The boats and facility are on the right. We are on Google maps, but other mapping sites have an old location.
Benefits of Rowing
- Rowing is a low impact high intensity cardio exercise with very few injuries
- "Ultimate Team Sport" teaches discipline and high level team skills
- Best cardiovascular sport - increases fitness, muscle strength, and mental fortitude
- Rowing is a highly competitive Collegiate sport with NCAA scholarships
- Rowing is one of the oldest Olympic sports
- Rowing is a life long sport. Adult rowers race in age categories up to 100 years old
- It's FUN!
Testimonials
