News

Posted: 20 October 2023 

The Beach Sprints Academy is an initiative developed to provide coaching and support to athletes wanting to learn and excel at this new discipline of rowing.  Identified athletes should have the ambition to row for Scotland at an international level. The programme will be led by Scottish Rowing’s Beach Sprints Pathway Coach who will work collaboratively with individual athletes and home club programmes.

The programme will use a camp-based approach that will allow athletes to come together and focus on building specific skills at each camp. Alongside the camps there will be educational webinars – Beach Sprints technical model, improving sculling speed, transferring skills to coastal conditions, improving in-gym work, and perfecting the running technique. A technical development plan will be put in place with the home club coaches to ensure the athletes on the programme progress during their season. The lead coach will aim to visit athletes at their home programmes and provide opportunities for shadowing and collaboration for athletes and coaches.

Aims of the programme:

• Identify and develop talented coastal scullers in Scotland.
• Offer coastal sculling development opportunities alongside existing flat-water programme (where needed), until specialising during the coastal season.
• Support and educate coaches that have an interest in coastal sculling, working within current Scottish clubs and across the wider community.
• Offer a Scotland-wide coastal training programme available to every athlete. This can be followed up by coach support.
• Develop athletes with future potential to row for Scotland at Home International / Commonwealth level and/or Great Britain at World / Olympic level.
• Provide a stepping stone to the Scottish Rowing Performance Programme (SRPP), the top tier of Beach Sprints support available to rowers in Scotland.
• Create a positive training group to accelerate learning and experience in this new discipline in Scotland.

Camps

Four camps will make up the Beach Sprint Academy, each with an individual focus that will aim to enhance athletes’ skills and abilities.

• Camp 1
  December 2023 – Introduction to Coastal Sculling.
  Mixture of land and water-based sessions. A chance to get on the sea in coastal conditions. Off water there will gym-based education and an introduction of running techniques and drills. A great chance to meet the team.
• Camp 2
  February 2024 – Coaching Coastal specific techniques & Training Plans for Beach Sprints.
• Camp 3
  March 2024 – Introduction to Beach Sprints skills & educational workshops.
• Camp 4
  April 2024 – Beach Sprints Event preparation

There will also be the opportunity for selected athletes to attend the Scottish Rowing Land Camp which will feature athletes from multiple programmes (including Scottish Rowing Performance Programme, Junior Academy, Performance Development Academy and Student Beginner Programme). This will take place from the 3^rd to 12^th January 2024 and will focus on driving physical development of each athlete on the camp, advancing the training practices of each athlete, as well as education sessions to further athlete development.

Scottish Rowing is also exploring the potential for a warm weather training camp plus some international competition over the Easter break – this opportunity will be made available to BSA athletes on an invitational basis alongside the leading Scottish GB internationals.

Moving Forward

Scottish Rowing sees the Beach Sprints Academy as a key stepping stone for ambitious and driven athletes who wish to develop in this exciting new discipline.  We believe that the programme will help to build a more competitive Scotland Rowing Team in international competition and support the progression of more Scottish athletes within the GB Rowing Team trialling process.

Opportunities will exist for the leading Beach Sprints Academy athletes to progress onto full programme support as a named athlete on the Scottish Rowing Performance Programme (SRPP).

Information webinar: Coming soon

Scottish Rowing will soon be advertising a Beach Sprints webinar featuring key information relating to the discipline including where we see it going over the next 5 years through to the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.  Watch this space!

Athlete Applications:
Athletes interested in joining the Scottish Rowing Beach Sprints Academy should register their details using the link below:

Apply Here

Coach/Programme information:
Any coaches/clubs who are interested in finding out more about the programme should get in touch with Iain Docwra, Scottish Rowing’s Beach Sprints Pathway Coach.