A Letter from Josy Verdonkschot - December 2022

Dear USRowing Family,

It's been almost 12 months since I became part of the great American rowing community. As the newly appointed Chief High Performance Officer, it became my mission to bring USRowing back where it belongs – at the top of the leaderboard in international rowing.

First of all, what does that mean? Because this is not just about the results. It is about a sustainable system that supports and cares about the athletes – one that shares a common philosophy around talent identification, athlete development, training, and coaching and that is supported by all relevant sport science disciplines.

Sounds ambitious, doesn't it? Well, it should. And this is not my voyage. We are in this together. So together, we started to build, and we will continue to build -- for Paris, Los Angeles, and beyond. No country has the same pool of talent, knowledge, and resources. We will make this work.

2023 is the year of Olympic and Paralympic qualification, so it is obvious that our focus is on optimizing selection and preparation of a strong and competitive senior team for the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade. But at the same time, we are working on our pathway from ODP to under 19 to under 23. We will keep what is working well and change where necessary.

This is reflected by the 2023 selection procedures for under 19, under 23 and seniors and by reintroducing talent ID camps for U23 athletes, as is already happening very successfully at the U19 level. At the convention, I will present our pathway not just in words, but also in numbers. What are the values we are looking for at what age? What is the training we expect our young athletes to do at each stage of their development?

Another focus area is infrastructure and collaboration with the high performance clubs. We have to upgrade the service level we offer to our athletes. Our best athletes should have access to the same services, wherever they train. For our younger athletes, we have to start to make information accessible via an online toolkit about biomechanics, physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and sports psychology. Clubs and schools are our most important link to the athletes.

As I said before, we are in this together. To realize our ambitions, we have to work together. I need your guidance and support. I want to guide but also listen and learn, so we build our own unique system.

Best regards,

Josy Verdonkschot