USRowing Announces 16 New Level 3 High Performance Coach Graduates

USRowing is excited to announce the 16 coaches who have completed the most recent Level 3 High Performance Coach Certification Course.

Over the course of several months, these coaches completed 11 elite coaching modules designed to advance their skills in fields such as biomechanics, advanced rigging, long-term athlete development, and rowing philosophy, to name a few. All told, the graduates completed over 100 hours of training to earn their certification.

Please join us in congratulating the latest additions to the Level 3 coaching ranks.

Jim Bertolini Head ShotJim Bertolini

Jim Bertolini began rowing in New York in 1975 at Fordham University and at the New York Athletic Club where he developed a love for sculling. Fordham also provided Bertolini with his first coaching opportunity when he served in an assistant role following graduation. After pursuing a Ph.D. and a career as a salmon biologist, he picked up rowing and coaching again at Olympia Area Rowing (OAR) in 2001. He also served OAR in an administrative capacity on the board for seven years including terms as club vice-president and president.

In 2011, Bertolini had his first experience coaching juniors at Commencement Bay Rowing Club (CBRC), where he also coached masters rowers for many years including six as the masters' head coach. Both at OAR and at CBRC, he played a key role in establishing competitive sculling programs and taught athletes from middle-schoolers to retirees to scull as a lead instructor of introductory classes. Following his retirement from full-time employment in 2021, Bertolini has provided private coaching of scullers at OAR and on American Lake in Lakewood, Wash. He will return to coaching at the college level this fall with a position as assistant coach for women's crew at the University of Puget Sound. Bertolini plans to use his Level 3 training to strive for excellence in all his coaching endeavors and to improve access to rowing at the middle school level with an emphasis on reaching currently underserved youth.

Felso Head ShotAugust Felso

August Felso is the club coxswain coach for Atlanta Junior Rowing Association and a private coxswain coach mentoring athletes at the junior and collegiate levels. He has coached coxswains to recruitment at top Division I programs and selection camp for the Under 19 National Team. He served as the under 17 men's coach at Atlanta Junior Rowing Association from 2019-23 and consistently led his boats to top program finishes at the USRowing Youth National Championships. He is an instructor for the USRowing Level 2 coach certification class. Felso has 13 years of race experience in the sport at all levels and has been competing internationally since 2018. Currently based in Boston, Felso is a coxswain with the Riverside Boat Club open men's sweep team and the Endeavor Racing Alliance.

Paul Fuchs Head Shot 3Paul Fuchs

Paul Fuchs began coaching after retiring from his competitive rowing career. He began with the sculling team at the New York Athletic Club, coaching them for 10 years, resulting in several national championships. He also was active in coaching at an international level; he coached a single at the Olympics, a single for the Pan American Games, and a double and quad at the world championships. After a break, he began coaching Blood Street Sculls and the Old Lyme High School girls' team.

Fuchs began rowing at 15 and has been rowing ever since. He won many national championships in sculling, with both his original team, Detroit Boat Club, and then with New York Athletic Club. Fuchs was a seven-time national member who won five medals in the lightweight single and double. He currently holds the Head of the Charles lightweight single course record from 1984.

When not rowing, Fuchs sailed in the America's Cup to victory in 1977 and sailed the trials in 1980.

Also active in governance, Fuchs was a member of the USRowing Board of Directors for six years and served as vice president for four years. After stepping down from the board, he was a member of the High Performance Committee. Serving World Rowing, he was on the Equipment and Technology Commission for 30 years, 20 of those years as chair and member of the council. Fuchs has championed Para rowing, coastal rowing, and lightweights in the Olympics.

Gobbo Head ShotTessa Gobbo

Tessa Gobbo started rowing at the Northfield Mount Hermon School in 2006 and went on to row at Brown University where she was part of the 2011 team that won the NCAA Championship. During her time at Brown, Gobbo was co-captain of the 2012-2013 team, CRCA Pocock All-America First Team in 2011, CRCA Pocock All-America Second Team in 2012 and 2013, Academic All-Ivy in 2013, and received the Marjorie Brown Smith Award for Outstanding Female Athlete in 2012-13.

Gobbo continued on to the U.S. National Team where she won gold in the four at the 2013 World Rowing Championships, gold in the eight at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, and gold in the eight at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Gobbo was a volunteer assistant coach for the Boston University open weight women's rowing team from Fall 2019 through Spring 2021. While training with the U.S. National Team, Gobbo coached at Princeton National Rowing Association/Mercer Juniors and coached fitness training at the Special Olympics New Jersey. Gobbo completed her master's in education at Boston University in the Spring of 2020. She is currently an assistant coach for the Brown University women.

Herrick Head ShotDavid Herrick

David Herrick began rowing as a walk-on at Washington State University in the fall of 2010. After graduating with a B.S in psychology, he began coaching and acted as an assistant coach for the Cougars. The following year, Herrick left WSU and volunteered with the men's team at Syracuse University for the 2015-16 season. The following year, he worked with Kevin Sauer and the women's program at the University of Virginia, first as a volunteer, then as a graduate assistant coach. In the spring of 2019, he graduated with a master's in education in exercise physiology.

Following UVA, Herrick worked as the novice coach for the women's team at Oregon State University for three years, helping them reach the 2022 NCAA Championships, their first appearance since 2009. He currently coaches for the lightweight men at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he will begin his second year. Additionally, Herrick has coached the Penn AC juniors, where he served as head coach in 2021 and 2022. Outside of rowing, he loves watching hockey, playing trivia with friends, and lives with his cat, Koi.

James Konopka Head ShotJames Konopka

James Konopka recently became head coach of the Malvern Prep program. He also is an assistant coach with the Conshohocken Rowing Center. For the past three years, he has coached at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. He previously was an assistant coach at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for five years. Prior to that, Konopka worked as an assistant coach for his parents, Molly and Bruce Konopka, at Fairmount Rowing Association.

Konopka began rowing in eighth grade with Fairmount Rowing Association. In high school, he rowed for Episcopal Academy and continued at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a current member of Undine Barge Club. Currently living in Philadelphia, Konopka enjoys the challenge of helping high schoolers realize their potential. Konopka is excited to use all of the new knowledge from his Level 3 High Performance Coach Certification to help expand the sport to new areas, but also to keep educating other coaches.

Delaney McGuire Head ShotDelaney McGuire

Delaney McGuire is currently the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the women's rowing program at Eastern Michigan University. McGuire returned to EMU in June 2021 after two years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Saint Joseph's University. McGuire started rowing in 2012 at Archbishop Carroll High School in Philadelphia and went on to row for four years at Saint Joseph's University.

In 2022, McGuire aided EMU to a third-place overall finish at the CAA Championships. Along with the first varsity's bronze medal, the Eagles tallied 26 points, the most ever for EMU at the championships. At Saint Joseph's, she made an immediate impact coaching boats to multiple program-best finishes. In 2021, SJU took home the bronze in the second varsity eight at the Dad Vail Regatta, while finishing third at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. In 2018-19 as EMU's head novice coach, McGuire helped the freshman eight claim gold at the Dad Vail Regatta and coached the second varsity eight to silver at the CAA championships.

Earning a master's degree in sports management from EMU, she continued her rowing career while coaching and earned a spot on the 2018 World University Championships team in the lightweight double. Outside of rowing, she is a diehard Philadelphia sports fan and enjoys spending time with her dog, Hudson. McGuire is excited to take the lessons she learned in level 3 back to EMU and help push the program forward in 2023.

Claire McLenna Head ShotClaire McLenna

Claire McLenna is an assistant coach at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla. She began as a coxswain at Holy Spirit High School and went on to cox at Jacksonville University, where she earned a secondary education and history degree. McLenna previously served as head coach at St. Johns Country Day School in Orange Park, Fla. In her four years at Bolles, McLenna has coached boats to multiple city, district, and state scholastic titles.

In addition to Bolles, McLenna has coached for the USRowing Junior National Team system and Rowing Camps of America. Recently, she joined USRowing as a Level 2 coaches certification instructor.

M Patrick Head shotMegan Patrick

As head coach of women's and men's rowing at Loyola University, Megan Patrick joined the Greyhounds in 2018. She is proud to say that both teams have more than doubled their sizes and historical Dad Vail medal counts during her tenure.

Before taking the helm at Loyola, Patrick was an assistant coach at Alabama and Iowa, and served as an intern at Virginia. She first began of coaching at Oxford University, where she was an assistant coach for the university's women and the head coach for St. Hugh's College. During her time in England, Patrick earned multiple master's degrees in linguistics, psychology, and publishing, and a DPhil in education.

Patrick began her rowing career at Princeton University. In four years as a coxswain, she took home three Eastern Sprints golds and one silver, the EARC varsity eight course record, two IRA silvers, and one IRA bronze. During her graduate work at Oxford, she coxed Isis, the Oxford men's reserve boat, in 2003, the Oxford women's blue boat in 2004 and 2006, and Oxford Brookes University in 2005. She is a Henley Women's Regatta champion, a two-time women's Blue Boat winner, and the 2006 Henley Boat Race course-record holder.

Ringham Head ShotDave Ringham

Dave Ringham is currently the recruiting coordinator for Boston College women's rowing. He came to BC from Union Boat Club in 2019, where he served as the director of rowing and helped coordinate USRowing's under 23 lightweight women's quadruple sculls selection camps in 2018 and 2019, coaching the lightweight men's single in 2018 and 2019 and the lightweight men's double in 2018 at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Ringham has coached in Boston since 2010, including volunteering with the Harvard lightweight men and Boston University lightweight women and coaching the junior boys at Community Rowing, Inc.

Ringham started rowing at Michigan State University for the club men's team, while earning a dual degree in physics, astrophysics, and chemical physics. While in college, he rowed in the summer at Penn AC, winning Canadian Henley and USRowing Club National Championships. He later picked up sculling, winning multiple medals at the Head of the Charles including gold in the masters single in 2019.

Paul Savall HeadshotPaul Savell

Paul Savell is in his 17th season as director of rowing and head men's and women's coach after joining Drexel University in 2007. At Drexel, Savell has led the Dragons to unprecedented national success at some of the most prestigious regattas in collegiate rowing including the Henley Women's Regatta, Henley Royal Regatta, and Dad Vail Regatta.

In July of 2007, Savell was named Drexel's director of rowing after serving as the head crew coach at Lehigh for nine seasons. Savell was instrumental in the development of the program from a team of 30 to more than 100 members. Over his final five seasons at Lehigh, Savell had three boats in the grand finals of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships (IRAs) and the men's varsity eight finished in the top 12 at the Dad Vail Regatta. In the 2005-2006 season, the men's varsity four took third at the Head of the Charles Regatta and fourth at IRAs. In 2002, the women's varsity eight earned a first-place finish at the Head of the Charles Regatta. Under Savell's guidance, the Lehigh rowing team captured the Patriot League Challenge title in 2001 and 2006. Prior to Lehigh, Savell coached at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, N.J., for four seasons. Savell coached the novice and lightweight boats to numerous state championships. Prior to his stint at Holy Spirit, he worked as the men's novice coach at Georgia Tech.

Savell also is an accomplished rower. He started at Holy Spirit in high school before attending the University of Wisconsin, where he stroked the varsity eight for two seasons. He also captured a national championship at the IRAs in the four and earned a bronze medal in varsity four at the IRAs. Savell graduated from Wisconsin with a degree in engineering and earned his master's degree in business administration from Lehigh in 2001.

Savell resides in Haddon Township, N.J. with his wife, Janet, and their three sons, Jack, Joe, and Brendan.

Siravo Head ShotMichael Siravo

Michael Siravo came to the U.S. two years ago after rowing and coaching in the United Kingdom for 14 years. He started coaching at his local rowing club before moving to Thames Rowing Club, where he coached the novices before becoming the junior program head coach. From there, Siravo has coached at Molesey Rowing Club and his home club of Tideway Scullers School.

While in the UK, Siravo attended university where he studied sport and exercise science, majoring in exercise physiology. Both his undergraduate and postgraduate research focused on quantifying training.

In December of 2021, he became the head coach at the University of Illinois. Under his leadership, the program had three ACRA All-Americans, 12 All-Academics, and three ACRA medals. This was a record season for the program, winning the most program medals at the championship. After his tenure at Illinois, Siravo spent the summer working with the U23 and U19 Olympic Development Program for USRowing. Siravo is currently the assistant women's coach at Syracuse University.

Thies-Head-Shot2Andrea Thies

Andrea Thies made two Olympic teams, as an alternate in 1992 and in the quadruple sculls in 1996. A silver medalist at the 1995 Pan American Games and an inductee of Cornell's Athletic Hall of Fame, she played a pivotal role in founding Otsego Area Rowing in Cooperstown, N.Y., and directs their training programs on Otsego Lake. Following her Olympic success, she became a math teacher after studying at Harvard. A career educator, she has helped pioneer adaptive sports partnerships and serves as the rowing coach for EDD Adaptive Sports.

Thies contributes to the Para program at USRowing, excelling as a talent ID and high-performance coach. Thies was chosen to coach the PR3 mixed double sculls event at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Her true devotion lies in diversifying rowing, empowering people of all ages to discover their potential.

Kimberly Thomson Head ShotKimberly Thomson

Kimberly Thomson began her rowing career later in life with her family at Lake County Rowing Association. While learning to row, she volunteered to coordinate the club's first junior team. After a move that forced her to leave teaching, she joined Three Rivers Rowing Association. The whole family grew as athletes and volunteers at TRRA, and to fill the teaching hole, Thomson began coaching the club's indoor rowing program and a youth girls' outreach team, First Row.

Believing that teachers should be life-long learners, she earned a USRowing Level 2 certificate and earned medals at masters nationals and the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Budapest. First Row and the TRRA Juniors team formed Three Rivers Youth Rowing, which she started assistant coaching in its first year.

Encouraged by personal rowing achievements and inspired by the growing success of the youth team, Thomson completed her USRowing Level 3 Coaching Certification and plans to use her knowledge and new skills for this rowing season. Thomson lives in Pittsburgh, Pa., with her husband and son (also rowers) and frequents her old rowing waters in Central Florida on Lake Minneola with LCRA when winter comes.

VanSciver headshotChance Van Sciver

A rower since high school, Chance Van Sciver began coaching in 2010 and has never looked back. Van Sciver is the head coach at Doane Academy in Burlington, N.J., and at The College of New Jersey. They also are a founding member of the Delaware River Rowing Club, a masters club in Burlington.

For Van Sciver, seeing new and returning rowers find joy and better form in the boat is what they love most about coaching. They hope to use the information they learned and the relationships they built in the Level 3 program to help all current and future athletes (high school, college, and masters) become better rowers and have more fun on the water.

While Van Sciver still gets out in their single once in a blue moon, their interests outside of rowing include managing their day job as a CFO, reading, hiking, and the occasional night out at trivia with their wife, Catherine. The two of them live in Burlington with their daughter, Rose, and their two cats.

Peter Wells Head ShotPeter S. Wells

Peter Wells began rowing at Williams College in 1977 thanks to two of his Nordic skiing teammates who encouraged him to try rowing. Wells found at Williams a rowing program's philosophy matching his own then and now: "Wherever you land, do everything you can to leave it better than you found it."

Wells saw an opportunity in 1982 to give back to Williams Crew and returned to serve as the coordinator of Williams College Crew and head men's varsity coach.

Wells' "five-year plan" turned into 37 years, and with it a list of accomplishments that highlight what Williams rowing and hard work is all about. Wells' passion and energy took the 1982 club rowing program on to be one of the strongest and most revered collegiate Division III women's and men's rowing programs in the country.

In 2018 with the Williams program secure and his own desire to take on a new challenge, Wells felt a calling, as he did in 1982 with Williams, to take on the head coaching role at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

A past rower described him best, "Rowing is a unique endeavor -- sometimes more a religion than a sport -- which is why it requires a coach such as Peter who can reach the soul of an oarsman and oarswoman."