The Launch

The 2025 membership plan includes many benefits for coaches:

• NEW! Free Level I coach certification (a $99 value) for Championship members and free access to most continuing coach education options to make it easier for new or aspiring coaches to get started; and
• NEW! Professional liability coverage for all USRowing certified coaches who are Championship members. These updates provide additional peace of mind for coaches and referees to handle risks confidently and focus on what they love to do.

The Coach Certification program facilitates a culture of continuous learning and provides coaches with flexible access to relevant, up-to-date education on safety, quality coaching, and rowing-specific best practices – regardless of where they live or how many local resources are available. From the full-time coach trying to grow their career to the volunteer coach helping out a few mornings a week, USRowing is committed to better educational support for coaches, which will also further USRowing’s strategic goals of experience, inclusion, and performance. The certification program will help create a safe, athlete-centered, and developmentally appropriate environment where both athletes and coaches can thrive.

The new education standards for coaches are a direct response to input and feedback from coaches and club leaders on surveys sent to all organizational members and our full coach email list beginning in late 2022. We learned that our organizational members struggled to find qualified and knowledgeable coaches, resulting in high levels of staff turnover.

In addition, we compared USRowing to similar organizations and learned that most of our international rowing governing body peers require both coach certification and continuing education to maintain coaching certification. Also, many U.S. NGBs, including USA Hockey, USA Swimming, and USA Gymnastics require coach certification and continuing education. Finally, programs like this are core components of long-range investments in safeguarding and sport risk reduction.

The program’s design is based on three guiding principles: 

1) the Quality Coaching Framework, developed by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) with collaboration from its National Governing Bodies. 

2) USRowing’s American Development Model (ADM), which is based on the USOPC’s foundational work.

3) USRowing’s commitment to Experience, Inclusion, and Performance.

Prior to the new coach standards, the only requirement was Level 2 or Level 3 certification to coach at all levels of the national team and at USRowing camps. Certifications were optional for all other coaches.

There are three new coaching standards:

• Level 1 certification (or higher) is required for all coaches starting January 1, 2025;
• Level 2 certification (or higher) is recommended for one or more coaches at each USRowing member organization; and
• Continuing education credits (CECs) for all three certification levels will replace the mentor hour requirements that previously existed for Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 certifications. 

Coach certification also requires coaches to have up to date SafeSport training, USOPC-approved background check, Adult CPR/AED, First Aid, Boater safety (if applicable), and starting in 2025 continuing education credits (CECs).

Unfortunately, background checks are often duplicative. The USOPC requires USRowing to conduct background checks with very specific criteria. Many employers’ background checks fail to meet the USOPC standard, or employers may not allow background checks to be shared. USRowing is building an API-integrated background check process to ensure members can easily access the USOPC-required background check.

Yes. We have structured the program so that coaches can choose the learning pathway that best fits their specific needs and interests.

Coaches with three or more years of experience may skip the Level 1 course (2-3 hours to complete) and either proceed immediately to the Level 1 Exam or enroll directly in the Level 2 course (includes 10 hours of live Zoom sessions over 2-3 days). The Level 1 Exam takes people less than 10 minutes to complete.

We will waive the course requirement component for previously-certified coaches whose certifications have lapsed if: 

• Level 1 course was completed on or after January 1, 2014; OR
• Level 2/II or Level 3/III course completions are in our records or members can provide proof of completion. Note: Old Level II and III courses are considered equivalent to current Level 2 course.

Coaches with coach certifications earned in other countries may submit evidence of their certifications and the requirements for certification completed in other countries for evaluation and possible granting of U.S. equivalency status. All coaches will still be required to complete all other certification requirements including continuing education credits (CECs).

Level 1 course is FREE for Championship, Lifetime, and Legacy members, and cost $99 for Basic members. We recommend Championship membership for all coaches as it provides additional relevant benefits, including access to Level 2 and Level 3 coach certification courses, $25K of excess accident medical coverage, and expanded professional liability insurance.  

USRowing charges fees to support the long-term viability of offering a best-in-class learning experience to members.

Level 2 ($250) and Level 3 ($750) course prices remain unchanged.

Yes. These governing bodies are among many that require all coaches to be certified:

• USA Swimming 
• USA Hockey
• US Ski & Snowboard 
• USA Cycling
• USA Fencing
• USA Weightlifting
• USA Gymnastics 
• Rowing Canada (including in-person observation by expert coaches)
• Rowing Australia
• Most NGBs in Europe

We regularly receive and adjudicate emails at learningdev@usrowing.org asking for review or reconsideration of approval decisions

Coaches with coach certifications earned in other countries may submit evidence of their certifications and the requirements for certification completed in other countries for evaluation and potential equivalency status. All coaches will still be required to complete continuing education credits (CECs) annually and fulfill the other certification requirements.

USRowing is trying to make the transition to new coach standards as easy as possible while ensuring we meet our requirements to the USOPC and Center for Safe Sport. These steps include:

• New Championship member benefits related to coaching certification including access to FREE Level 1 course, mostly free continuing education, and additional insurance coverage
• Accepting old USRowing coach certification course completions
• Allowing coaches with 3+ years coaching experience to jump straight into the Level 1 Exam or Level 2 course without completing the Level 1 course
• A 30-day grace period for coaches to complete all certification requirements while allowing coaching as long as SafeSport training, a USOPC-approved background check, and baoter safety training (if applicable) is complete
• Considering international coach certifications for U.S. equivalency
• Member portal development to allow coaches (and others) direct access to complete approved background checks (coming soon)
• Org member dashboards for organizational admins to view and track coaching certifications and other compliance of their members (coming soon)

Not in 2025. Regatta Directors will only be responsible for ensuring participants adhere to the requirements that have already existed, including membership, waiver, SafeSport status, and Certificates of Insurance (COIs) for programs that USRowing does not insure. USRowing will communicate this across our community generally and when programs register for regattas. 

Throughout 2025, USRowing will work directly with organizational members to drive alignment with coaching standards as 1) they are more directly applicable to day-to-day safeguarding and athlete experience and 2) our goal is to reduce, not increase, active compliance work for regattas and/or regatta directors. 

Our ongoing investments in the regatta registration process will move all sanctioned regattas closer to compliance with existing standards before teams show up on-site, as demonstrated by the progress at our hosted events over the past several years.  

Yes. Only certified coaches will be able to: 

• access restricted athlete-only areas at  a sanctioned regatta. This assumes the regatta has an athlete only area  and that it monitors compliance and access using RegattaCentral. This may include docks and fenced or otherwise designated athlete-only spaces 
• be assigned coach role on the team’s rosters within the member portal 

USRowing is making all certification determinations and will manage the compliance process and “get healthy” plans. Regatta directors will not be responsible for certification compliance. The responsibility of determining whether a team is in good standing rests with USRowing, and the regatta compliance portal will display the status of a team based on the various requirements (which already included membership renewal and upload of a Certificate of Insurance when not insured by USRowing). 

Newly hired coaches have a grace period of 30 days to complete certification requirements and can coach and fulfill all coach roles once SafeSport training, the USOPC-required background check through NCSI, and boater safety training (if required in their state and circumstances) are complete. For regatta participation during the grace period, only SafeSport and background check is required as long as the coach is not driving a launch at the regatta. 

Determination of individual coach certification is on a rolling timeline not linked to regatta schedules. As member organizations register for regattas, coach compliance emails will be sent to un-certified coaches at each organization in the same way that athlete non-compliance is communicated. 
We are continuously processing coach certifications. Over 8,000 coaches are in our active coach database. In our new document processing dashboard, we have approved more than 6,000 submissions from nearly 2,200 coaches.  
Nearly 1,700 coaches are enrolled or have completed the Level 1 course, and nearly 1,400 have completed the Level 1 Exam since July. 8,000+ coaches have existing certification course completions in our database.  

We have five staff and contractors that currently review, and process submitted documents. Our goal is to process a document within 5 business days. Documents are typically processed within 2-3 business days and sometimes the same day of submission. In periods of time when we are receiving 100+ submissions per day this can take longer.  

By the end of February 2025, coaches can see their own compliance status on their individual member pages in the member portal.  

USRowing’s goal has always been to reduce friction on-site as close to zero as possible – ideally no coach or program will arrive at a regatta and be out of compliance. By the time a team arrives at a sanctioned regatta, a coach and program will have received multiple renewal reminders from USRowing directly as well as automated notifications by RegattaCentral highlighting any issues with their compliance.  
 

Yes. Only certified coaches will be able to: 

• access restricted athlete-only areas at a sanctioned regatta. This assumes the regatta has an athlete only area and that it monitors compliance and access using RegattaCentral. This may include docks and fenced or otherwise designated athlete-only spaces 
• be assigned coach role on the team’s rosters within the member portal 

No. Only certified coaches will be recognized as coaches at sanctioned regattas.

No, while a team can technically protest anything, the Rules of Rowing would immediately cancel the protest. 

By the end of February 2025, all member coaches and programs will be able to view coach certification status in RegattaCentral. Programs will have access to Organization Dashboards whereas coaches will be able to see their status on their member profile. Sanctioned regattas will not have such visibility in 2025, as our goal is to avoid sanctioned regattas being the enforcement point for coach certification.