Rowing: NCAA and Varsity Athlete Recruitment Rules
Both men’s and women’s rowing follow the NCAA rules and calendar for athlete recruitment even though only women’s rowing is an NCAA sport, while men’s rowing is a varsity sport.
Aspiring rowing athlete recruits to the highly selective colleges in Division 1 must remember the strict calendar imposed for when athletes and the college coaches can have phone or face to face contact with each other. These rules are strictly observed and athletes who violate them can find themselves ineligible to join an NCAA or varsity sports team in college. The rules and calendar are designed to ensure that there is a level playing field for aspiring recruits, and that they have an equal opportunity to compete for a spot on an NCAA or varsity team as an athlete recruit. The rules also protect an aspiring athlete recruit from pressure to commit to a college team prematurely before they have had a chance to fully explore their options.
Aspiring rowing athlete recruits should remember that they may already be on a college coach’s radar before the actual recruitment conversations can even begin. Athletes can typically get on the college coach’s radar through the competitions they participate in. There are recognized competitions in rowing as there are in all other sports, where college coaches may attention to as a mechanism to identify potential athlete recruits to their team early. Potential rowing recruits should pay attention to what these competitions are within their region and make sure they and their teammates enter them at the right time.
The top candidates for athlete recruitment to rowing teams at the highly selective colleges in Division 1 can expect to start receiving verbal offers of athlete recruitment sometime in early Summer immediately following their junior year in high school. They will also be asked to submit their transcripts and test scores to the college’s admissions office for an academic read to confirm that they meet the college’s academic requirements. Once their academic qualification is confirmed, the potential athlete recruit will be asked to submit a Common Application to the admissions office. The Ivy League colleges will issue Likely Letters to the athlete recruits deemed qualified sometime between October and March of senior year, leading to almost certain admission provided the athlete maintains his/her grades through senior year. The rest of the highly selective colleges in Division 1 will issue National Letters of Intent to their confirmed athlete recruits, though admission is only confirmed when the admissions office issues an acceptance letter to the recruit.
The highly selective colleges in Division 3 will “soft” recruit their athlete recruits through the normal admissions process with a strong letter of support from the coach that the athlete is a highly desirable member of the rowing team. It is important to remember that the highly selective colleges in Division 3 are unlikely to recruit every member of their rowing team, and many members will be “walk on” athletes. As such, when you are discussing recruitment with a Division 3 college, it is important to confirm that the coach will back your application with a strong letter of support.
We share the athlete recruitment rules for rowing below:
Rowing Athlete Recruitment Rules and Calendar - Division 1
Rowing Athlete Recruitment Rules and Calendar - Division 3
