Development Camp athletes prepare for future selection events

This past weekend, Rowing BC hosted the third Junior Development Camp of the 2025–2026 series at the BC NextGen Performance Centre (BCNGPC) in Victoria. The event brought together 24 qualified athletes and four coaches representing nine club and school programs. This year’s January camp focused on the development of athletes who met the qualifying ergometer standard, with an emphasis on small boat performance. The primary goal of the camp was to provide athletes with the opportunity to experience a variety of selection protocol activities in pairs and singles.

The Rowing BC Junior Development Camps are designed for performance-focused athletes in the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Train to Compete stage. These camps provide BC’s top junior athletes with the opportunity to train alongside some of the province’s most promising emerging talent. Many participants have aspirations to compete at the highest levels, including the BC Championships, Junior National Trials, Continental Challenge Cup, and Junior World Championships.

The camp began Saturday morning with a general meeting where Rowing BC’s Director of Performance reviewed the goals and processes for the weekend. Key technical themes were introduced, focusing on small boat performance and adapting to partner changes required during matrix activities. The first on-water session matched athletes into boats to complete challenge drills outlined in the meeting while becoming familiar with the Elk Lake waterway. The second session provided a dry run of the selection matrix, requiring multiple switches in the 2- and 2x boats in preparation for Sunday’s mock selection activities.

The day concluded with athletes split into two groups for a strength and conditioning session led by Andrew Lu at the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific’s High Performance Gym. During this session, Andrew highlighted the benefits of a structured S&C program and guided athletes through progressive drills to develop key Olympic lifting techniques for future training.

Sunday’s focus shifted to completing a mock selection process designed to prepare athletes for future provincial, national, and university selection opportunities. The morning session consisted of four race-course runs with partner switches between each piece. Four men’s pairs and four women’s pairs completed a matrix that allowed coaches to determine individual rankings, with each port athlete rowing with every starboard to accumulate a total time. Scullers completed an initial run in single sculls, after which the top four athletes advanced to a three-run matrix in double sculls to establish individual rankings.

Based on these results, athletes were re-aligned into crews for a final timed run down the course, allowing coaches to further assess performance. Results were then compared against Rowing Canada’s Gold Medal standards to evaluate individual progress. This exercise provided valuable rehearsal for the types of selection activities these athletes will encounter as they progress along the performance pathway.

The camp concluded with standard ergometer testing, consisting of a 1000-metre piece at rate 24 followed by three Stroke Max Watts tests, bringing a productive and performance-focused weekend to a close.

Find out more about Rowing BC’s support to performance athletes, and future Development Camp opportunities HERE.