Parents
The Crew program gives Riverside High School students an opportunity to row in competition against teams from other public and private high schools in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC and, occasionally, from other eastern states. Riverside Crew athletes meet Virginia High School League and Riverside High School requirements for participation in sports and therefore are eligible to earn varsity letters.
Crew comes before any other club just like other Riverside sports teams. Students commit to practices 6 days per week during the season, parents commit to a certain number of volunteer activities, and everyone commits to mandatory practices during spring break, but it all pays off as you watch your kids race and see their excitement as they row for a successful team. Students can join non-sports related clubs throughout the school year and season but just remember missing a regatta due to another club activity gives a fellow rower an opportunity to take your athlete’s seat or their boat may not row.
The Riverside Crew website is designed to provide quick access to easy-to-find information on the crew team. Critical information for parents regarding practices, transportation, regattas, team events, and volunteer requirements have been consolidated into a FAQ page. Below contains high-level synopsis of the information.
Practice
Crew is a Spring sport. The rowing season begins in late February and concludes in late May. Practices take place on the Potomax River after school Monday through Friday, and on Saturday mornings. Rowers are strongly encouraged to take part in winter conditioning at Maverick Rowing which begins in mid-November.
Riverside Crew provides transportation to and from the weekly regattas and during springbreak peactices only. Although some upperclassmen opt to drive themselves, using the bus transportation is promoted for safety reasons.
Rowers and their families must provide their own transportation to and from practices. We highly encourage you to connect with other crew parents to arrange for carpools.
What does your athletes wear for practice?
That depends a little bit on whether they’re practicing at Maverick Rowing, practicing on the water in late February or March, or practicing on the water in spring. For indoor conditioning, they’ll want to wear a short-sleeved shirt/tank top and athletic shorts, and sneakers.
For practice on the water, you will want to make sure they have the essentials:
- Shorts – slim, form-fitting shorts, NOT loose basketball-style shorts
- Visor or hat or sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Shoes they can slip out of easily – crocs and slides work best
- Water
- Waterproof socks
For cool-weather practices on the water, they should wear layers so they can adjust to the temperature. A warm, water-resistant jacket is helpful, as are long, tight-fitting pants or tights.
For warm-weather practice, light shirts and shorts. Most boys wear compression shorts while the girls generally wear athletic shorts.
Regattas
Local regattas take place on the Occoquan River at Sandy Run Regional Park in Fairfax County. There generally are six local regattas before the State Championships.
The Riverside Crew team also travels to out-of-town regattas. Because out-of-town regattas are not completely aligned with the VASRA racing categories, not all boats will be invited to attend. For example, the others do not have a category for 3rd or 4th varsity boats, and not all regattas race a novice category. Eligible boats will generally be 1st and 2nd varsity, and possibly freshmen.
The Stotesbury Cup Regatta in mid-May on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia are open to any boat in the category. We will determine during the season wh ich boats are competitive enough to attend.
Boats who won a medal in the State Championships go to the Scholastic Rowing Association (SRAA) Nationals regatta. The SRAA is held Memorial Day weekend, and only qualifying boats will be invited to attend this event.
Fees
Because not all Loudoun County schools offer crew, it is considered a club sport. As a result, we receive no financial support from Loudoun County Public Schools or Riverside High School. The crew team is supported by dues paid by each rower’s family and by fundraising activities. In addition, the Riverside Crew Board of Directors has consistently helped to support our program. Income from these sources is used for coaches’ salaries, equipment purchase and maintenance, rack fees for our boats, regatta fees, insurance, and other administrative needs.
In the past few seasons, registration fees have been $1,500. This fee includes most costs associated with crew but does not include uniform costs (approximately $175), or away regattas, which involve additional fees. Registration fees can be paid all at once or spread out over several payments.
Starting in 2026, registration fees will increase to $1650. Your fees will include one team uni and one long sleeve compression shirt plus a team t-shirt.
Additional Fees
Additional monies will need to paid by you if you or your athlete would like to purchase other team gear and/or accessories from Squadlocker.
Out of town regattas, like Stotes and SRAA, are not included in your registration dues. You will need to pay for hotel registration and food. We typically bring a chuckwagon with a blackstone grill to make meals on site. We will ask for parent donations and volunteers to help with these regattas.
Parent Involvement
Parents help plan and conduct the activities of the Riverside Crew, including fundraising activities, team dinners, volunteer assignments at the Occoquan regattas, the annual end-of-season banquet, etc. Parents are also asked to serve as chaperones on trips to out-of-town regattas as well as at the team tent during regattas. Support of, and participation in, fundraising is especially important. These activities not only make it possible to have a crew program, but also provide a way for parents to be involved in their children’s lives and get to know their children’s friends and other Riverside parents.
2026 Parent Volunteer Requirement: Each rower’s parents must volunteer at least twice with the club in some form during the season.
Of note, failure to show for your volunteer assignment without letting our Registrar and Volunteer Coordinator know will result in a $500 fine per infraction. Our Treasurer will reach out to you to make payment arrangements.
Communications
The primary means of communications is TeamLinkt for parents.
“The Catch”, our team newsletter, will be sent weekly on Sunday evenings. It allows you to see what happened last week and what is planned for the upcoming week and beyond.
Make sure to check your spam/junk folder routinely if you do not see TeamLinkt emails in your inbox.