Rowers Choice - Innovating Rowing

Felix DeCarvalho’s rowing journey began at Kearny High School, where the sport gave him structure, lifelong relationships, and a sense of belonging as the son of Portuguese immigrants. After continuing to train and race through Nereid Boat Club, he found his long-term place in rowing as a coach, helping build programs at Montclair, Don Bosco, and now St. Peter’s Prep. Over time, Felix evolved from...

Pat Clary’s conversation is a story about how rowing grabs people, humbles them, and turns struggle into purpose. From discovering the sport as a seventh grader, managing Type 1 diabetes, working multiple jobs to afford rowing, and eventually building programs with limited resources, Pat’s path shows that rowing is not only about medals or speed. It is about discipline, belonging, resilience, and...

In this episode, Jeremy of Montclair Rowing shares how growing up in a high-performance UK system—where young athletes trained alongside Olympians—shaped his belief that “success breeds success.” He explains the importance of a visible pathway, arguing that athletes perform better when they can clearly see what’s required to reach the next level. Jeremy contrasts the UK’s strong post-collegiate cl...

In this episode, host Alex DelSordo interviews Chris Samul, a math teacher and head rowing coach at Cranbrook Schools, about his journey from a novice in a low-resource club to a collegiate rower and dedicated coach. Samul details how a strong sense of belonging and friendship kept him in the sport despite early losses, a philosophy he now uses to lead a varsity program of nearly 70 athletes. The...

In Episode 4, Alex sits down with Malvern Prep Head Coach James Konopka to explore what it really takes to build a coaching career—and a program—from the ground up. James grew up in rowing, with the sport deeply embedded in his family, but his path into coaching was anything but easy. From making $10,000 his first year and cold-emailing for opportunities, to learning by sitting in launches and ask...

In this episode, Alex sits down with Sarah Low, Executive Director of Sammamish Rowing and longtime junior coach, to talk about coaching development and the future of the sport. Two key ideas stand out in the conversation. First, the best coaching education doesn’t happen in lectures or online seminars — it happens in small, in-person conversations where coaches can challenge ideas, ask questions,...

2026e2 - Julian Canha - DC National Julian Canha is a veteran high school head coach and program director with nearly two decades of experience, including  dominant programs as an assistant at Montclair and and head coach at DC National. A former coxswain and University of Michigan rower, he’s led undefeated varsity seasons, won multiple Stotesbury and SRAA medals, coached  USA Junior National Tea...

2026e1 - Matt Russell, TBC Racing. Entering his 40th year in the sport, TBC Racing founder Matt Russell has seen a ton of development in the Sport.  Growing the program from an initial group of 4 boys, there are now over 400 athletes involved with TBC Racing.  TBC Racing has become the place in the Washington DC area to have fun and go fast.

2024e4 - Mark Gainey - Strava Mark Gainey was a kid from Reno, Nevada who never expected to end up on the Harvard Rowing team.  Mark was actually recruited to Harvard for running!  Mark was a fast cross country runner who had an unfortunate injury that ultimately let him to the Harvard boathouse.  Once he got in a boat he was hooked.  On top of that, he met his future business partner.  Now years...

2024e3 - Tim Spell - OpenWater Tim Spell is one of the founders of OpenWater and the definition of a grinder.  Tim and Alex first crossed paths at George Washington Rowing and have stayed close ever since.  In 2012 Tim founded OpenWater, one of the leaders in cloud-based software.  In addition to talking about the work that went into his company, he talks about the importance of fitness and the ro...

2024e2 - Jack Carlson - Rowing Blazers Jack Carlson didn't start out with the plan to start a fashion company that has been featured in Forbes, Equire and Target. After being introduced to rowing in prep school, Georgetown, Oxford and a run at the US National team, Jack's side hustle of creating the Rowing Blazer's book, was launched in partnership with Ralph Lauren.  Hence, the Rowing Blazers bra...

2024e1 - The Gathering Place Brewery The 2024 season of the Rowers Choice Podcast has a different theme than the past few years.  We are going to continue to talk with rowers, but this year we are focused on talking to rowers who started or founded a business.  We open 2024 with a good friend of Alex and CJ, Joe Yeado.  Joe is the owner of The Gathering Place Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Alex...

On Friday afternoon of our Take over the Row - Coaches Conference, we held a happy hour and a recording of our podcast with two Philadelphia rowing legends, Bill Lamb and Bruce Konopka.  Enjoy this special episode!

Chuck Crawford is a rowing legend. After competing in the sixties and seventies, he started coaching in 1978 before taking over the head coaching roll at St. Joes Prep in 1980.  Chuck is best known for his time at the University of Delaware.  He started that program back in 1991 and has been involved in that program in some capacity ever since.  Now years later, the coach and athlete tree that Chu...

2023e15 - Ian Rapoport - NFL Network / Columbia University Ian Rapoport is not like any of our other podcasts this season.  Ian didnt go to college to row, he went to college to play baseball.  When he didnt make it on the baseball team, Ian joined the crew team.  He ended up spending 4 years on the team, and now, years later, still thinks about his time on the team.  This is a very unique, specia...

We were so excited to have this conversation.  Al Monte is the new head coach at University of Pennsylvania.  Al makes his return back to Philadelphia after coaching stints at Dartmouth and Bucknell.  Al got his start rowing right in Philadelphia at Roman Catholic High School.  He then went on to a great career at Holy Cross and with the US national team.  We are excited to see Al take over at Pen...

2023e13 - Steve Coppola - Cornell University "Don't wear a hear cape."   If you don't know Steve, you need to listen to this podcast.  Steve had an amazing career at Princeton and went on to have an amazing career on the US National Team, including a Bronze Medal at the Beijing Olympics.  Now Steve is leading the Cornell Women as he rebuilds their team.  Don't miss this great story teller!

Smart, ambitious, and a rowing nerd in the best possible way.  Trevor Michelson is going to lead the next generation of rowing coaches.  He is a sponge when it comes to rowing knowledge and has had the opportunity to surround himself with some legendary coaches.  A rowers at Wesleyan, he got into coaching at Fordham, before coaching at Wesleyan.  In 2021 Trevor joined the Dartmouth team and is cur...

Greg Hughes is a Princeton Tiger.  A 4 year rower at Princeton, Greg competed with the National team for a couple years before coming back and becoming a coach at Princeton.  Now, more than 20 years later, he continues to lead the successful Tiger Heavyweights.  Not the biggest rower, Greg found his way to rowing at Brentwood, before making his way to Princeton.  His story is something all rowers...

Matt Smith is the Associate Head Coach of the Princeton Mens Crew Team.  Matt grew up in Virginia, went to school at Wisconsin and served our country as an officer in the US Army before coming back to the US and getting involved in coaching rowing.  This is a great conversation with an amazing coach!

This week we have an amazing podcast with the legendary Yaz Farooq! Be sure to listen to her story about her journey from being a coxswain at @badgerwrowing, to the national team, to @nbcolympics, to @stanfordwcrew, and now at @washingtonrowing!  Be sure to listen to the full podcast in the link above! @yaz_farooq #rowing #usrowing #washingtonrowing

Al Acosta was a late starter.  He learned to row his freshman year of college, mainly because he heard they "had good parties".  Not long after, Al started his coaching career because of a conversation he had while sitting in traffic in Oakland.  Yes, this is a true story, you will have to listen for the details.  After starting the successful Stanford Lightweight Womens team, Al now finds himself...

Alex has a great conversation with Cornell head coach Todd Kennett!  They cover everything from throwing hay bales, to sled dogs, to why bringing back freshman rowing at the IRA level could be important.  Dont miss these great stories with Todd!

Will Porter is one of the most successful Womens rowing coaches in history, but a very successful rower in his own right.  Will rowed internationally, and even set the course record at @hocr1965 before his coaching career started.  Be sure to check out this great podcast!

It all started in a dream.  No, seriously, Dave had a dream about it!  Without dreaming about being in a boat, and some determination, who knows where Syracuse Head Coach Dave Reischman might have ended up.  Dave started rowing at Gonzaga, and then got his coaching start under the legendary Harry Parker.  Now 21 seasons later, Dave has Syracuse Mens Rowing in as good of a position as they have eve...