Thames Racing Challenge
Please Join Us - Early Bird Rates Available Until January 31
The mission of Sparks challenge camps is to intensively train athletes in key areas of rowing development while exploring their personal relationship with performance.
Category
Challenge
Ages
15
-
17
Raise your Racing IQ
Join our most selective challenge camp in a quest to race in the English summer circuit on the river where it all started - the Thames. Undergo selection and race in two sprint Henley-style elimination regattas, one of which is on the world-famous Royal Henley Regatta course at Henley-on-Thames, the Henley Town & Visitors Regatta.
The goal of this program is to raise your racing IQ. You will race in sprint (750-1K) regattas in coxed boats with elite coxing and coaching. Racing IQ dictates athletes' competitive intution and is generally gained over a career. The objective is to teach you how to reflect on selection and racing in a manner that allows you to consistently increase your gains from competitive experience.
At Sparks, we believe in teaching athletes to coach themselves by enabling them to take control of their relationship with performance. Selection and racing are key moments for performance. While previous Sparks crews have won regattas in the English circuit, your ability to work with new teammates, adapt to different styles of coaching, undergo the selection process while supporting your peers, and mentally engage intensive racing and reflection will make you successful in London.
This camp utilizes two boatclubs for overlapping date sessions with both sessions attending the Henley Town & Visitors Regatta. The first session utilizes Thames Rowing Club at Putney on the Tideway (which is where the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race is held) while the second session utilizes Twickenham Rowing Club. Even though we're in sweep boats, expect the rowing culture and coaching to be different in the motherland of our sport. Athletes undergo selection prior to each racing weekend and combine with our Coxing Leadership Program in the UK to race with top junior (and sometimes collegiate) coxswains. Staff to athlete ratios are 1:3.
Admissions
Our challenge two week programs offer athletes a chance to improve their training and racing self-awareness (rowing "IQ") so they may better pursue rowing performance. The Thames Racing Challenge provides British sweep coaching, selection, and racing as catalysts for reflection and performance.
First: you should aspire to improve your perspective of yourself as a rowing athlete.
Second: you should possess the emotional maturity necessary to integrate with the group and your own relationship with performance.
Finally: you should possess the fitness to get the most out of the program.
Athletes accepted to the Thames Challenge cohort tend to be rising juniors/grade 11/lower sixth. The program will consider rising sophomores/grade 10/fifth form on a case by case basis.
Step 1: Initial Application
Submit your registration and pay the $895 deposit; we will accept the deposit to process your application and hold your place. If you are not offered a place, the full deposit is refundable.
Step 2: Written Application
This program informs athletes' approach to rowing performance by enabling the self awareness to guide independent development. Athletes should seek a deeper relationship with rowing performance, possess a drive to learn and improve, and an adventurous spirit.
The Thames Racing Challenge Written Application is comprised of these response prompts:
- What about this specific program appeals to you?
- Evaluate yourself as a rowing athlete - what are your strengths and weaknesses, and how will this program help you grow?
- Evaluate yourself as a teammate. Discuss the ways you are a supportive teammate and explain how you'd like to grow.
- Please provide a brief summary of your rowing experience including a recent 2,000m ergometer score.
- Please upload a short (~1 minute) video of yourself on the ergometer or water.
(Please do not worry about editing or perfect quality - 10-20 strokes from the side will do.
The prompts will be submitted on your Sparks user dashboard and are due within 14 days of initial application.
Step 3: Zoom Interview
You will schedule your interview from your Sparks user dashboard after you submit your written application. During the interview we will talk about the program, your written application, and how the opportunity aligns with your experience, values, and goals.
Step 4: Decision
Upon acceptance full payment is due by March 1. Full payment is due within 14 days for applications received after March 1.
Admissions occurs on a rolling basis. Timeline for decisions is within a week of the interview; if your timeline is shorter, we can work with you. Written applications must be submitted within 14 days of initial application, and interviews must be scheduled within 30 days of initial application.
At A Glance
Excellent Staff at Low Ratios
Thoughtful Admissions
High Standards of Behavior
Reading and Writing at Camp
Healthy Hospitality
The Reflective Cycle
Camp Focuses
Teamwork
Racing
Sweeping
Large Boats
FAQ
What is the cancellation/refund policy?
Camp purchases are fully refundable minus transaction fees until March 1 for summer camps.
- We strongly recommend you purchase travel protection with cancel for any reason coverage.
- We offer these plans from Travel Insured International during the check-out process for our four and five day camps and during final balance payment for deposit-based multi-week camps.
- Learn more about travel protection here
- If you withdraw after the above dates, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever (including, but not limited to: voluntary withdraw, illness or injury, summer school, security concerns or other reasons).
- If your camper leaves camp after it starts, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to: voluntary withdrawal, illness or injury, dismissal by Sparks (due to discipline, behavior, lack of fitness or motivation, etc.) security concerns, or any other reason. Any costs incurred by Sparks as a result of an early departure are the sole responsibility of the parents.
- In the unlikely case a camp does not proceed, we'll work to notify you by March 1. You'll be offered a different program or a refund. In some cases, we may extend the 'go, no-go' date. We recommend buying your flight after March 1 or later, if we advise.
Do you offer scholarships or discounts?
We offer discounted prices for "early bird" registrations prior to January 31.
Regarding Scholarships:
Please see this link to our NCAA Compliance webpage.
What level of experience is necessary for this program?
Average age is 16 with 1.5 years in the sport. That said, the experience of 1.5 years can vary significantly depending on team and region. We evaluate each athlete on a case by case basis in the admissions process.
It is helpful sometimes to consider what can be accomplished at camp in the timespan to decide whether one's level of experience is a fit for the program. England is an intermediate camp that fits between our shorter, much larger introductory collegiate camps at places like Penn and our longer leadership level programming in New Zealand.
The two week length enables realization of technical and educational benefits prior to departing camp. That said: our objective is to enable the athletic self-awareness necessary for camp athletes to coach themselves over the long run - long after camp ends. As such: if better athletic self-awareness and technical improvements are your goal set (combined with getting some international racing in!), the Thames may be a good fit for you.
Tell me more about admissions for this program - how selective is it?
Our admissions process is the most thoughtful in the sport and we evaluate each athlete on a case by case basis.
This program is selective based on the need for safety and to create competitive boatings for racing.
While we look 2K and rowing experience, we are also very interested in your motivation and passion for rowing. Our 2K standards (minimum sub 8:20 for women; 7:20 for men) for this program are a small part of our overall admissions process. At our camps, the drive to improve leads to increased maturity and thoughtfulness - which leads to performance.
We also consider your ability to live, train, and support others in a community committed to utilizing challenge for personal growth. Sparks camps are unlike traditional training camps in that progress in self-awareness per your relationship with performance is as important as acute technical progress. Ideal candidates will complete the program with gains in both self-awareness and corresponding ability to improve long after camp ends.
You must be patient and mature enough to handle learning new things on a continual basis. It will be a break from your normal training meant to provide perspective and place you in a high-performance team environment and you need to be able to engage it thoughtfully with your peers. You will undergo selections for boating for the regattas, and you must possess the rowing maturity to handle your own racing while supporting your peers.
We welcome your questions either via phone or in the chat box in the right hand corner.
What differentiates Sparks camps and this program specifically?
We are the only camp in rowing with a full-time staff that has academic and professional backgrounds in experiential education. We also have a summer operations staff (many are returners that teach during the school year) who buy into the idea of personal growth at camp not just for campers - but for themselves as well.
The result is a culture sincerely committed to the power of rowing as a personally transformative experience built on vulnerability, thoughtfulness, responsibility, and initiative. These qualities along with our values of growth, kaizen, and plus one stroke dictate the culture our camp community forms around. Our focus is on utilizing rowing to create the self-awareness necessary to master one's relationship with performance.
England is the homeland of the sport, with the most robust rowing talent development program in the world. The coaching is excellent, and the opportunity to be selected and race in a competitive dual regatta will provide much benefit. More importantly like our other international programs, it offers students of the sport the ability to educate themselves (and get ahead) in what is a more advanced athlete development system than the US. Finally, given the group size and cultural activities - we expect students to find more than rowing performance on this trip. We also hope for them to find friendship, support for their journey, and joy.
What can you tell me about college recruiting and this program?
England, the Tideway, Kingston and Molesey are all fodder for learning from one of the top countries to get collegiate recruits in the world - and the experience itself is far more unique than some of the more ubiquitious US junior regattas.
Regardless, many recruiters will say "A for effort, but what did you learn?"
Training and racing overseas will speak to some recruiters more than others, but all recruiters care about engagement with the sport more than the particulars of your summer program choice or race results. Given recruiting is a globally competitive "talent marketplace", getting some international perspective will help you - but in the end no one race or camp is going to provide the competitive rowing intellect necessary to succeed at the recruiting process. You are a composite of your experiences - so best to make them unique and highly educational.
The general age of program participants typically puts them more than a year out on college recruiting, but we have had a number of alumni who have gone on to row in college.
How big is the program?
Sparks multi-week cohorts are typically between 12 and 16 athletes. Coaching and operations staff ratios are set at 1:6, making overall staff to student ratio 1:3 - however, sometimes it is even lower.
Of chief importance to us is the quality of our cohorts - which we believe is a product of admissions, staffing, and group size to facilitate activities (eg. sweep boat rowing v. singles) as well as friendships that last long after camp ends.
This cohort combines with our UK Coxing Leadership Program (6 coxswains) to form a total camp cohort. As a team boat camp, the cohort size is generally larger than our other multi-week camps. The size of the group allows students to experience varying degrees of connection with different instructors and peers. Activities occur in large and small group formats to build community and enable exposure to all instructors and peers throughout camp.
At Sparks, we have reflected deeply on optimal group size for camp type and length after over a decade of running rowing camps. The standard in the outdoors education (e.g. hiking trips) is 12 campers at a 1:6 ratio with staff - who are generally undergraduates. We have improved this model for this large boat camp with a larger maximum group size for a better team feel while pushing ratios down with highly qualified staff (classroom educators and coaches with graduate degrees are normal in our staff pool) and an organized structure to better affect consistent performance improvement.
What can you tell me about housing and supervision at camp?
Campers will stay at the MK London hotel - a 10 minute walk from the Putney embankment.
At Sparks camps, we have two staffs: a coaching staff and an operations staff. Our operations staff is responsible for the experiential education and pastoral care at camp. We seek to maintain industry-leading 1:3 staff to student ratios at this program.
The staff lives amongst the athletes, and has oversight 24 hours a day. Unhealthy substances and/or behaviors are strictly prohibited.
Tell me about safety at Sparks
We employ safety and risk management practices from the adventure education industry, where some risk is inherent but must be quantified insofar as educational value. These practices are initially employed in program design and we work hard to train operations staff to seek to maintain an awareness of specific risks at all times. No outdoors programming can guarantee safety, however professional management of risk is key to the art of providing consistently excellent experiential education programming.
Please also see our essential eligibility criteria here.
How do you handle travel to/from the camp?
Travel to and from London is not as big a deal as getting to Japan, but we recognize it's definitely a bigger deal than flying domestically. We seek to help families connect who would like their students to travel together, but there are a lot of ways to fly direct to London. We provide a direct flight from a major US hub for campers interested in traveling together.
The journey itself is part of the experience. Our international camps invite athletes to take a personal journey with the sport at its center. The time and maturity required in getting to and from London enforces a sense of distance and accomplishment in itself.
Our Program Director (already on the ground in England as students depart) tracks student travel into London, where they are picked up from the airport.
Needless to say, you will fill out a travel form after registration that enables our staff to make sure your camper arrives and departs camp safely.
If your camper needs to depart the day after the program ends, we will have a staff member at the Holiday Inn Express: London Heathrow T4 the final night of the program. Staff cannot be responsible for campers as the camp will have ended, but they will be able to help your camper get checked in and answer questions.
If you have questions, we're happy to answer them in the box in the lower right side, or you can schedule a call with us.
I have questions before I apply. Is it possible to speak with someone?
Certainly - we completely understand your need to connect about this commitment!
We just ask you schedule a call with us (click here) given we're a very small office.
Where are camp forms found?
Camp forms are issued at least six weeks prior to camp on our site via your dashboard.