Our pricing reflects the value of early planning. Current rates and availability are listed on each program page. Optional cancel-for-any-reason insurance allows cancellation up to two days before camp.
Recommended: 6:30/7:30-7:45/8:45 (M/W)
No minimum required. This range gives you a sense of where past athletes have been.
The Winter Erg Challenge is for athletes who want a faster 2K and a clearer understanding of how to earn one. Most athletes train all winter without ever learning why their score is what it is. They pull the pieces on the schedule, watch teammates with the same training log post different numbers, and conclude that the answer is simply more. Sometimes it is. Often the fitness is already there and the stroke spends it badly, or the score is in the athlete and they have never learned how to take it out over 2,000 meters. These are different situations that call for different training, and knowing which one is yours changes what every session between now and your next test is for.
That knowledge is what this camp is built to produce. Your first days run structured evaluation on the erg: measured pieces that map your power, your capacity, and your threshold, with video running throughout so the coaching staff sees your stroke the way you never can from inside it. What comes out is a written diagnosis of your strength and challenge areas, and the rest of camp treats it. You train in zones built from your own numbers, correct what your video shows, and learn to feel the difference between a session that develops you and one that merely tires you. We treat the score itself as a product of the work underneath it, and the work underneath it is what we teach.
Days in Tampa begin with a light, quick breakfast and an erg workout, then build: two more challenging sessions follow later in the day, on the erg or otherwise, and late December here is warm enough that the harder work can move outdoors while your home boathouse sits in winter. Around the training, you learn the practices that make training stick, from erg planning and the training journal to warm-up, recovery, and fueling. Camp finishes with a 2K, a chance to execute what the four days built and to feel what it is like to sit down to a piece knowing exactly what you are doing.
We maintain a small capacity of 12 athletes to keep the evaluation and coaching individual.
At A Glance
Staff Ratios of 1:3 to 1:5
Admissions-Based Cohorts
High Standards of Behavior
Reading & Reflection
Healthy Hospitality
Action → Reflection → Intention
Camp Focuses
Exercise Science
Ergometer Skills
Cross Training
Nutrition
Included in Camp Fee
- Meals (lunch and dinner for day campers)
- Lodging for overnight campers
- Camp Gear - including cox boxes
- Coaching & Equipment
- 1:4 Staff to Athlete Ratio
- Discount on Coxswain eLearning
Not Included in Camp Fee
- Personal Gear
- Airfare to and from camp
- Trip Protection (strongly recommended) - Learn More
What goes into a Sparks Camp?
You get more out of a Sparks camp because we put more into a Sparks camp*
*These numbers are an approximation across all of our camps.
†Housing includes meeting and activity space for the camp during the day as well.
FAQ
What is your cancellation/refund policy?
Camp purchases are fully refundable minus transaction fees until November 1 for winter 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 November 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 November 1 or later, if we advise.
Do you offer scholarships or discounts?
We offer discounted prices for "early bird" registrations prior to November 1.
Regarding Scholarships:
Please see this link to our NCAA Compliance webpage.
Do you honor rooming requests? / What if I'm coming to camp alone?
Typically, we do not honor rooming requests unless there's a medical issue. Requests enable social cliques and don't allow camp to meet each camper on an individual level - a level of educational quality we're serious about providing. The requests also unintentionally disable the fun and according growth of meeting new people (everyone feels awkward at the start of camp) and gaining new perspective on the sport. That said, there's plenty of time to hang out and experience camp with one's friends (the ones from before camp) during the day at camp.
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.
Where are camp forms found?
Camp forms are issued at least six weeks prior to camp on our site via your dashboard.
What can you tell me about housing and supervision at camp?
Campers are housed at Aloft Downtown Tampa, which is walkable to the rowing site,
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. It is made up secondary school educators (Program Leaders) and current student-athlete alumni (Associate Program Leaders) who are led by an experienced Program Director. Operations staff chose to work at Sparks camps both as an active exercise in educational leadership development and to discuss rowing with the coaching staff.
The staff lives amongst the student athletes, and has oversight 24 hours a day. Unhealthy substances and/or behaviors are strictly prohibited.
How do you handle travel to/from camp? Can you pick me up at the airport?
A Sparks staff member will be at the Tampa airport for arriving and departing campers.
Please seek for flights to arrive before 2 PM on the first day of camp and depart after 2 PM on the last day of camp.
If this is outside your window given expense or flight availability, please get in touch with us and we will work with you. For example, if you're traveling to camp from the east coast and need to fly the night before camp starts - please contact us to discuss lodging options.
Unfortunately, we cannot support unaccompanied minor travel at this camp. Please contact us and we are happy to work with you to find alternative options. Southwest Airlines does not require UM status for 14 year olds and serves TPA.
I still have questions. Is it possible to speak with someone?
Certainly!
If you have an logistical or informational question, feel free to use the live chat in the bottom right corner. We can generally turn these around quickly.
If you want to speak with a real, live human - that's also possible! We just ask you schedule a call with us (click here) given we're a very small office.
