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Level 1 is for individuals 16 years of age and older that are new to coaching rowing as well as un-certified coaches with less than 3 years experience coaching rowing. A basic knowledge of rowing is assumed. Un-certified coaches with 3+ years of coaching experience may proceed directly to the Level 1 Exam without enrolling in the Level 1 course first. Level 1 is the entry point for new coaches with some rowing background. New coaches without a rowing background should start with Level 0 to learn basic terminology prior to enrolling on Level 1. Individuals must pass the Level 1 Exam. Completion of the Level 1 course does not convey certification status.
Questions regarding Level 1 certification should be directed to USRowing's Learning & Development Team at learningdev@usrowing.org.
This course is entirely online, self paced and hosted on The Launch.
Follow these steps to register:
1) Registration can be accessed through the Member Portal. Once logged in, click the green "Become a Coach" button and follow the prompts. Only a USRowing Basic membership is required to have access to this training.
2) Next, click "The Launch" button on the left-hand menu to access The Launch.
3) Click "Catalog" to find the "Level 1 Coach Certification Course" and "Level 1 Coach Certification Exam".
4) Click on the course and enroll if you have less than 3 years coaching experience or click on the Exam if you have 3 or more years coaching experience.
5) Complete the Course and/or Exam.
Note: All individuals must pass the Level 1 Exam for certification. Completing the Course only does not complete the certification.
These are additional requirements, not prerequisites, but they can be completed before or after the Level 1 online modules and Level 1 Exam. All requirements must be current in order to be a Level 1 certified coach. Full directions for these requirements can be found here. Note when any requirement expires, you are no longer a certified coach.
USRowing’s Level 1 Coaching Certification course is FREE for enrollment through December 31, 2024. Starting January 1, 2025, Level 1 course will be FREE for Championship Members and cost $99 for Basic Members.
USRowing charges fees to support the long-term viability of offering a best-in-class learning experience to members. We charge fees for professional certifications aimed at coaches and staff while offering free or low-fee training in most areas.
Candidates with less than three years coaching experience must complete the Level 1 course and pass the Level 1 exam. Coaches with three or more years coaching experience may jump straight into the Level 1 Exam or register for Level 2. In addition, candidates must complete and submit the following supplemental requirements:
The new coach standards are not meant to be punitive. The new standards are in partnership with our member organizations to enhance the safety and safeguarding of the rowing community. Please reach out to learningdev@usrowing.org if you need help meeting the new standards. An individual who is not certified will not be recognized as a coach at any USRowing hosted regattas or at USRowing member organizations. Additionally, they will not be able to coach at USRowing camps, or for the national teams.
The new coach standards are not meant to be punitive. The new standards are in partnership with our member organizations to enhance the safety and safeguarding of the rowing community. Our goal is to make it easy to comply with the new standards. However, an organization that allows an uncertified individual to coach risks the possibility of suspension, disqualification, or other penalties. A member organization without a Level 1 certified coach will not have any recognized coaches at the organization. Therefore, your club will not be able to hold coached practices or participate in USRowing hosted or sanctioned regattas.
Not in 2025. Regatta Directors will only be responsible for ensuring participants adhere to the requirements that have already existed, including membership, waiver, SafeSport status, and Certificates of Insurance (COIs) for programs that USRowing does not insure. USRowing will communicate this across our community generally and when programs register for regattas.
Throughout 2025, USRowing will work directly with organizational members to drive alignment with coaching standards as 1) they are more directly applicable to day-to-day safeguarding and athlete experience and 2) our goal is to reduce, not increase, active compliance work for regattas and/or regatta directors.
Our ongoing investments in the regatta registration process will move all sanctioned regattas closer to compliance with existing standards before teams show up on-site, as demonstrated by the progress at our hosted events over the past several years.
Yes. Only certified coaches will be able to:
USRowing is making all certification determinations and will manage the compliance process and “get healthy” plans. Regatta directors will not be responsible for certification compliance. The responsibility of determining whether a team is in good standing rests with USRowing, and the regatta compliance portal will display the status of a team based on the various requirements (which already included membership renewal and upload of a Certificate of Insurance when not insured by USRowing).
Newly hired coaches have a grace period of 30 days to complete certification requirements and can coach and fulfill all coach roles once SafeSport training, the USOPC-required background check through NCSI, and boater safety training (if required in their state and circumstances) are complete. For regatta participation during the grace period, only SafeSport and background check is required as long as the coach is not driving a launch at the regatta.
Determination of individual coach certification is on a rolling timeline not linked to regatta schedules. As member organizations register for regattas, coach compliance emails will be sent to un-certified coaches at each organization in the same way that athlete non-compliance is communicated.
We are continuously processing coach certifications. Over 8,000 coaches are in our active coach database. In our new document processing dashboard, we have approved more than 6,000 submissions from nearly 2,200 coaches.
Nearly 1,700 coaches are enrolled or have completed the Level 1 course, and nearly 1,400 have completed the Level 1 Exam since July. 8,000+ coaches have existing certification course completions in our database.
We have five staff and contractors that currently review, and process submitted documents. Our goal is to process a document within 5 business days. Documents are typically processed within 2-3 business days and sometimes the same day of submission. In periods of time when we are receiving 100+ submissions per day this can take longer.
By the end of February 2025, coaches can see their own compliance status on their individual member pages in the member portal.
USRowing’s goal has always been to reduce friction on-site as close to zero as possible – ideally no coach or program will arrive at a regatta and be out of compliance. By the time a team arrives at a sanctioned regatta, a coach and program will have received multiple renewal reminders from USRowing directly as well as automated notifications by RegattaCentral highlighting any issues with their compliance.
Yes. Only certified coaches will be able to:
No. Only certified coaches will be recognized as coaches at sanctioned regattas.
No, while a team can technically protest anything, the Rules of Rowing would immediately cancel the protest.
By the end of February 2025, all member coaches and programs will be able to view coach certification status in RegattaCentral. Programs will have access to Organization Dashboards whereas coaches will be able to see their status on their member profile. Sanctioned regattas will not have such visibility in 2025, as our goal is to avoid sanctioned regattas being the enforcement point for coach certification.
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