Parent's Guide to USRowing Youth Rowing Under 19 (High School) 2026

Yes, for any USRowing-registered regatta (Rules of Rowing 5-201 and 5-203):

• Every competitor, rowers and coxswains, must be an individual USRowing member (foreign competitors can instead belong to their own national federation).
• Every competitor must have a signed waiver on file with USRowing.
• Entries list each competitor's name, USRowing membership number and its expiry date, so keep your child's membership current through race day.
• Crews are normally entered by a club that is an organizational member of USRowing. A rower represents only one club at a regatta. Unaffiliated competitors can race only in a single scull or in a composite crew.
• Rowers from more than one club can race together as a composite crew, but composite crews don't earn team points.
• Competitors must race under their own name. Using a false name or ID means disqualification.

Some high school regattas are run by scholastic leagues or state associations rather than registered with USRowing. Their own entry rules apply there.

The number is how many rowers are in the boat. "+" means there's a coxswain, "-" means there isn't, and "x" means sculling. Sweep rowers use one oar each; scullers use two (Rules of Rowing 3-103).

USRowing expects every athlete to learn basic boat terms before getting in: bow, stern, port and starboard, their own seat number, the stroke seat, and the stop command "Weigh enough! Hold water!"

USRowing's Safety Guidelines say all athletes, rowers and coxswains alike, must pass a supervised swim test or complete the club's swim test verification form before rowing.

• At minimum, athletes should be able to float and/or tread water for 10 minutes and put on a life jacket while floating.
• A lifeguard should run the test, not the coach. The coach watches and notes weak swimmers.
• An athlete who can't swim must wear a PFD (life jacket) in the shell at all times.
• Single scullers should also pass a flip test: launch, turn, capsize the boat, climb back in, and return to the dock.

The guidelines also ask families to:

• See their doctor before their child starts or returns to rowing
• Tell the coach about any medical condition, with a note from the doctor describing any limits
• Make sure any needed medication, such as an inhaler, goes in the boat with the coxswain

The exact test is set by each club, so it may ask for more than the minimum.

The Rules of Rowing (Article III) require every racing boat to have:

• A bowball (3-105): a supple or plastic ball, white or fluorescent, at least 4 cm across, firmly fixed to the bow, unless equivalent visibility and puncture protection is built into the boat.
• Quick-release footgear (3-108): shoes or foot stretchers must let rowers get their feet out fast if the boat flips. Where shoes stay fixed in the boat, each shoe needs a heel restraint so the heel can't lift more than 3 inches (7.6 cm) above the footboard.
• A safe coxswain's space (3-109): where the coxswain's body is fully or partly enclosed in the hull, the opening must be at least 70 cm long, and the inside must be smooth and free of anything that would slow a quick exit.

USRowing's Safety Guidelines also ask every athlete to check before launching that rigging nuts are tight, heel ties are attached and 3 inches long, clothing can't snag on the seat or oar, and the bowball is secure.

Racing in an underweight boat or one that breaks strapping rules can lead to relegation to last place (2-602).

Yes. Under Rules of Rowing 4-105.1, a coxswain must weigh at least:

• A coxswain under the minimum carries deadweight to make up the difference. It goes in the boat as close to the coxswain's torso as possible, can't be spread around the boat, and stays in the boat for the whole race. Officials may split it into several weights for the coxswain's safety.
• Excess clothing, equipment, electronics and tools don't count toward the coxswain's weight or the deadweight.
• If the coxswain doesn't have the deadweight at the finish, the crew isn't placed.
• Coxswains weigh in once a day, in racing uniform without shoes. Weighing in late (but before the first relevant race) usually brings a warning. Not weighing in at all makes the coxswain ineligible.

A coxswain of any sex can cox men's or women's crews (4-105).

Under Rules of Rowing 4-104.3, no rower in a lightweight crew (including a single scull) can weigh more than:

The coxswain isn't counted. Many events are "open" weight, with no limit.

Weigh-in (4-106):

• Rowers are weighed in racing uniform (covering the torso), without shoes.
• Lightweights weigh in once a day, during the weigh-in window for their first race that day.
• Each rower gets one attempt. A rower within 1.0 lb of the limit gets one re-weigh in the same window. A rower more than 1.0 lb over on the first weigh is ineligible for that event.
• A lightweight who misses the weigh-in window can't race.

Usually yes, within limits (Rules of Rowing 5-206 and 5-207):

• Normal substitutions: after entries close, a crew other than a single scull can replace up to half of its rowers plus the coxswain. The regatta can refuse a substitution that isn't submitted in writing at least one hour before the crew's first race in that event.
• Once racing starts: after a crew's first race in an event (for example, a heat), the lineup stays the same for the rest of that event.
• Sudden serious illness or injury: if the organizing committee agrees, that rower can be replaced at any time before the event is finished, and it doesn't count toward the half-crew limit. A certificate from a health professional is normally required.
• Single sculls (1x): a sculler can be replaced only for serious, sudden illness, and only before the first race of the event.
• Returning to race: a rower replaced for illness or injury can't race again at that regatta until restored to good health, normally with a health professional's certificate.

Any substitute must be eligible for the event in their own right, for example as a Youth rower or within the lightweight limit.

Cheering from shore is fine. Coaching help from anywhere else is not. Under Rules of Rowing 2-409 (Outside Assistance):

• A crew can't receive outside assistance, coaching or advice during a race. Communicating from shore using the unaided voice is still allowed, so cheering and calling from the bank is fine. Megaphones and other amplification are not.
• Coaches and other team members can't follow a race in a launch without the Chief Referee's explicit permission. The presumed penalty is exclusion of the crew and/or disqualification of the coach.
• Parents and other team members can volunteer at the regatta in any role, but they can't assist their own crew unless a referee asks them to.

Behavior matters too. Under 2-410, any team member who behaves in an unsportsmanlike way can have their participation at the regatta curtailed or ended, and any personally abusive language or conduct witnessed by an official is reported to USRowing.

USRowing's Safety Guidelines set these standards for clubs:

• Lightning or thunder: don't row in an electrical storm. If you see lightning, hear thunder or see skies darkening fast, don't launch. A crew already on the water heads for the nearest shore immediately. Nobody handles boats or riggers, or loads a trailer, until the storm has passed.
• Fog: don't launch when visibility is under 100 yards.
• High wind: don't launch. If wind comes up suddenly, return to the boathouse if that's safe, or go to the nearest shore and wait.
• Darkness: don't launch without proper lights (red on the port bow, green on the starboard bow, white on the stern).
• Cold: hypothermia is a risk when water is below 80°F and very dangerous below 50°F. When the air is below 40°F or the water is below 50°F, a launch should stay within 100 yards of every shell. Many clubs also stop rowing or use only larger boats.

At regattas, the Chief Referee must stop or suspend all racing whenever conditions are unsafe or unfair (Rules of Rowing 2-201).

Each club adapts these guidelines to its own waterway, so the exact thresholds can be stricter where your child rows.

USRowing's Heat Safety Guidelines measure heat stress with the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), which combines temperature, humidity, sun and wind. There are five risk levels (Very Low to Extreme), and the cut-offs depend on your region's heat category.

At USRowing-owned events:

The guidelines also recommend:

• Training in the morning and evening when temperatures above 90°F are expected
• Shaded rest areas at regattas from moderate risk upward, and free drinking water for athletes
• On-site first aid ready to cool athletes, including a cold-water immersion tub, ice towels and ice

Heat stroke (core temperature 105°F or higher plus confusion or collapse) is a medical emergency. The rule is "cool first, transport second."

For your rower: drink before and during practice, wear a hat that can be dampened, wear light, loose, moisture-wicking clothing, use sunscreen, and rest in the shade between races.

USRowing's Safety Guidelines teach athletes to stay with the boat. Modern shells have flotation under the seats and in the bow and stern, so the hull keeps floating even when full of water.

• Don't swim away from the shell, even if you're a strong swimmer. Leave it only when being rescued, or swim it to shore if shore is close.
• To get help, wave arms or a shirt overhead, raise an oar, or use a whistle or horn.
• If someone goes overboard or is hurt, the command is "Weigh enough! Hold water!" and the crew stops the boat at once.
• In a swamped coxed boat, rowers stay in a shell with sealed compartments. In an older shell without them, the coxswain directs rowers to untie and slip out one by one, and everyone pairs up as buddies.
• If rescue isn't coming soon, the crew can roll the hull up and lie on it. Body heat is lost about 25 times faster in water, so getting as much of the body out of the water as possible matters.

USRowing also says minors should never be on the water without a safety launch, and crews should stay within hailing distance of it. The launch should carry a life jacket for every rower and coxswain in the coach's care.

Not without safeguards. USRowing's Abuse Prevention and Response Policy (effective September 1, 2026) applies the U.S. Center for SafeSport's Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP) to every USRowing member club:

• One-on-one contact between an adult and a minor athlete must be observable and interruptible, except in an emergency or under a documented exception (for example, the adult is no more than 4 years older and has no authority over the athlete).
• Texts, email and social media: one-on-one messages must be "open and transparent", meaning a parent/guardian, another adult family member or another adult participant is copied. Team-wide messages must also copy another adult. You can ask in writing that adults stop contacting your child electronically, and they must comply.
• Transportation: an adult may drive a minor one-on-one only with your advance written consent, renewed at least annually. Otherwise another adult, or at least two minors aged 8 or older, must be in the vehicle.
• Lodging: an adult cannot share a hotel room or sleep in the same room as a minor unless an exception applies and you gave advance written consent for that specific arrangement. Room checks need at least two adults.
• Locker rooms and boathouse changing areas: no photos or recording by anyone, and you can ask in writing that your child not change or shower alongside adults.
• Individual training sessions need your advance written consent (at least annually), and you must be allowed to watch.

Training: coaches and other adults with regular contact with or authority over minors must complete SafeSport Trained Core before that contact begins (and within 45 days of joining or taking the role), then a refresher every 12 months. Clubs must offer a free parent course every year.

Reporting: sexual misconduct or child abuse goes to the U.S. Center for SafeSport (uscenterforsafesport.org) and local authorities. Other misconduct can go to the club first, then to USRowing through its incident report form.