Will varsity rowing go with lwt rowing?

[LITIgator]

I'm probably going to be hated for stating this but I'm very much against the lightweight Junior Rowing programs however I'm equally against the varsity categories where you can have an eighteen-year-old competing against a 15 year old.

Will us rowing ever go to age categories i.e under 14, under 15, under 16 and Junior (17/18).

I feel by doing that it would remove the need for a lightweight program as for the most part people will be competing against individuals of similar physiological development at least chronologically and you wouldn't have individual starving themselves to get down to weight or racing people several years older than them.

Thoughts?

[lt.wolf]

http://www.rowingillustrated.com/boards ... =13&t=8606


There was a U-15 and U-17 Championship this year

http://www.usrowing.org/event/2019-usro ... pionships/

[rowing]

This stuff writes itself...

[Sarge]

This ^

Made my day

[fullmetal]

To LITIgator's point, USRowing would have to make changes to the events offered at youth nationals, which would trickle down to the regional championships. That's all that USRowing can control (even the regional coaches have some say in what events are offered at the regional championships, outside of the official nationals qualifiers).

Local regattas will do their own thing -- if USRowing makes a move the age categories, it would have no binding power over other independent regattas (e.g. Scholastics or Stotesbury) to force compliance.

One further issue of note: the novice category is purely advisory (and there are no novice categories at youth nationals). Right now, it is up to the regatta organizers to define and enforce rules related to athlete eligibility. If the regatta organizers aren't willing to perform all the due diligence required to enforce age eligibility, then it's not going to happen.

Maybe USRowing will offer age eligibility checking as a service to registered regattas, based on their membership database (thus requiring all athletes to become USRowing members at some level)...

[rowing]

To what LITIgator point are you referring?

The current "YOUTH" category is simply doubleplusgoodspeak for "open" or "varsity", if you will, under USRowing's loose definition of "Junior" as a competitor:

(a) Junior: A Junior is a competitor who in the current calendar year does not attain the age of 19, or who is and has been continuously enrolled in secondary school as a full time student seeking a diploma. A competitor thus ceases to be a Junior after December 31 of the year of his or her 18th birthday, or of the year in which he or she completes the 12th grade of secondary school, having been a full time student, whichever is later.

THIS IS NOT FISA COMPLIANT

U19 is explicitly UNDER 19 for the entire current calendar year.

There are no "second" level events currently at USRowing Youth Nationals. All events are varsity. No one shows up not knowing this. No consideration shall be given to those who complain.

If USRowing shoehorns the "Youth" events into full U19 compliance, there will be more uproar than for the dearly departed lightweight events.

I predict the Youth Nationals schedule will ultimately include U15, U17, and "open" Youth events, keeping the poophole loophole for 12 graders who push the 19 (or 20!) birthday calendar.

Genuine U19 will only apply under strict FISA terms at Club Nationals.