Sarasota rowing programs have rough waters to navigate before being considered elite

Youth rowing has exploded in the Sarasota-Bradenton area over the past few decades. That’s no secret among local coaches and athletes who have seen such growth first-hand.

While rowing is a niche sport, more youths want to be part of that niche. Rowing isn’t just something kids here try — many have tried it and then have stayed involved.

At the regional level, local organizations such as Sarasota Crew, Manatee County Youth Rowing and Sarasota Scullers have performed well in various competitions. They even have held their own against rowers from across the country.

At the USRowing Youth National Championships, held from June 11-14 at Nathan Benderson Park, Sarasota Crew’s 16 entries were tied for second-most among all clubs. The Crew regularly cracks the top five in that regard.

Los Gatos Rowing Club of California, though, captured an event-high four titles this year. Deerfield Academy of Massachusetts won the men’s eight while RowAmerica Rye of New York won the women’s eight. Those would be considered hotbeds of rowing in the U.S.

Would Sarasota be considered a hotbed of rowing? Perhaps not quite yet.

The next step in the evolution of this region's rowing would be to become more competitive on the national stage.

Rick Brown, the Sarasota Crew CEO, pointed to the population differences between Sarasota-Bradenton and the more established rowing hotspots, and larger metropolitan areas like Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

“We would love to be winning national championships in every event we enter, and sometimes it's like, ‘Oh man, we wish we could be better,’” Brown said. “But when you look at the population we're drawing from compared to the population a lot of those places are drawing from, it's pretty impressive (what we’ve accomplished).”

Photo by Jay Heater

The Crew serves around 500 youth rowers during the year, and that number has increased in Brown’s six years with the organization. As of December 2025, the Scullers had about 35 rowers, per head coach Bernhard Stomporowski. Manatee County currently supports around 40, and has grown by 38% since Courtney Schleifer took over as head coach and program director in September 2024, she said.

“The community wanting to invest in the sport has really grown it,” Schleifer said. “From seeing it back in 2013 to now, it has well over doubled in size, just the rowing community as a whole, because of those efforts.”

Nathan Benderson Park has helped move the dial in Sarasota. It’s a world-class venue, featuring the only permanent Class A 2,000-meter sprint rowing course in North America as recognized by World Rowing, the sport’s international governing body.

The six-story finish tower, opened in 2017, cost $5.8 million. An events center and boathouse, expected to cost $60-70 million, is planned to be finished by the time the venue hosts the World Rowing Championships in August, 2028.

Sarasota-Bradenton’s youth rowing scene has garnered more national — and even international — attention since the USRowing Youth National Championships began hosting its event in 2018. The park also hosted the 2017 World Rowing Championships.

It's all a lot different than when Schleifer attended Cambridge Christian School from 2011-15. Nathan Benderson Park actually opened in 2014.

“When I was in high school, it was actually a dirt lot,” Schleifer said of what would become Nathan Benderson Park. “I would not have described it as ‘world-class.’ When it rained, it was muddy. There was just dirt everywhere.”

Photo by Jay Heater

Even now, with all the development at Nathan Benderson Park and enough organizations to serve the community, there are still many parts of the country where youth rowing is stronger.

Schleifer saw that on her visits to Boathouse Row in Philadelphia and the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.

“No matter where you went — any hotel you went to — everybody was talking about rowing, because people from all over the world were there to compete,” Schleifer said. “Yes, (Sarasota-Bradenton) is a powerhouse, but it's more so become a melting pot for the international rowing community.”

Rowing has legitimate footholds in those heavily-populated areas. Sarasota-Bradenton continues to play catch-up nationally since the sport is less established.

For this area to have more success at the highest level, it must be aggressive in growing at the lowest level. It needs to pull even more kids into rowing and then find a way to keep them around.

Brown said the Crew program has historically attracted more youth rowers from the south side of Sarasota County than the north side. The program would like to expand its reach into Lakewood Ranch.

“We’re looking at expanding our marketing, as well as the transportation options. It’s something the sport struggles with,” Brown said. “Even with a world-class venue, you still need to get the kids to that venue. It’s not something that's on campus.”

Those kids who Sarasota Crew, Manatee County Youth Rowing and Sarasota Scullers welcome into their respective programs also need to be shown what truly can be accomplished in rowing. 

That’s where Nathan Benderson Park and its annual events come in handy. Schleifer is intentional about bringing her rowers to major competitions whenever she can.

“I’ve loved making the sport of rowing — and the high level of it — accessible to the athletes,” Schleifer said. “That way, the athletes can see that it's not far out of reach. Whatever they want to achieve within the sport is attainable.”

Youth rowing is already plenty strong in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. Where it was a couple decades ago doesn’t even compare to where it is now.

Still, there’s more work to be done to truly go oar-to-oar and boat-by-boat with the nation’s very best.