Craftsbury Announces SBTC Rowing Coaches; Athlete Applications Due by May 1.

Last Updated: 20.Mar.2017

Craftsbury is excited to welcome new coaches for the summer U23 Small Boat Training Center program. This summer’s Lead Coach will be Linda Muri. Assisting her will be Steve Whelpley and our Sculling Director Troy Howell.

Linda is currently the Women’s Coach at Dartmouth, having previously coached the Harvard Lightweights for 13 years. Before that she coached at Cornell. She has also coached a number of very successful US crews at U23, Junior and Senior World Championships. Not to mention her own medals in the Light Women’s Pair and Four.

Steve was a Craftsbury Green Racing Project athlete for 4 years, during which time he represented the US as the single in Korea in 2013, and in the US men’s quad in 2014. He won the M2x Olympic Trials last summer, but just missed qualifying for Rio. He retired last fall and has been coaching at Colby College, his alma mater, this past year.

The focus of the SBTC program is working in small boats, and especially sculling boats, with a goal of putting together crews that can win at the U23 Trials. Since the program’s inception in 2009, SBTC has sent seventeen trials winning crews overseas to U23 Worlds, including a bronze medal in the women’s 2X in 2010 (Elizabeth and Rebecca Donald) and the highest-ever finish by a U.S. men’s 1X (Ben Davison, won the B Final in both 2015 and 2016). Read more about the program here. Athletes will also compete at Canadian Henley, and possibly other summer regattas as well.

Looking at a new quadrennial, involvement in the SBTC may also open future opportunities for those graduating to Senior events the following year as the GRP is open for applications as well. While SBTC aims to develop U23 athletes through their summers in small boats, the goal of the GRP is to establish one of the most internationally relevant and successful training centers in the United States through individualized and dynamic coaching, unparalleled support, incredibly healthy surroundings, and a very constructive local community.

For athletes whose U23 eligibility runs out this year, you may qualify to join GRP after your summer with SBTC. If you are interested in this possibility, please indicate so on your application. Being part of SBTC does not guarantee admission to GRP, but it can help a lot.

What does Craftsbury have to offer as a training center?
Our goal is to make sure that each individual athlete gets the training and coaching they need to get faster. We strongly believe in the enormous value of small boat rowing in general, and sculling in particular, to make every athlete a more effective rower in any class of boat. Whether you’re a sweep rower wanting to switch to sculling, or you want to learn to scull to make you a better sweep rower, time spent in a single under the guidance of our experienced coaches will serve you well.

There is no fee for these programs, however we do ask all of our athletes to contribute work hours to the Outdoor Center to partially cover room, board, coaching and race travel.