About the Junior Conditioning Program G.E.T. and the power of Indoor Rowing for college admission and scholarship

Here is a comment that is worth publishing about the tremendous university admission potential a great ERGO score has:

DougRow said...
I have a son who rowed with a club in high school and did very well. Was a lightweight and his eight went on to win silver at the season end national championship. He now rows with one of arguably the top three college programs in the country. All perfect, except that he is far down in the ranks due to nothing else than his erg score. It's good, just not exceptional.

My experience through this process has been that if college rowing is the goal, then the priority in high school ought to be erg, and little else. Of course a high school kid needs enough fun mixed in, but when it comes to college rowing, I am convinced that nothing but the erg score matters when getting started. He/she can have the finest technique, but that will almost certainly be different from what the new coach likes, and he/she will need to be de-programmed. A negative in the coaches eyes.

Just thought I'd share our experience (which isn't finished) and point out that Xeno may really be on to something unique here. High school clubs have far more to worry about than individual erg scores, and they languish. Xeno's expertise at developing the raw material that will make coaches jaws drop could mean a huge edge. Where parents these days drop $10,000 to get their kids SAT a little bit higher, Xeno may be onto one very high demand service.

Doug

1/23/2006 7:32 PM

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.