Richmond Rowing Club and TopRow Melbourne are partnering to introduce new rowers to the sport and focus on long term member growth for the club.
We have a strong history of running Learn to Row courses and a large number of our members have come to the sport in this way. The logistics of running Learn to Row courses with a volunteer coaching group can be challenging with competing priorities. Part of our strategy is to grow our member numbers to maintain a vibrant and financially sound club, this becomes even more important as we look to the impacts of COVID-19 on our operations.
As a result we have taken the Committee has agreed to partner with TopRow Melbourne (and Will Golding who is the face of TopRow Melbourne). Under this arrangement they will run frequent small Learn to Row courses from the club to focus on utilising our resources at quieter times. Once rowers graduate from TopRow Melbourne they will have the opportunity to join Richmond Rowing Club in our Development Squad and continue their rowing journey.
We have allocated 2 dedicated Learn to Row sessions into our rowing sessions as TopRow Melbourne trials operations over the coming months and starts advertising. These were communicated in our return to rowing plan along with ad-hoc part sessions depending on demand. This will be a similar amount of time/people as if we were running our own learn to row program.
We think this is a great opportunity for the club and TopRow to grow together. We also wish Will Golding every success with TopRow, he also continues to be an member of our RRC coaching group.