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The 2026 Rowing Australia Coaches’ Conference wrapped up on Monday after three days at the Sharks Events Centre on the Gold Coast. Nearly 120 coaches from Australia and New Zealand attended, including coaches from other sports including Rugby League and Tennis.
The program was built around the theme Beyond the Catch: Coaching that Creates Impact, and every session put the question to coaches - What will you take back to your program?
Over 16 sessions, 28 speakers gave school, club, youth and overseas coaches access to leading Australian coaches. Alongside rowing’s own experts, speakers from the Australian Defence Force and the music world brought an interesting outside perspective to rowing.
The conference opened on Saturday evening with welcome drinks and an address from RA CEO Sarah Cook. Olympic cox Hayley Verbunt followed in a Q&A session with Sarah, with Hayley describing the part that coaching and seeking feedback played in her development as a cox.
Sunday morning covered a range of topics, from building successful, sustainable school rowing cultures to the technique and team-building behind fast quads and eights. Hayley returned alongside Bourby Webster to explore rhythm and tempo in rowing, and how coaches can support cox improvement. Lt Col Liz Stephens pushed coaches to look hard at how they support young people, and at how they grow as leaders themselves, with Andrew Service covering current best practice in building resilience in young athletes. Christine MacLaren and Caz Pijpers discussed the current Para rowing program and outlined RA’s pathways for Para athletes.
The day finished with national team coaches sharing lessons from overseas experience that have worked with Australian crews. Wade Hall-Craggs and John Smyth then spoke on coaching school athletes to success, imparting strategies that have worked in multiple countries.
On Monday, RA Head of Pathways Jason Lane walked coaches through RA’s benchmarking and erg standards for developing athletes. Scott Fairweather also covered underage athlete training, while Beth Bryan, Nadia Bleaken and Michelle de Highden discussed how they grew as coaches, and how female coaches can seize opportunities to progress. RA Integrity Manager Keaton Guymer and Matt Sinclair from SIA followed with an update on child safeguarding.
Dr Liam McCarthy’s keynote asked coaches to examine their own practice and relationships, and to develop the person as well as the performer. It also foreshadowed RA’s upcoming Coach Developer workshops. High Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE closed the conference with practical guidance on training for individual adaptation, showing coaches how to tailor their programs to the individual athlete.
Congratulations to the two coaches who won themselves a kilo of Inglewood's fine coffee beans for their 'Question of the Day'. Duncan Free was an excellent MC, and thanks are due to all the presenters who gave their time and expertise, as well as to the Gold Coast Council, the partners and exhibitors who supported the event, and to the coaches who came ready to learn.
