Coach Tools and Crew Selection
Select crews visually. Drag athletes into seats. Save M8+, W8+, and small-boat combinations you use often. Ditch the spreadsheets.
What do the Row HQ coach tools do?
The coach tools combine availability, crew selection, attendance, and ergometer scores in one place. A coach checks who is available for the next session, runs selection against current ergo data and seat-race history, publishes the crew to the squad, and the system pushes notifications - no chasing replies through three different group chats. Built for the way Australian schools and clubs select crews for King's Cup, Head of the Yarra, and the Australian Schools Championships.
Tools That Make Coaching Easier
Spend less time on admin and more time on the water with your athletes. Convert a 2k split with our free erg pace calculator, learn what a coxswain does, or see how the platform runs a real club in production.
Visual Crew Builder
Drag athletes into boat positions - bow, stroke, and every seat shown visually for M8+, W8+, Schoolboy 8, and Schoolgirl 8.
Saved Selections
Save selection trial outcomes and crew combinations that work, then recall them for King's Cup or Head of the Yarra entries.
Athlete Profiles
Side preference, experience level, ergometer scores, and attendance record from the member portal visible during selection.
Instant Notifications
Athletes get notified through the member portal as soon as you publish the crew - no more "which boat am I in?" before the row.
Safety Access
Emergency contacts and medical notes accessible when you need them on the water. Data handled to Australian Privacy Principles.
Select Crews in Seconds
The visual crew builder shows you exactly who's available and lets you drag athletes into seats. It's built for the way Australian coaches actually run selection trials - 1st VIII, 2nd VIII, and small boats. Works for both training sessions and regatta events like Head of the Yarra and the Australian Schools Championships.
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Colour-Coded Availability
Green = confirmed, amber = tentative, greyed = unavailable
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Side Preference Indicators
See who rows stroke side, bow side, or sculls at a glance
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Quick Swap
Swap athletes between seats with a single action - ideal for seat-race trials
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Ergometer Score Integration
Latest ergometer scores visible per athlete to inform selection
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Boat Compatibility
System shows which boats match your crew size, linked to the boat booking system
Example: Coxed Four
Cox Position
Sarah Thompson
Stroke
James Mitchell
Seat 3
Emma Wilson
Seat 2
David Chen
Bow
Lisa Roberts
What Coaches Say
Saved per week on crew selection
Reduction in last-minute changes
Crew selection history preserved
"I used to spend Sunday evenings piecing together crews for the week. Now I can set up a whole week's sessions in 15 minutes - and selection trial results carry straight into the next squad pick."
Related reading
- Crew selection tips for coaches
- Getting training sessions sorted
- Making sense of ergo metrics
- What is an ergometer? Erg explained
- What is catching a crab and how to drill it out
- Free erg pace calculator
Have questions? Check the FAQ, read what other clubs say, or view pricing. Athlete data is handled to Australian Privacy Principles.
Rowing coach software FAQs
How coaches use Row HQ for crew selection, lineup tracking, and session planning.
Rowing coach software replaces the spreadsheet-and-WhatsApp combo most coaches still use to pick crews. The Row HQ coach toolkit gives a head coach four things in one place: live attendance from the latest training sessions, a drag-and-drop crew builder for putting boats together, a one-click way to push the lineup out as a notification, and a saved history of every crew selection so the coach can see what worked over time. The result is less time chasing who is available and more time on the water with the squad - whether you are building for a King's Cup trial or a club regatta.
The crew builder shows the eight (or four, or pair) as a visual boat outline with seats, plus a side panel listing every member who said they are available for the session. The coach drags a name into a seat, drops it where they want it, and the system handles the rest - notifying the rower, blocking conflicts (the same rower in two boats), and reserving the matching boat in the booking system. Reorganising a stroke seat after seeing the warm-up is two taps. There is no spreadsheet rebuild and no message-the-cox cycle.
Yes. Every crew you build is saved with a label, a date, and a session reference. Coaches build template crews ("Saturday senior 1st M8+", "Sunday novice 4+") and reuse them as the starting point for the next outing, tweaking only the seats that need changing. The full history shows which lineup raced where, which won, and which got rerigged after a poor outing - useful at end-of-season for the captain's report and the AGM. Old crews can be cloned to start a new one with the same backbone, saving the coach an extra five minutes per session.
Yes. As soon as the coach saves a lineup, every assigned rower gets a notification in the app telling them which seat they are in, which boat, what time the outing starts, and where to meet. The cox gets the same notification plus a link to the full crew sheet. Members who were not assigned do not get a notification at all (avoiding the sting of a "no, not you" message). Coaches can preview the notification before publishing, so a half-built crew does not get sent out by accident.
Yes - this is the main reason coaches stop using spreadsheets. The crew builder reads the attendance data from the last few training sessions automatically, so when the coach opens it on Friday they already see who has been training, how often, and what type (water vs erg). Members who have not turned up for a fortnight stand out immediately. Erg scores from session results are pulled in too, so the coach can sort by 2k time when picking crews for state championships. No more cross-referencing the WhatsApp poll against the personal-best spreadsheet.