Rowing practice management
Athletes tap to confirm. Coaches see the lineup before they leave home. No more GroupMe threads or messy spreadsheets.
What is rowing practice management software?
Rowing practice management software is a system that lets a program publish its weekly practice plan in one place, take one-tap attendance from athletes on their phones, and roll the resulting numbers into lineup selection and AD reports. Instead of GroupMe polls and a separate spreadsheet, athletes see every water, erg, and land workout in a single feed, confirm if they are coming, and get a reminder before practice. Coaches walk to the boathouse already knowing who is on hand, and the historical attendance data feeds straight into lineup decisions and Title IX reporting.
The Old Way vs The Row HQ Way
Before and after
Without Row HQ
- GroupMe polls that nobody answers
- Spreadsheets that are always out of date
- Last-minute dropouts causing chaos before launch
- No attendance history for AD or Title IX reporting
- Athletes and parents unsure what practices are running
With Row HQ
- One-tap attendance from the mobile app
- Real-time availability always accurate
- Automatic notifications for weather calls and changes
- Complete attendance history and analytics in the admin dashboard
- Clear weekly schedule visible to athletes, coaches, and parents
Practice management features
Tools built for how US programs actually run practice. See them in action in our screenshot gallery.
Weekly Schedule
Set up recurring water, erg, and land workouts that varsity, JV, and novice athletes can see at a glance.
One-Tap Attendance
Athletes mark themselves attending or excused with a single tap - no forms or GroupMe polls needed.
Notifications
Reminders before practice and weather-call alerts when sessions move or cancel, so coaches can reorganize. Athletes control their notification preferences through the athlete portal.
Practice Types
Water, Erg, Land - each type has its own icon and athletes can filter by what they want. Water practices link directly to boat reservations.
Attendance Analytics
See which practices are popular and who turns up regularly over time. Feeds into the admin dashboard for AD and Title IX reporting.
Coach Notes
Coaches add practice plans and notes so athletes know what to expect before arriving at the boathouse. Part of the coach tools suite.
How It Works
From practice creation to attendance tracking in just a few taps. Programs get set up the same day. Need to crunch a single piece? Use our free erg pace calculator.
Coach Creates Practices
Set up weekly recurring practices with times, locations, and practice types
Athletes Get Notified
Notifications remind athletes to mark their attendance
Attendance Rolls In
One-tap responses build a real-time picture of who's coming
Coaches Build Lineups
With accurate numbers, coaches use the lineup builder to assign V8+, 2V8+, and 4+ lineups before launch
Also works with
Coach Tools
Assign lineups based on practice attendance with visual shell layouts. Also used for HOCR and IRA crew selection.
Athlete Portal
Athletes track their own attendance history and erg score progression
Admin Dashboard
View attendance trends and generate Title IX participation reports for the AD
Related reading
- Getting practice attendance under control
- Lineup selection tips for coaches
- Making sense of erg metrics
- What does a coxswain do? Role and responsibilities explained
Have questions? Check the FAQ, read what other programs say, or view pricing.
Practice management software FAQs
What programs ask before switching from GroupMe polls and spreadsheets.
Rowing practice management software is a system that publishes your weekly water, erg, and land workouts to every athlete at once, captures one-tap attendance, sends reminders, and feeds the resulting numbers into lineup selection and AD reports. It replaces the GroupMe poll plus a parallel spreadsheet that most programs still rely on. Athletes see what is happening this week from their phone, confirm if they are coming, and the coach turns up to the boathouse already knowing the numbers and who is rowing in which shell.
One tap. Athletes open the Row HQ app, see the practice card for the next session, and tap "Going" or "Not going". They can add a quick note (excused for class, can erg only, available as spare) but they do not have to. Coaches see the live count update without refreshing. Athletes who do not respond get a reminder a few hours before practice. The system records the response history so coaches can spot the athletes who consistently show up versus the ones who are slipping - useful for varsity selection and Title IX participation tracking.
Yes. Most programs set up their entire weekly schedule once - Tuesday afternoon erg, Saturday morning water, Sunday long row, novice intake on Wednesday - with each practice marked by type. Recurring practices auto-publish week after week so coaches do not re-enter them every Sunday night. You can edit a single instance (cancel for weather, move time, swap location) without breaking the recurrence. Different practices can have different visibility - novice-only, varsity-only, JV-only - so the right athletes see the right sessions.
Yes. Athletes get a notification a few hours before each practice they have signed up for, plus a separate reminder if they have not yet responded. The reminder timing is configurable per program - some prefer a 24-hour-out heads-up, others a 2-hour-before nudge. Coaches can also send a manual broadcast ("practice moved to the indoor tanks due to ice on the river") that goes to everyone in that session in seconds, replacing the GroupMe scramble. Athletes control their notification preferences from their athlete portal.
Yes - this is one of the biggest wins. The attendance data from practices feeds directly into the coach-tools lineup builder, so when a coach opens lineup selection on Friday they already see who has been in the last six practices, who has been training on the erg, and who is available for Saturday. No more rewriting a spreadsheet on race week to figure out who is in form. The lineup assignments then push back as notifications, so athletes know they are in the V8+ for tomorrow without waiting for a GroupMe announcement.
Try it free
Set up your program's practices in under 10 minutes