Dear Members,

As we begin the new year, it is a good time to provide you with a broad report of the activities of the association during 2007. Although this is normally done at our annual meeting, not everyone can attend that event. For the end of the year report, you will find our activities broken into the following areas of interest: communications, events, membership and merchandise, and national team programs.

In general terms, we had a successful year. The new staff settled into their positions, taking on their roles in full. USRowing now has 11 administrative employees and six coaches. Additionally, we have part-time field service positions in the northwest and southwest regions.

We project that the 2007 fiscal year will end with a slight surplus, despite variations from the budget in team expenses due to the rising value of the Euro and the new cost of the insurance program. Complete audited records for the year will be available on our Web site later in 2008, once our books have been closed for the year. Quarterly financials also are posted there.

This past year saw USRowing begin new partnerships with Johnson and Johnson, Rosetta Stone, AT&T and the Foundation for Rowing Education, Inc. Through a grant with the United States Coast Guard, we completed an updated USRowing Safety Video and will make it available to all member organizations free of charge in 2008.

In an effort to address our sport’s relevancy in America, USRowing formed a task force on the topic of Diversity, Accessibility and Affordability, and in February of 2007, we held our first seminar on these topics. We will host a second seminar on February 23, 2008, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Registration is open for all. This group will continue to focus on how we can affect the growth of our sport within all of our communities, and especially with the youth in our urban areas.
 
The USA World Rowing Challenge was a hugely successful event in its inaugural year, attracting seven nations. The regatta featured night racing and attracted sponsors that helped elevate the sport in an emerging rowing venue and market. Congratulations to everyone at the Chesapeake Boathouse and all those involved with the regatta in Oklahoma City for putting on such a tremendous event.

During 2008, we expect to add one new staff position to manage and develop the referee corp. This will allow USRowing to grow and support our key volunteers for the sport and make racing possible for future generations of athletes.

Communications
The addition of the new media center to the USRowing Web site, the revamping of USRowing This Month and the launch of the USRowing Communicator provided by AT&T highlighted our member communications efforts in 2007.

The media center provides USRowing a platform to feature our regattas, coaching education DVDs and athletes in a video form. In November, the series “The Day in the Life of the National Team” debuted in the media center. A different athlete training for the Olympics will be providing video clips each month through the start of the Games. We also have launched a You Tube page to broaden the reach of our videos.

Starting with the December issue, USRowing This Month was revamped to an html format, replacing the old pdf format.

The USRowing Communicator, which launched in late September, is a skin that members and rowing supporters can download onto their computer desktops. It will allow USRowing to provide news and information directly to subscribers through an RSS feed and gives the user instant access to information and our Web site.

Highlighting external communications, we had four athletes attend NBC’s The Today Show on August 8 for its year-out Olympic show, and we received strong media coverage of the USA World Rowing Challenge in October. In late September, we shot a NBC promotional video with the men’s eight, which will run on the network to promote its Olympic coverage. In November, Sports Illustrated came to Princeton to do research and shoot photos for a 2008 story that will feature USRowing and how it interacts with the Princeton community as part of an article on cities that support Olympic sports. Sports Illustrated attended the world championships in September. The magazine was doing background research for potential features leading up to the Olympics.

As we head in to 2008, we have several projects in the works. On the Web site front, we will continue to develop content for the media center and the rest of the site, adding feature stories on regattas, national team athletes, etc. We will be updating the content management system to allow us more freedom to update the front page with new photos, etc., and we also are looking into the addition of banner advertising. Externally, we will continue to promote the sport and the national teams to media outlets and fans throughout the country. We are scheduling athletes to attend the USOC Media Summit in April and are working on a Meet the Olympic Team promotion in conjunction with the 2008 USRowing National Championships.

Events
Participation at the Youth National Championships increased from 241 crews to 287 crews in 2007. Financially, this regatta has been a break-even event since it was elevated to national championship status, and our goal for 2008 is to aggressively seek a title sponsor. Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club continues to host the event and has three years left on its contract. The youth committee and staff have begun discussions regarding what the event will look like in the future and what other locations may be suitable after 2010.

After several years as a combined event, the USRowing National Championships featured only the elite boat categories as the event was split into two regattas as had been the case prior to 2001. On the water, the event was a success as more than 70 rowers that went on to make the world championships squad and over 100 current and past senior national team members competed at the regatta. Moving forward, we will continue to develop and market this event as the pinnacle of competitive rowing in the United States. We expect this year’s event to showcase our Olympic team, with an emphasis on marketing the sport and event.
 
Despite splitting the national championships into two events, the Club National Championships recorded an all-time high with 986 entries. The 2008 event once again will be held in Camden, N.J.

The 2007 Masters National Championships, held in Oak Ridge, Tenn., saw many changes that were a huge success among the athletes, staff and volunteers. The change in race format to include heats in the morning and finals in afternoon worked better than anticipated. We expect to continue this format in 2008. Static refereeing was introduced in coxed events and met with great appreciation and success. We will continue to educate our athletes on how to prepare for static refereeing as we move to Long Beach, Calif., in 2008. Registration is expected to be strong this coming year, as we have moved the event to the week following the Canadian Henley.

Two issues that need to be addressed to enable the success of our national events in the future include: 1) effective scheduling, as registration continues to grow; and 2) finding sponsorship to offset increasing costs in running the events.

Membership and Merchandise

Looking Back at 2007

Organizational Membership
After a rough start in 2007, we were able to retain the majority of our 2006 member organizations. We ended 2007 with 1,068 member organizations compared to 1,081 in 2006.

Benefits
We added three member organization benefits in 2007.

• Automated External Defibrillators – We now offer AEDs at a 30 percent discount to all member organizations.
• Discounted background checks – $20 background checks are available to all member organizations to run checks on their coaches and volunteers.
• Patagonia PFDs – Patagonia has worked with us to bring their PFDs to the member organizations and referees at a 50 percent discount.

Individual Membership
Our average monthly membership increased by one percent in 2007. This may be due to the new efficiencies in the membership compliance system used in the membership department. We also have begun testing e-mail as a means for renewal notices.

Merchandise
In 2007, we added 10 new regattas to the travel schedule resulting in an increase in revenue. Online sales have increased by 75 percent since the creation of the new Web store and the catalogue mailing.

Looking forward to 2008

Organizational Membership
In 2008, we will be using what we learned from 2007 to retain our members and work on accommodating the few that did not renew due to the increase in price.

Roehrs & Company, Inc. has developed an attractive Web site for our members to help explain the insurance coverage and direct you to valuable resources:
www.roehrs-usrowing.com.

Rosters
Many of the issues we experienced in collecting rosters in 2007 have been addressed for 2008, and we are building an online roster registration system that should allow clubs to update information throughout the year. The new system is intended to allow collection of waivers and contact information electronically for all members of member organizations.

Individual Membership
In 20008, we plan to survey our members to determine how we can better meet their needs and how we can attract those rowers that have chosen not to join in the past.

Merchandise
Travel Schedule and Online Revenue: We have tested more than 30 different regattas and have developed a solid travel schedule for the 2008 season. The variety of items and styles will continue to expand and develop to accommodate for the changing market. Online sales will continue to develop as we distribute a 2008 catalogue.

National Team Programs

Looking Back at 2007

April
The first national selection regatta of 2007 was cancelled due to inclement weather. This directly affected selection for the heavyweight single sculls events, as this was their first opportunity to be named to the 2007 team. As a result, selection for the heavyweight singles took place at senior world championship trials in August.

May
USRowing ran Pan American Games Trials at the end of May. Selection for this event went smoothly and the 2007 Pan American Team was named on May 30. The delegation ran into complications in Rio de Janeiro when rented equipment for the lightweight men’s four did not arrive from the Brazilian equipment representative. The 2007 Pan American team contributed 10 medals to the United States medal count and 25 of 27 rowers came home with medals.

June
This was the first year that the junior trials were run in conjunction with the national championships. Combining the two events was a challenging task and worked out well.  In all likelihood, the national championships will continue to be an event that simultaneously hosts one or more national team regattas.

October 2007-March 2008
October marked the departure of the men’s heavyweight sweep team to Clemson, S.C., for its winter training camp. This will be the team’s first year in South Carolina, and we thank our hosts at Clemson for their help and support. The remaining elite teams (women’s sweep/sculls, lightweight men sweep and heavyweight men’s sculls) are training at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

Looking forward to 2008

National Championships
Due to the Olympic year and the timing of several events, trials for several teams will be held in conjunction with the 2008 National Championship Regatta. With the Non-Olympic World Championships and U23 World Championships scheduled at least one week earlier than in non-Olympic years, trials events for these teams will occur in conjunction with the national championships. In addition, 2008 marks the first Paralympics for the sport of rowing and selection for the small boats will occur at the national championships.

National Team Trials
Moving forward in 2008, USRowing will no longer use MPS or time standard requirements for trials or camp boats to qualify to attend world championships. This likely will lead to full teams representing the United States at all world championships

Olympic Preparation
The majority of the department’s attention has turned to the 2008 Olympic Games. Our team will set up at an external village close to the venue to reduce travel time, reduce exposure to the climate and allow better control of sleep and food standards prior to competition.

USRowing has launched Olympic and Paralympic Family and Friends sections on the Web site in an effort to assist Olympic spectators on their trip to Beijing.

Summary

2007 has been a strong year for our sport. New events, sponsor interest and strengthened membership are among some of our achievements.

The coming year will bring the Olympic Games to Beijing, China, and an opportunity for our elite athletes to succeed at the highest level. We hope you will follow the national team athletes as they prepare this year through our new “Day in the Life of …” series on the media center at www.usrowing.org.

It is truly a pleasure to help lead the rowing movement in the United States, and I look forward to seeing all of you on the water in 2008.

Best regards,

Glenn Merry
USRowing Executive Director