Sparks Consulting : Catch onto college. Spark your potential.

Coaching Staff

Kevin Sauer

Head coach of the 2010 Division I NCAA national champions, Kevin Sauer has been at UVA since the rowing program's inception. His UVA crews have consistently finished top six in the country at the NCAA Championship over the last twelve years. Coach Sauer was chosen five times as the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year and twice as USRowing's South Region Coach of the year. His international experience includes a gold medal in the Women's 8+ at the U23 World Championships. Coach Sauer coached the freshman at Yale University, where his crews posted a 22-5 record. He's recruited and coached 16 All-Americans at UVA.

Official Bio

Head Coach Women's Rowing
University of Virginia

Amanda Purcell

Coach Purcell works with women's crew at Brown University - she coaches novice rowers and deals with women's recruiting. In her time at Brown the Bears won the 2008 NCAA National Championship and finished consistently on top of the Ivy League. Prior to Brown, she was assistant coach for the 2007 NCAA second runner-up Ohio State University. Coach Purcell learned to row row at OSU. Her camp experience includes Northeast Rowing Center and North Country Rowing Camp.

Official Bio

Women's Assistant Varsity
and Head Novice Coach
Brown University

Andrew Carter

Andrew was named head coach of women's rowing at the University of Miami in 2009. Coach Carter's experience includes serving as the assistant coach at Clemson University and University of Southern California as well as Division III head coach at Vassar and Bates Colleges, founding and building the program at the latter. His back round in building strong foundations through effective coaching and recruiting was shown by the success of Bates College under Coach Carter's influence, where they qualified for back-to-back NCAA Championships. Internationally, Carter served Rowing Canada - the Canadian national team - as an assistant coach for the women's team.

Official Bio

Head Coach Women's Rowing
University of Miami

Steven Perry

As head coach of lightweight crew at Navy, Perry brings a service academy perspective to our camp. Steve was head coach of lightweight crew at Dartmouth College and acted as lead recruiter for the University of Pennsylvania when he was an assistant there. Perry coached the Navy Lights to a silver medal at the 2010 IRA's and was voted the lightweight coach of the year in 2007. He has five Eastern Sprints freshman titles and one varsity title as a coach to his credit and coached the Women's Under-23 national team 8+ to a silver medal last summer. He was recruited to row lightweight crew in college and raced four years for Rutgers University.

Official Bio

Head Coach Men's
Lightweight Crew
United States Naval Academy

Mark Davis

Prior to being head coach at George Washington University, Coach Davis was the heavyweight freshman coach at Yale University. Before that, head coach at University of California - San Diego, recruiting coordinator for the University of Texas, head men's and women's coach at Colby College and novice coach at Hobart and William Smith College. Davis's expertise of different recruiting priorities at the different collegiate divisions and leagues is invaluable to the camp. Davis' 16 years of experience transforming club programs into elite Division I, II and II varsity programs has given him a greatly unique appreciation and respect for building teams through effective coaching and recruiting.

Official Bio

Head Coach Men's Crew
The George Washington University

Our camp educates student-athletes to take full advantage and control of their rowing.

At Sparks, our entire staff rowed in college, coached college crews, and works full-time in rowing. We're not part-timers or new-comers - and we worked to find a solid, diverse staff for our camp. Our camp coaches know what rowing in college is all about. They'll get you up to speed on the realities of the different kinds of rowing programs, from club to Division I, and different kinds of colleges: from large to small, rural to urban, and everything in between. Campers gain the intellectual and experiential knowledge of what different kinds of college rowing experiences are like.

Campers get frank and earnest inside information on every aspect of the athletic admissions process, including NCAA rules (everyone at camp is certified on the Division I recruiting exam), erg score evaluation, typical conversations between coaching staffs and admissions, and academic standards. And parents get to ask their own questions at the workshop at the end of camp.

We'd like to flaunt the best coach to camper ratio in the country.

Coaches at our camp have incentive to educate. Additionally, campers have the opportunity for structured one on one sessions with coaching staff to ask about coaches' experience, the recruiting process, or use the time for private skill development.

Camp Specifics

• Who: A coed camp for all high school athletes ages 15-19
• Where: Baker Camp - Lake Sebago, NY - 45 minutes outside of New York City
• Questions: Call 443.848.2134 or email camp@sparksconsult.com
• Registration: Registration is closed for the 2010 camp year.
• For Parents: Lodging

  - Hampton Inn Harriman Woodbury (845) 782-9600 (12 miles)

  - Bear Mountain Inn (845) 786-2731 (12 miles)

  - The Sheraton Mahwah Hotel (800) 398-1943 (12 miles)

  - Doubletree Hotel Mahwah (201) 529-5880 (12 miles)

  - Courtyard-Mahwah (201) 529-5200 (12 miles)

  - Holiday Inn Hotel Suffern (845) 357-4800 (13 miles)

  - Anton's on the Lake B&B (201) 529-5200 (14 miles)

• Cost: $1,500
• Supervision: The staff lives in cabins among athletes, and students have oversight 24 hours a day. Unhealthy substances are strictly prohibited.
• Refunds: Cancellations thirty days before camp receive a full refund. Cancellations after July 15 receive a full refund minus $250.

Camp Schedule: Tuesday, 8/10 - Friday, 8/13

Availability