Josy Verdonkschot Announced as Keynote Speaker for RowOn Coaching Conference
The 2023 RowOn Coaching Conference added an esteemed member of the rowing community to its lineup on Thursday as Josy Verdonkschot was announced as the annual events keynote speaker.
Verdonkschot, who’s coaching experience spans the globe, is the current Chief High Performance Officer at USRowing and will headline the Conference which will take place on Dec. 2-3 in Welland. The title of Verdonkschot’s keynote speech is ‘How to Build and Sustain a High Performing Culture.’
“I feel honoured to be invited as a speaker to the RowOn Coaching Conference,” said Verdonkschot. “It is a great platform to share some of my experiences, but also to listen and to learn in a coaching environment that has created so many successes in Ontario. I am looking forward to that.”
Throughout his keynote Verdonkschot will touch on his experiences working in countries around the world and what needs to be put in place to build a strong culture of performance. In addition to his keynote speech, he will also present in a second session on Saturday and will be one of the featured speakers in the Conference’s popular ‘Fireside Chat’ sessions on Sunday morning.
Prior to joining USRowing, Verdonkschot served as the women’s head coach for The Netherlands from 2014 to 2021, where he coached athletes to three medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and helped the Royal Dutch Rowing Federation finish third in the medal table. He’s also coached at the national team level in Belgium and Italy, and from 2002-08 was a part of the FISA Development Program where he occasionally coached crews from development regions such as Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Vietnam. In total, he has coached crews to seven Olympic medals, including two golds, and 23 medals at the World Rowing Championships.
The RowOn Coaching Conference will once again be hosted in partnership with AMP Rowing. Stay tuned in the coming months for further announcements on an additional keynote speaker, the full conference session schedule and registration information.
AMP Rowing was established in 2018 by three long time members of the rowing community, Al Morrow, Michelle Darvill and Peter Cookson. All three principals in AMP Rowing are well known in the international rowing community, having collectively been involved in various capacities at over 45 World Championships and nine Olympic Games. In total, the three partners of AMP Rowing have over 100 years of experience in all aspects of rowing from involvement at the community level to Olympic rowing.
