Julian Venonsky's Record
Malvern Prep
Rowed all four years in high school, graduated 2012
Junior LWT 2X City Champs
Senior LWT 4x National Scholastic Gold medal
University of California
Coxed all four years in college, graduated 2016
Freshman year coxed the Freshman 8+, winning a silver medal at the PAC-12 Championships and a bronze medal in the Open 4+ at IRAs
Sophomore year coxed the 2V8+, winning a gold medal at the PAC-12 Championships, a gold medal at IRAs, and the Ladies Challenge Plate at Henley Royal Regatta
Junior year coxed the V8+, winning a silver medal at the PAC-12 Championships and at the IRAs
Senior year coxed the V8+, winning a gold medal at the PAC-12 Championships and at the IRAs
2017 US National Team
Coxed the men's 8+ to a silver medal at the World Championships
It started at Malvern Prep, a private boys' school just outside of Philadelphia, on a sixth grade tour. Julian Venonsky, the 2017 U.S. men's national team coxswain, saw the rowing tanks and knew he wanted to row. As an 85-pound high school freshman he rowed in the freshman quad. Head coach Craig Hoffman didn't really notice him that year but when Venonsky returned the following year-as a 5' 5", 95-pound sophomore who could beat all the other sophomores in the single-Hoffman took notice. He told Venonsky, "Stop beating all the sophomores. I don't want them to quit." From then on, Venonsky rowed in the Malvern varsity boats, always in the bow.
At Malvern, the coaching staff focuses on sculling, with all of the rowers being taught to work hard, to train consistently, and to learn how to win. Malvern Prep rowers row in singles every fall and each rower learns how to steer. "In our team boats, the bowman steers the boat and makes the calls," Hoffman explains. "This accelerates the learning process in the boat. Bow [seat] is very important. He can win or lose races." Hoffman describes Venonsky as "smart, aggressive and determined."
After graduating from high school, Venonsky was accepted at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California. He chose California and was determined to be a coxswain there. "Getting accepted to Cal was a terrific opportunity to cox," says Venonsky. "No one expected me to be a coxswain·. Our frosh team had a Facebook page and everyone saw pictures of me rowing. I was a rower."
At Cal, Venonsky was learning to think outside the box and to give clear and easily digestible commands. As a sophomore under coach Scott Franzin, Venonsky steered the second varsity eight (2V8+) to victories in the PAC-12, the IRAs and the Ladies Challenge Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta. In his junior and senior years at Cal, Venonsky was the coxswain of the varsity eight under coach Mike Teti. Venonsky explains coxing for Coach Teti this way, "Mike Teti is very open with his criticism. Be open and absorb what he says. Ingrain it into your brain."
Venonsky values the openness Teti had with him while he was at Cal. "Coaches should be open in their discussions with their coxswains, and coxswains should not be afraid to ask questions. 'Why are we doing this drill?' Ask your coach to explain it." For Venonsky, coxed for his college coach again in the lead-up to the
2017 World Championships (Mike Teti became the national team coach in 2017), steering is the most important thing. "It just has to be there," he says. "Time in the boat-in the seat-is the most important thing." Venonsky concluded his senior year at Cal with varsity eight wins at both the PAC-12 championships and the IRA National Championships.
After graduating from Cal with a degree in Art History and Italian in 2016, Venonsky went to work at Paddle8, a New York auction house, and took a sabbatic from rowing. After a year, however, he wanted to be back in the coxswain's seat. He-along with three other coxswains-tried out for the U.S. national team. "By the third or fourth practice, all of the oarsmen had a great deal of confidence in Julian," said national team coach Mike Teti. Teti was preparing the national team for the 2017 FISA World Championships. "He allows the coach to coach. He's not a textbook coxswain. He's a part of the crew."
Teti reflects on the coxswain that Venonsky had become. "He was a competitive rower, so he understands the mindset of the athletes in the race and can communicate the plan concisely and in a way that gives them confidence that he is in complete control of the situation."
Teti knows that a rower who can focus on rowing-knowing the coxswain is positioning the crew precisely where they need to be on the course-is critical for success. "Julian has his own style and is very unassuming." Teti goes on, "Julian's a good person. He tells the truth, he tells the oarsmen exactly where they are because he has confidence in them. In a race, things are going very fast-the boat is going down the course at 25 miles an hour-and he has the ability to slow things down. He made a great call in the semi-finals [at the 2017 FISA World Championships] at the 750 to get the rhythm to enable us to get a better lane in the final." Teti talks freely, remembering the World Championship races. "In the final, he calmed things down early and then started the lift early when he saw the Italian threat. He made the difference between silver and fourth place."
As the men's team was preparing for the world championships last summer, in their last weeks of training, Venonsky recalls that not many people outside of the boat had high expectations for them at the World Championships. "Mike Teti told us, 'It only matters what the ten of us think We know what we can do and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."' When the U.S. men's eight stood on the podium at the 2017 World Championships-with silver medals around their necks-they proved that, indeed, it didn't matter what anyone else thought. They knew their abilities. They knew what they could do. They proved that slowing things downfinding the rhythm-is what can make a boat go fast. For Venonsky, it's confidence that brings that rhythm: the confidence in your crew on the path to the podium.
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