Marlene Royle, OTR

Marlene Royle was among the first coaches in the United States dedicated to masters rowing. Marlene's career began in 1982 coaching the Boston University Summer Recreational Rowing Program, a community sweep program on the Charles River. Then, Marlene was the Varsity Girl's Coach at  Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts in 1986 and 1987. In 1986, she joined the coaching staff at the Craftsbury Sculling Center in Vermont and worked in various levels of the program for 20 years, including associate director from 2004-2006. From 2005-2009, Marlene was the head coach at the Florida Rowing Center. Marlene now offers customized  private sculling clinics for clubs or individuals by arrangement.

In 1999, Marlene founded Roylerow Performance Training Programs to individually train rowers; designing their workouts and providing support via email. Roylerow.com was the first online coaching service for rowing. Marlene's  athletes soon started reaching  the podiums of major regattas. Marlene's coaching has produced numerous world masters champions,  masters national champions,  Head of the Charles winners, and personal bests. Her programs are also used by coaches, pre-elite athletes, and juniors, as well as, those training for general health, re-entering the sport after injury, or just starting to compete.

As a competitor, Marlene has won major titles in sculling and sweep rowing including a US National Championship, a Collegiate National Championship, and a Head of the Charles title. She was awarded the Melissa Hale Spencer Award at the West Side Rowing Club of Buffalo in 1980 and the Beverly Jean Cook Award while on the Boston University Rowing Team in 1982. She also served as Boston University Crew's Varsity Women's Captain in 1985.  In 2000, she set two world records on the Concept2 Indoor Rower. She is a registered occupational therapist, in addition to being educated in physiology, massage therapy, and strength training. Her publications include: Tip of the Blade: Notes on Rowing, Skillful Rowing, and Technical Drills for Sculling. Tech Tips is Marlene's column on the Craftsbury Sculling Center website and her column Upstream appears monthly in the international journal, Rowing News.