Middle School at Nathan Benderson Park

Who / Where / When: 2026 Fall Season Registration Open Now! 

• Registration: At the bottom of the page!
• Grades: 6 through 8 - No experience necessary! (8th graders can choose to try our high school program instead)
• Location: This Page is for Nathan Benderson Park location only.
  • 5851 Nathan Benderson Cir, Sarasota, FL 34235
  • Participants meet by the large white arched tent
• Fall Dates (see below registrations for more details on times/dates):

• • Preseason is September 1st - October 3rd
    • You pay for 2 days a week, but if you can make all 3, we welcome you to all!
    • Tuesday 4:30-6:45 pm at Osprey (343 Palmetto Ave, Osprey) (available but optional)
      Thursday 4:30-6:45 pm at Nathan Benderson Park
      Saturday 8:30-11:30 am - we will do about half of the Saturday practices at Osprey and half at NBP.
  • Regular Fall Season is weeks of October 5th - December 19th (no practice November 23rd-28th, Thanksgiving)

  • Fall Races: For athletes who are ready and interested in competing, there are 3 optional Fall races. Race fees are charged separately

    • Benderson Chase, Nathan Benderson Park, October 10th-11th

    • Halloween Regatta, Tampa, FL, October 24th 

    • Plant High Fall Sprints, Nathan Benderson Park, December 5th 

    • Sarasota Crew Intrasquad Regatta, Nathan Benderson Park, December 19th

• Spring Season:

  • Spring Session: 10 weeks of rowing (dates TBA) in the program of your choosing. (No practice the week of Sarasota School District Spring Break). We will have practices on days that are school holidays during this session. We offer a race opportunity instead of practice for AYC Series 1 in February and again for FL State West Districts in March.

  • At our NBP location, during the regular season, practices run Tuesday and Thursday. We will give you the option to join on many Saturdays also but those Saturday practices may be in Osprey.
  • Weekday practices are 4:30PM-6:45PM (6:30PM when Daylight Savings ends)*.
    *Schedule Note: For those who may get out of school later in the day, it is ok to arrive after 5:00PM for your weekday practice. You will still get to placed into our practice rotation and we are used to working kids in when they arrive to us. 

  • Spring Add-On: We offer an additional spring session of 5 weeks (dates TBD) that ends with a race for those that want to continue. This is the only session where we recommend that athletes have prior rowing experience. It leads into USRowing Southeast Regionals in May. The fee for the spring add-on will include this race.

  • Spring Race Options: For athletes who are ready and interested in competing, there are 3 optional Spring races. Race fees are charged separately. 

    • American Youth Cup, Sarasota, FL, February 13-14th

    • Florida State West District Championship, date TBA

    • USRowing Southeast Regional Championship, date TBA

• End of the Year Banquet, date TBA. All program participants and their families are invited!