Conny Kirsch is in her fifth season as an assistant coach at Indiana University, where she coaches the Hoosiers' second Varsity crew. In 2012, IU's second Varsity 8 tallied wins over Purdue, Louisville, Tulsa, Sacramento State, Central Florida and Duke. The 2011 season saw IU's second Varsity 8 record a 15-3 overall mark, beating Alabama, Boston University, Marist, Purdue, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Gonzaga, Iowa, Rhode Island, Louisville, Bucknell, Oklahoma and Louisville before finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championships. During the 2010 season, IU's second Varsity led the Hoosiers to their first Dale England Cup after beating Boston University, Central Florida and Dayton. Kirsch also led IU to a Grand Final win at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, defeating Oklahoma, Purdue, Tulsa, Alabama and Kansas State. The Hoosiers also won their final at the NCAA South/Central Region Sprints, beating Louisville, Duke, Oklahoma, Kansas and Tulsa. For the fourth summer in a row, Kirsch worked with the US Rowing Junior B Sculling Development in Saratoga, NY. There she developed young female athletes to refine their skills of sculling and educate and empower them to become successful athletes in the near future. She has also spent the past two winters coaching at the Orlando US Rowing Junior B Sculling Development Camp. This year, she was promoted to head coach of the sculling camp in Orlando. Kirsch came to the United States from Germany in 1998 and was an All-American and Big Ten Athlete of the Year at Ohio State University in 2002. She led the Buckeye varsity eight to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships that year as well. Kirsch graduated from Ohio State with a B.A. in psychology and women's studies in 2003 and went on to earn master's degree in counselor education from Ohio State in 2006. Following her career with the Buckeyes, Kirsch was a coach for the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Rowing Association in addition to completing an internship counseling urban youth in Columbus. She also worked closely with at-risk student-athletes at Ohio State to develop individual achievement plans through student-athlete support services. From the fall of 2006 to June 2008, Kirsch was an Assistant Coach at the University of Massachusetts where she was responsible for the Novices, Varsity 4 and Lightweights. Her Varsity 4 finished second at the Atlantic 10 Championships in 2008. Prior to coming to the United States, Kirsch rowed with the German National Team from 1995-98 and took first place in the quad at the Junior World Championships in 1995 and in the double in 1997. In 1996, she took second in the quad and second in the double at the 1998 Under-23 Nations Cup. Kirsch was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in September of 2007 as the first rower in the history of OSU to be inducted. |
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