Sportsmanship and dignity
Our athletes represent the club the same way at every venue: with sportsmanship and dignity, in victory and in defeat.
The Rowdies Foundation California since 1982
We don't
train.
We participate.
Youth multisport, academics, and community programs out of the Bay Area, built on one idea: go outside and play. Our athletes swim, ride, run, surf and race, and they compete in as many sports as they can.
From the mountain tops to the surf, charge hard.
About the Foundation
The club,
since 1982
The Rowdies were founded in 1982, born out of the North Bay soccer culture, and brought the best together: hard-hitting Pacific Coast families who show up and compete. The club gave kids an identity in that community, and they carried it outward, into other sports, other schools, other cities, and lives built on what they learned on the field.
Soccer is where the name comes from. The racing came later, and the Rowdies have been building it for a decade, now with race teams under USA Triathlon and USA Cycling. Rowdies athletes compete in triathlon, cross-country, track bike racing, mountain biking, road riding, gravel and dirt riding, swimming, water polo, surfing, basketball, football, soccer, skiing, snowboarding, and summiting peaks, among other pursuits. We believe playing the sport is the best way to train for any sport.
When schools closed during the pandemic, the Rowdies kept hundreds of students working on math and science, and organized small pods so kids could keep playing sports safely.
We are formalizing that work as a nonprofit so the organization can serve more of the community, in more ways, than it has been able to until now.
What we carry to
every start line
Community first
When the interests of the community and our own interests diverge, the community comes first. That is the standard we hold ourselves to, and the one we teach.
Education that travels
Learning how to keep yourself educated is portable. Homeschool, private school, public school, the tools are the same, and we share what works with anyone who wants it.
Put these athletes in the same place and they raise each other.
Programs
The Foundation
Sport
Rowdies Racing
The multisport club. Two USA Triathlon clubs: 5540 for Bay Area racing and 5646 for athletes competing nationally. Triathlon, bikes, open water, and whatever else is outside.
See the club →
Academics
Tutoring
The math and science work that carried students through the pandemic, being rebuilt as a standing program led by our own athletes. Methods that work in any school system. Details to follow.
Community
What's next
The Foundation exists so the Rowdies can do more than race. Additional programs will be listed here as they are established. Nothing is announced before it is running.
Rowdies Racing
One club,
three registrations
Join the Rowdies and you're in all three. Race the local calendar with the Bay Area club, travel out of state with the National club, and pin on a number at bike races under our USA Cycling team. Same club, same kit, same people.
5540
The Rowdies — Bay Area
The home club. Weekend races, ocean swims, velodrome nights and dirt days within driving distance around the Bay. Show up with your athlete and get in.
5646
Rowdies Racing — National
For kids who want to compete across the country. Same values as The Rowdies — Bay Area, same Old Bay mentality, broader map. Members travel to USA Triathlon Youth and Junior Nationals, Splash and Dash Series events, Dipsea, regional duathlons, and any race worth the trip.
USA Cycling
The Rowdies
Our registered USA Cycling team. Road, track, and dirt racing, junior fields included, riding the same kit as the tri side. Find us in the USA Cycling Team Finder under The Rowdies.
Playing the sport is
how you train for it
Diverse participation builds kids who race hard, adapt fast, and don't come apart when the conditions change.
Tri
The race calendar
USA Triathlon youth races, Splash and Dash, regional duathlons, the Dipsea, and Youth & Junior Nationals. Registration, insurance and waivers handled.
Bikes
Track, road, dirt
Velodrome nights, group road rides, mountain bike days. Same kids, different surfaces. The handling shows up in every other sport they play.
Water
Open water and surf
Ocean swims, junior guards season, surf when it's good. Kids calm in cold moving water are calm at a swim start.
Everything else
Whatever's outside
Soccer, water polo, basketball, football, skiing, snowboarding, peaks. If it's outdoors and it's hard, it counts.
For parents
We're a community
before we're a team
The Rowdies are friends first. Families who show up for each other at the swim start, on the road at six in the morning, and at the finish line long after their own race is done. Parents learn alongside their kids and alongside each other, and everyone here has somebody in their corner.
Race calendars
Find the next start line
Everything we race is on one of these calendars. Search by date or by how far you're willing to drive, then tell us which one you're doing and we'll be there.
USA Triathlon events
Every sanctioned tri, duathlon and aquathlon in the country, filtered by zip code and distance.
Find a race →
USA Cycling events
Road, track, cyclocross and mountain bike permits, junior fields included, searchable by state.
Find an event →
Pacific Swimming
The USA Swimming body for Northern California. Meets, clubs and time standards for the swim side of everything we do.
pacswim.org →
USATF Pacific
Track and cross country across Northern California, youth divisions included. Where the running season lives.
pausatf.org →
Sierra Cascades series
The local triathlons, duathlons and open water swims our athletes race all season.
sierracascades.com/#races →
USLA lifesaving events
Junior guard and surf lifesaving competition, including the California Surf Lifesaving regional championships and USLA Nationals. Athletes compete through their junior guard program with a USLA membership.
usla.org events calendar →
Who we stand with
We show up for the
people who show up for us
These are the programs our athletes come up through, and what's good for them is good for every kid in the area.
Tommy Tsunami Surf School
We serve with Tommy Tsunami, who puts kids in the ocean and teaches them to read it. Our athletes are better in open water for it. Their water is our water.
tommytsunamisurfschool.com →
Junior lifeguards
We support the lifeguard programs because they support us. Every kid they train is safer in the surf and another set of eyes on the beach for everybody else.
Sierra Cascades Multisport
They put on the triathlons, duathlons and open water swims our athletes race all season. They've invited us in and backed us since the start, and they run races for athletes, by athletes.
sierracascades.com/#races →
Oakland Tri Club Splash & Dash
We're proud sponsors of the Oakland Tri Club Youth Splash and Dash, a swim-run built on fun and participation over placing, and the last points race of the NorCal Youth State Series. Bring a kid who's never raced.
oaklandtriathlonclub.wildapricot.org →
Hellyer Velodrome
The only track in Northern California, and the reason kids here can race fixed gear at all. Junior track nights are the cheapest hard racing a family can find. Keep the track alive and the whole region keeps a bike scene.
hellyervelodrome.com →
Athlete safety
Our coaches are SafeSport trained and background screened, and the club carries USA Triathlon insurance. We follow the SafeSport minor athlete policies. Questions, ask us.
Want a coach and a calendar?
Go train with our friends
We participate. We don't run a paid training program with a set weekly schedule. If that's what your athlete needs, these are the people we'd send our own kids to. Good coaches, real programs, and friends of ours.
TCM Tri Squad
Coach Martin Spierings' squad, based here in Northern California. Coached training for every level, a squad community, and their own tri store.
Coach Martin is your guy on the Coast with the wetsuits! Give him a call.
tricoachmartin.com →
Wolfpack Pentathlon Club
Santa Clara based, with a high school program, youth training clinics, and the Super Sprint Aquathlon that's part of the Northern California Youth State Series.
Kirt is your man. Give him a call.
wolfpackpentathlon.com →
First Youth Triathlon Team
FYTT, out of Menlo Park. A structured youth program with a full race calendar, high school athletes, and a path toward collegiate triathlon.
Give Aleksei and Anton a call.
firstyouthtriathlonteam.com →
Tommy Tsunami Surf School
Surf lessons on the coast. Low pressure, real instruction, and kids who come out reading the ocean instead of fighting it. Where we send families who want their kid in the water.
Give Tommy and Pete a call.
tommytsunamisurfschool.com →
Los Gatos Swim Club
LGSC, right here in town. A strong USA Swimming club in the elite Pacific Swimming LSC, and they always give new members a chance to try out. Year round team, summer league, lessons and lifeguard classes. Great place to learn to swim fast.
Give Coach Jake a call.
Los Gatos Swim Club →
Soccer
Where the Rowdies started. Our athletes still play, and this is the club they come up through. Competitive and recreational, all ages, right down the road.
First-time athletes
A free year of
USA Triathlon
New athletes join the Rowdies with a free Youth Digital Annual membership from USA Triathlon. It covers your athlete's membership for a full year, so the first season costs you nothing but showing up.
Redeem it at usatriathlon.org/membership with the club code below, then pick The Rowdies as your club.
Join
Three steps
to your first race
1
Come to a session
Email [email protected] and we'll tell you where we're riding and when. Bring your athlete, bring a bike or don't, watch one, do one. Everyone starts the same way.
2
Register and sign
Every athlete needs a signed waiver on file before their first activity. It covers all our activities, USA Triathlon and USA Cycling alike. Under 18, a parent or guardian signs it.
Sign the waiver
3
Pick your season
Do the whole calendar or do two races. Show up, participate, keep showing up.
Go outside and play
Tell us your athlete's age and what they're interested in, and we'll tell you where we'll be this weekend.