Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Wayne Berger started rowing at Cornell University as an undergrad and later served as a coach at Salisbury School. He was also a faculty member at The Hotchkiss School from 1988 to 1991. In fall 2022, he returned to Hotchkiss after coaching, teaching, and working at Loomis Chaffee School, Groton School, and Deerfield Academy, as well as coaching at Harvard University.
Coach Berger has led boats to the most prestigious rowing prizes, including three IRA National Championships, five Eastern Sprints Championships, and two Ladies Plate titles from the Henley Royal Regatta during his time at Harvard University; two NEIRA championships and a Princess Elizabeth Cup semi-finalist, as well as a finalist at the Henley Royal Regatta while at Groton School; and a 2012 Youth National Championship with Deerfield Academy. At Hotchkiss, in the program's fifth year and its first as a coxed fours program, Berger guided the boys' and girls' first boats to fifth and sixth places, respectively, at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association Championships.
While at Harvard, Coach Berger founded the Boston Rowing Club, and over five summers of coaching, his crews won seven championships and the overall points trophy at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, as well as four titles at the USRowing Club National Championships. Internationally, Berger served as the Assistant Men’s Junior Coach in 2012 and the Head Men’s Junior Coach in 2013, finishing seventh in the junior eight at the World Championships.
As a lead coach for the Sydney Rowing Club in Australia, Berger coached four Sydney crews to national titles in 2013 and 2014. At the senior elite level, Berger helped coach the 2015 lightweight team to a bronze medal at the World Championships. In 2021, he helped the Paralympic mixed four with coxswain earn a silver medal in Tokyo.
An educator, Berger worked for Community Rowing, Inc. and the Institute for Rowing Leadership, training coaches in pedagogy, physiology, and program management from 2014 to 2021.
Coach Berger's passion is teaching student athletes how to row through a process-focused approach centered on consistency, persistence, hard work, and community.
