Your Coach Bobby

Bobby Meeks began coaching in 1971 with the dive team at Dominion Hills. He dove there from 1960-1972 winning the All Star Meet as a Junior Boy in 1965. He is now coaching the dive teams at Arlington Forest, Gunston Middle School, his own AAU team (The Arlington Divers) and Yorktown High School.

Meeks got his start in rowing at Washington & Lee High School in 1969. Under the tutelage of legendary men's head coach Charlie Butt, Meeks went on to win two national championships and three Stotesbury Cup titles during his high school career. As a rising senior, he was also selected to be on the U.S. Men's Junior National team and competed in Bled Yugoslavia. A truly diverse athlete, Meeks continues to have a passion for both diving and rowing to this day.

Meeks began coaching the men's team of McLean High School Crew in 1998. He was attracted to the young McLean Crew program by his friend and Washington & Lee fellow rower Chris Gordon. He coached 2 years with McLean before being asked to be the Head Coach at Yorktown High School. He returned to coach the McLean Men's Varsity in 2004. "When I first started coaching at McLean, we were happy to finish a race," says Meeks, "and now we are rowing competitively in eights. Each year we've done progressively better." Affectionately known to his rowers and divers simply as 'Bobby', Meeks shuns the hard-nosed coaching style. He prefers to let his rowers find their own motivation to succeed. "We have a lot of potential this year. I have high hopes for the seasons ahead," says Meeks.