Rowing Ireland is delighted to announce that Fran Keane has been appointed as High-Performance Men’s Head Coach and Giuseppe De Vita has been appointed as High-Performance Women’s Head Coach.
Fran has worked with Rowing Ireland since 2019 as High-Performance Operations and Pathway Manager. Giuseppe has been working with the High-Performance Team since 2018.
Fran has been coaching internationally since 2008 and has coached several medal-winning crews from Junior, U23 and Senior levels. Fran has been coaching with the Senior High-Performance team since 2020 and was part of the coaching team at this year’s Olympics in Tokyo.
Giuseppe has been helping the development of High-Performance Irish athletes over the last four years, with a focus on the Sweep Senior Women Olympic team. Giuseppe coached the Women’s Four which was the first Irish Women’s Team to win a medal at the Olympics.
Rowing Ireland’s Chief Executive Officer Michelle Carpenter said, “We are delighted to be building the High-Performance team as we head into the Paris cycle and welcome Fran as Men’s Head Coach and Giuseppe de Vita as Women’s Head Coach.
Both coaches have coached extensively in Irish clubs with Giuseppe coaching at UCD and Fran at Presentation College before joining the team in Rowing Ireland.
Our commitment is to having structure in our programme going into Paris which is only a few short years away.”
High-Performance Director Antonio Maurogiovanni said,” I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Fran Keane as the Men’s Head Coach and Giuseppe De Vita as the Women’s Head Coach of Rowing Ireland after a comprehensive recruitment process.
Since the heavyweight program size is increasing, we are pleased to split the heavyweight Head Coach role into two roles as a Men’s and Women’s Head Coach.
“Fran and Giuseppe have an extensive experience within Rowing Ireland and the Rowing of Ireland. Their motivation and work ethic will give the Paris project a significant contribution. We are delighted to confirm both appointments.”
New High-Performance Men’s Head Coach, Fran Keane said, “I am incredibly proud to be appointed to this role and look forward to continuing to work closely with these athletes, many of whom I have worked with since they were in the junior program, as we continue on our pathway towards Paris and beyond.
We have lots of work to do to achieve our strong ambitions, and I look forward to the challenge ahead.”
New High-Performance Women’s Head Coach Giuseppe De Vita said, “I am so glad to have been appointed head coach. I believe we have an incredible team of women capable of doing something very special.
My dream is to make sure they fulfil their potential.”
