For Sarah and Katie Trovato, a little good-natured sibling rivalry is inevitable when they're on the water.

Both standout members of the Three Rivers Rowing Association junior rowing team, their individual accomplishments this year suggest that excellence in crew must run in the family.

The Trovato sisters were the only female rowers in Pittsburgh selected to attend USRowing national development camps this summer, each in her respective age division. Sarah, 17, is one of only 30 girls in the country training at the U.S. Sweeps Selection camp, which identifies gifted female rowers 17 and 18.

Conducted at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., the camp offers attendees an opportunity to row in one of three international races, the headliner being a U.S. Junior National team match in France in August.

Katie, 15, earned a spot in the instruction-based Junior B development camp, which provides promising rowers younger than 17 with an atmosphere of intensified training and expectations. Currently in progress in Worcester, Mass., it can turn participants into formidable future contenders for selection camps, such as the US Sweeps.

Coach Rick Brown, interim executive director of the TRRA, observed that the sisters' work styles and performance strengths aren't all that similar, contrary to expectations.

"It's interesting to see how different they are," he said. "I think that they were chosen for very different reasons."

Both Quaker Valley High school students -- Sarah, a senior, and Katie, a junior -- impressed judges at an identification camp in February in Washington, D.C,, where hopeful rowers from across the country flocked to compete for a limited number of coveted summer camp spots.

"Katie had a good, strong piece and was consistent [on the indoor workout]" Brown said, "while Sarah impressed them much more on the water with the way she rowed and carried herself."

No matter their winning strategies, the girls proved that they've come a long way from their early days as diamond-in-the rough novices.

"It was all really confusing at first," Sarah said, laughing and recalling her early days in the TRRA as a high school freshman. "I didn't really know what I was getting into ... a lot of things go into the sport that you just don't see as a spectator."

Still, Brown noticed something special in Sarah during her first week with the sport and grasping its basics. "She's a strong, athletic girl with a general ability to push herself," he said. "I could see that she had potential to take it to the next level."

Katie, however, owes her accomplishments to a long-term persistence in practice more than an innate ability. After finishing a first season that she described as "not too great," she took initiative to intensify her involvement by attending summer clinics and soliciting one-on-one training from her coach and Sarah. However, she teased her sister that sharing too many success secrets might come back to haunt her.

"The main reason I stayed with rowing is that I eventually wanted to beat her," Katie said with a laugh.

Quaker Valley, like most schools, doesn't have rowing as a varsity sport, but it recognizes rowing as a club sport, which gives the school an especially large student representation in local rowing programs. After learning about the TRRA through a recruitment session in school, Sarah followed a group of classmates to try out for the junior team. The sport stuck with her.

"I loved the people and the intensity of the sport," she said. "It's the most physically challenging activity I've ever done."

Sarah's sports involvement has been extensive -- in addition to being a former softball player, she balances her rowing commitment with playing on the Quaker Valley girls' varsity basketball team. However, she said that rowing offers her a special sense of team camaraderie not often found in other sports.

Katie agreed. "I like how it's a very team-oriented sport, " she said. "We have to be able to row individually and come together as a team. You establish a connection with everyone in the boat because each person matters."

After trying her hand at more conventional sports, Katie chose to focus on rowing since she felt it provided the best fit for her abilities. "My family's very competitive ... in a sport that doesn't require hand-eye coordination I figured I'd have my chance," she said with a laugh.