Our novice team has been shrinking by the weeks! There’s only 7 of us left. All but one rower and me are bent on quitting before trying to make varsity. One of the rowers who has high school experience was saying that our coaches don’t really know how to properly prep the varsity team for spring even though we’re a D1 team. 2x6k test today sounds more like a fall test strategy to me, but being a novice cox I’m not about to diss our coaches, you know? Help?
Has your coach not noticed or said anything about the drastic drop in numbers? What have been the other rower’s reasons for quitting? Why do the girls still on the team want to quit? If you know that your goal is to try and make varsity, don’t let the decisions of the other girls, no matter how legitimate they are, affect your decision. It sucks that your team is dwindling like it is but there’s really nothing you can do about it.
I wouldn’t say a 2x6k is entirely abnormal for winter training. If they’re still having you do 2x6ks after spring break, yea, that might be a little out of the norm. As far as not knowing how to prep the team for the spring, as a D1 team that sounds … odd. Has your coach been with your team for very long or is he/she new to coaching? I feel like winter training is pretty straightforward so there shouldn’t be any confusion surrounding how to go about setting up a training program. I get what you mean about not wanting to question them, but there are ways of going about it without sounding like your interrogating them. You could just ask out of curiosity, since you are a novice, and inquire as to what the benefits of long steady state pieces like this are and how they prep you for spring. Assuming your coach didn’t just pull a 2x6k out of his ass, he’ll be able to give you his reasoning. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with questioning your coaches as long as you’re respectful and conversational about it.
Like I said, if you’re intent on coxing the varsity, stick to your guns unless you have a good reason not too. Everyone else quitting isn’t a good reason … although I would offer up the argument that it is a reason, assuming they all had a legitimate team or coach-related reason for quitting. I would see if you could sit down and talk with your coaches or even with some of the varsity coxswains and get an idea of what the spring season is going to look like and what role you will play in it. Getting a grasp on the bigger picture can sometimes help make sense of how things are now. As far as everyone else that’s quit … it does suck, but you have to let it go and focus on the people who are still on the team.