Day: December 11, 2012

High School Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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If I’m currently a lightweight at 129 but on the border of open weight. Do you think it is better to be a small open weight or a big lightweight? (Btw I’m a sophomore in high school.)

Lightweight max (for women) is 130lbs so … I think it’d be better to stay a lightweight if you can do so safely and in a healthy manner, especially if that range is where your natural weight lies. The lightweights that I’ve known who have tried to row with the openweights have had a hard time with it (and have gotten injured in some cases) simply because it’s harder to keep up with rowers who are at a different level than you. For comparison’s sake, it’s like basketball for me. I’m 4’11” and when I play with other short people, I’m pretty good, but when I  try and play with the taller people, I suck because I can’t guard them, I can’t power through an open lane against them, and I can’t shoot over them. Our bodies are different and that affects how well we play.

I would stick with being a lightweight for now and if over the next few seasons you find that that weight is harder to maintain, you can talk with your coaches about being an openweight. Talk with your coaches right now though too and see what they say. They’d probably be able to give you better advice because not only do they know you better, but they also know the kind of rowers on your team that you’d be with if you moved up to openweight.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Winter training has caused all of the rowers at my club to become insanely competitive. Our junior team is now completely broken into cliques and honestly everyone (including me) is completely on edge. Only some of us train twice a day based on if we have morning spares for school and the people that go to that suddenly think they’re more elite than anyone else. Do you think there’s anything we could do?  Also it doesn’t help that half the team is in a relationship with someone else on the team, so there’s tension there.

Yikes. Not the best situation to be in during the cabin fever months of winter training. My first thought was “team meeting”. The captains (or coxswains, if you don’t have captains) need to recognize and assess the situation, then hold a team meeting to tell everybody to basically get their shit together. I can kind of understand the cliques thing because during the season each boat kind of becomes it’s own little clique, but if it’s getting to the point of people being in cliques à la Mean Girls, that has to stop. Captains and/or coxswains need to take responsibility and get that under control. A divided team during winter training does not bode well for a happy, collective team during racing season.

Training twice a day does not make you better than people who train once a day. You can go to the gym thirty times a day and it doesn’t make you any more dedicated than someone who goes once. The beauty of winter training is that things can be done on one’s own schedule, so if some people have the time to go twice a day, then great, but not everyone does. Winter training is also the one time during the year where if people need a break, they can take one. Unless you specifically know that people aren’t working out because they don’t care, don’t want to, or some other illegitimate reason, those rowers have no right to think they’re more “elite” than anyone else. The way you said that also made it seem (to me, at least) that the only reason they go twice a day is to say they’re going twice a day and to hold it over other people’s heads, which in turn makes me question how hard they’re actually working out.

Relationships within the team is a messy situation all around. People know the risks of dating someone else on the team and if they don’t … they’re potentially in for a rude awakening. The tension that comes with that unfortunately can’t be avoided in most cases unless those involved take action to ensure such tension does not exist. You can’t really make a rule saying “members of the crew team can’t date each other” (well…technically, I guess you could), so you’ve just got to deal with the effects of it as they come along.

It sounds like your team needs to do some serious bonding. One of the main reasons why collegiate teams go on training trips far, far away from campus is because it helps the rowers get to know one another and thus, everyone is closer as spring season draws near. Read #4 on this post and this post. They say practically the same thing but there might be one or two ideas that are different. The biggest thing that needs to happen though is a team meeting of some kind where those in charge put an end to the petty crap. If it’s serious enough to get the coach involved, do it. You could even talk to him/her and explain the situation and what advice can they give you on how to handle it? Then the captains/coxswains can take it from there. If that doesn’t work, you’ve got to step back and let your coach handle it. Hopefully though everyone on the team can see the effect that this is having and they’ll all be willing to make some changes so that it doesn’t continue.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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At the moment I have been doing quite well within my squad, I have been in the A boat (quad). I row for school and next term part way through the season we have a new rower joining us as one left. She is really tall and said her older brothers were quite good rowers. Today was her first time in a boat and she has never been on an erg. Is it possible that she could take “my” spot? This is my second season rowing and I am not very tall, 5’3. I am really worried she will!!

I’d say probably not. The thing about rowing is that no matter what, everyone sucks when they first start rowing. I think you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who immediately hopped in a boat or on an erg and didn’t suck. You can pick up the sport fairly quickly, but you’ll spend the next 30 years perfecting every inch of the stroke. If you’ve been rowing in the top boat for awhile and she is just now joining the sport, I would think that your spot it safe. Don’t worry about things that don’t matter like whether her brothers were good or how tall she is. Technique, strength, focus, dedication, determination, and commitment matter 100x more than any of that stuff.

Related: This is probably going to sound really stuck up but I promise you I am not intending it to be that way. I’m the only coxswain my team has. I’ve coxed them through every race and I love coxing so much and I love my team, but one of my rowers now says she wants to be a coxswain and there’s only enough girls for one boat. I’m honestly terrified she’s going to try and take my spot and I want it way more than she does, to be quite honest. I’m just really worried and idk what to do.

Instead of worrying about whether she’s going to take your seat, focus on YOUR training and making sure that your coach has no reason to take you out of the boat. Don’t give them a reason to think that she deserves it more than you when she has less experience. Focus on your training, your technique, your erg times, etc. and let your coaches worry about teaching the new girl. I assume since you’re in the A boat, there’s a B and C boat? She’ll probably start off in one of those and then as she improves, maybe she’ll be put into the A boat. If she is, set the example for how “A boat” rowers do things. Until that point comes though, don’t worry about hypotheticals.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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As a coxswain I do all the workouts (to keep weight down and to encourage/have respect from rowers) but none of the other coxswains do. Do you think I should ask them to join? I just feel when we are concentrating to do 50 push-ups and they are laughing they kinda bugs me / gets me off track, I don’t want them to sacrifice our rowers work outs. I know the rowers are quite annoyed also … should I tell them to leave join, stop, etc?

If you’re a varsity coxswain and they’re younger than you, you can definitely tell them to either take it seriously or go away but if you’re younger or the same age as them, they might not take you seriously and think that you’re just being a jerk or sucking up or whatever. In that situation, I would talk with your coach and explain how you and the rowers feel like they’re undermining the workouts, the team, etc. by being distracting and doing whatever they do. Hopefully they can talk with them and handle it from there.

Related: So I’m a novice coxswain and I’m really not athletic. The other coxswains told me that during winter training we do everything the rowers do but because I haven’t been erging and working out with the team, I’m scared I won’t be able to keep up with them. What should I do?

I wouldn’t ask them to join because if they’re screwing around just watching, the chances that they take it seriously when they actually have to do it is slim to none. This ties back to coxswains half-assing it and pissing the rowers off. Coxswains should never not be doing something when they’re at practice. Whether they’re working out with their boat, coxing people on the erg, taking times down, watching video, helping the coaches, etc. there’s always something to do.

In this situation, you are the more mature one. Regardless of the pecking order, find a solution to your problem and be OK with how you handled the situation. Ask your coach for advice on what to do and go from there. If he says he’ll handle it, leave it at that. If he tells you to tell them to join in or leave, do it. Be confident in how you say it and make them understand that in this moment, they are not being valuable members of the team and no one appreciates their attitudes or apparent lack of interest. Situations like this suck, but they happen. How you handle it says a lot and really helps the rowers get a feel for the kind of leader and coxswain you are.

Coxing Ergs Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hello! I’m a novice coxswain and I’m still learning so I often ask my rowers exactly what they want to hear. When we erg often the varsity team helps cox them. I honestly feel like coxing ergs is kind of awkward and I am not the best at it (but I’m still learning). After asking one of my rowers what I can do to improve she told me that she didn’t like my coxing style and she preferred one of the varsity members. I am not able to cox like that – it doesn’t come naturally … what should I do?

It’s good that you ask your rowers what they want. Don’t be offended or take it personally if somebody says they don’t like your coxing style. Some rowers like to go into bubbles on the ergs and don’t want any coxing. Others prefer other people’s style. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad coxswain or anything. I would talk with the varsity coxswain that your rower likes and ask her for advice. Observe her (and the other coxswain’s) style when she’s with people on the ergs and take notes. It’s like putting together an outfit … everybody has their own style but we all draw inspiration from other people.

Related: Advice for coxing a 5k on the erg? There are only so many times I can remind my boys to keep their back straight and drive with their legs. 

Don’t go into every erg piece thinking “this is awkward, I’m awkward, nobody likes my coxing … SHIT!”. Go into each piece and look at it as a new learning experience each time. Try and pick up some new tips when you watch the other coxswains and use that to help you come up with your own way of calling pieces. Practice on rowers (who don’t mind being coxed) and then get feedback from them when practice is over. Find out what worked, what didn’t, and what you can improve on, and then use all that information moving forward.

Coxing Novice Q&A Racing

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Hey! I’ve been rowing for a few years but now I’m a coxswain but I’ve only been doing it for a few months and I’m soon entering my first race as a cox. Any tips on how much to shout/what to shout to the crew?

OK well, first piece of advice is don’t shout. One of my biggest pet peeves with coxswains is that they think their job is to shout at people, so that’s all they do … they just shout. Don’t do that. If all the rowers hear is you yelling at them with no substance or meaning or reason behind it, they’ll tune you out.

Related: Hi, I’m a beginner coxswain for a men’s novice 8 and my first regatta is coming up in two days. I’m super super nervous and I was wondering if you could give me some really good calls I can make in the middle of the race … I usually end up not really know what to say and repeat the same things over and over! Thank you so much!

Have a race plan that so that you’re not ad-libbing the entire race as it happens. Race plans give you some structure and make it easier to come up with calls because you’re going to have different focuses throughout the race that based on what’s happening around you, where you’re at on the course, what you’re seeing within the boat, etc.

Related: HOCR – Race plans and My race plan from HOCR

Spend some time listening to recordings too – that’ll help you learn how other coxswains handle races, as well as what they’re saying, how they’re saying it, and how often they’re saying it.

Related: Interesting question: How often do you think a cox should talk during a race? I feel really awkward and useless if I stop talking for more than a few seconds, and when I rowed our cox would talk almost constantly during races. However, at a regatta briefing the other day the OU Captain of Coxes implied that coxes should only be talking every few strokes. I guess it depends on the standard and nature of the crew, but what do you think?

I know there aren’t any specific calls in here but once you’ve established a race plan and what your boat wants/needs to focus on during the race, you’ll easily be able to come up with a set of calls that work for you and the crew.

Coxing Q&A

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This is probably going to sound really stuck up but I promise you I am not intending it to be that way. I’m the only coxswain my team has. I’ve coxed them through every race and I love coxing so much and I love my team, but one of my rowers now says she wants to be a coxswain and there’s only enough girls for one boat. I’m honestly terrified she’s going to try and take my spot and I want it way more than she does, to be quite honest. I’m just really worried and idk what to do.

I understand how you feel – when you’re doing something as specialized as coxing (and have been doing it well for awhile) it’s hard to think of someone else doing what you do. If you are the coxswain though and you’ve coxed every race and practice and have been doing a good job, I doubt your coach will randomly up and decide one day to stick this other girl in. Especially if you only have eight rowers, I think it’d be safe to assume your spot is safe. If your coach hasn’t said anything to you or the other girls about it, I wouldn’t worry too much.

If he/she does decide one day to put her in the coxswain’s seat, don’t freak out about it. Maybe he’s just appeasing her for the day. If it starts to become a continual thing, talk to him and see what his plan is. Have a mature conversation and don’t look at coxing as a possession you don’t want your younger sibling to have just because it’s yours. Maybe he’s just trying to get someone else to gain some coxing experience in the case that you can’t be there. You never know.

Keep in mind too that competition is a good thing. It makes everyone better so if she ends up becoming a full-time coxswain, keep an open mind and be prepared to up your game in response to her upping hers to match you.