Year: 2013

Novice Q&A Rowing

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Why would a coach put novices with varsity rowers in a boat for training? What benefits would that get the novices, and wouldn’t that be very frustrating for varsity rowers? I’m not one of those novices and I really wish I was but I don’t really know in what parts of my rowing it would help, if you know what I mean.

To an extent it’ll probably be a little annoying for the varsity boat but I think most coaches would expect them to be technically proficient and mature enough to deal with it. If they want the novices to succeed they’ve got to be willing to deal with the difference in boat feel for a practice and help the younger rowers get better.

There are a lot of benefits for the novices. Feeling what a consistent stroke rate feels like (number one, in my opinion), getting an idea for what each pressure level really feels like, getting a better sense of how to adjust the hands to fix the set, etc. are some examples. On a secondary level, I think it helps them psychologically. Being in a varsity boat, especially a good varsity boat full of good athletes and strong team leaders, I feel like that would motivate them to sit up a little taller, lift their chins a little higher, keep their cores a little tighter, and perform just a little bit better. I would make the argument that even if they didn’t make any technical improvements during the row, if they became more confident in themselves or motivated to improve, the outing was a success.

The only time this really ever backfires is when the inexperienced rowers use it as a crutch to lean on and then when they get back into their regular boat boat no one knows how to fix whatever issues there are because they’ve relied on the varsity rowers to sort it out. This isn’t super common though and when I’ve experienced it, it’s been with rowers who were never that committed in the first place.

Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hello! (I’m not going to give too much detail since there may be teammates who read your blog.) We’re in high school and the novices pranked us [it was an innocent one] and everybody is SO mad now, more so because they got one put over them. It’s high school, so I’m wondering, if my teammates can act like that, is it even worth it to be on the team with them?

That sounds really dumb – your teammates reactions, not the prank. What’s wrong with a little fun? As long as no one was directly hurt (physically, emotionally, whatever), what’s the problem?

It sucks that your teammates are displaying such a poor attitude but unless their attitudes are always like this, I wouldn’t do anything crazy like quit the team or something. If it’s really causing a huge issue that is having negative effects on the team and you’re in position where you can call a team meeting, I’d have one so everyone can just hash it out and be done with it. Even if you’re not in that position, recruit your team captain or coxswain to make it happen (preferably someone neutral to the situation). Nobody needs unnecessary drama on their team. Ask your teammates, is this making us faster? Is this good for team camaraderie? Is this helping us towards that Youth Nationals team trophy? The answers are probably “no”, which hopefully will help them realize how immature they’re being.

Q&A Rowing

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I was switched from 7 seat to 3 seat after having been 7 for over 6 months. What might’ve caused my coach to do that?

There are two reasons – the logical one and the illogical one. And I only say illogical because it’s the opposite of logical, not because it’s being done for a stupid or malicious reason.

Related: Hey, as a coach you might be able to tell me, in a quad how do you decide who goes where? And the same for an eight? Where you’re placed in the boat, should this tell you anything about where you “sit” compared to the rest of the crew?

The logical one, if you think about where individual rowers are placed in the boat, is that your coach thinks that you have the power to make the boat go faster and that you’re better utilized in the engine room than in stern pair. That’s not to say that you didn’t do a good job of translating the rhythm back to bow 6 but you’ve got the ability to harness your power and push the boat along, and that’s something he wants to capitalize on.

If you’ve been working on your technique lately or have been having issues with something, he might have also put you in 3-seat because it’s the least disruptive seat in the boat. It’ll give you a chance to refine whatever you’re working on without causing too much harm to the balance of the boat.

Related: OK, so I was just moved from stroke to bow and I’ve only sat in the same seat twice in the past two weeks, let alone the same boat … what am I doing wrong? 

Alternatively, maybe he just wanted to make a switch. Sometimes coaches do that and there’s no rhyme or reason for it. Maybe it has nothing to do with you at all – he might just have another rower he wants to try in 7-seat. In both situations, the best way to find out what’s up is to talk to your coach and see if there’s something specific he wants you to work on or if he’s just tweaking the lineup to see which combination makes the boat the fastest.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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I know you’re an amazing cox but have you ever been put into a situation where you’ve been bumped down a boat? Everybody said I was doing well and improving but my friend got switched from rower to cox yesterday and she’s so good she coxed varsity seat racing. I’m not trying to be mean, she’s my friend, but I guess I’m just bitter that she’s such a quick learner and varsity likes her better for it, I feel. I guess I just don’t know what to do…

Oh yea. When I was a junior in high school I coxed the lightweight 8+ … we went to nationals, finished 10th overall … it was a great year. Despite it being a great boat there were some people in it that I didn’t get along with at all. I mean, it’s high school – take the normal high school drama and then throw on eight girls trying to make weight every week. Luckily, when we were in the boat and practicing we were fine and never had any problems but off the water we definitely weren’t hanging out together or anything.

Senior year it was assumed that I’d be with the lightweights again. Something happened before going out for our first race (a combination of boat problems, coach problems, etc.) and I lost it on them. I was so over the over-talking and back-talking to one another, the drama, etc. and I basically told them to shut up, fuck off, and let’s just go out and race. I’d already maintained in my head that I didn’t think I wanted to cox them that year but the only other boat left was the novice eight, which on principle I wasn’t keen on because … they’re novices.

When we got back to the boathouse that week, they told our coach that they wanted another girl (someone who was actually friends with them) to be their coxswain, which really didn’t bother me that much but he went about making the switch entirely the wrong way. He put me with the novice eight but the way he explained it, it was more of a punishment than anything else. I was pissed … not really pissed, more so offended I think because I’m about to go to college to cox and you’re punishing me for not getting along with two or three people by putting me with a group of people who literally don’t even know how to row? Awesome. If I was furious with anything it wasn’t so much the situation, it was the decision in general because I was a senior coxing novices and he tried to make it out like the reason that happened was solely because I was a terrible coxswain when everyone, even the lightweight girls, knew that wasn’t the case.

Related: I am in my 3rd year coxing and I’m fighting for the JV boat with another girl who is in the same grade as me. I was really, really bad my novice year and wasn’t really good until now. I really want to beat her so I asked some rowers what I could do better and they said that people respect her more, and that she is more authoritative. But the thing is when I try to be authoritative people just think I’m a bitch because I’m normally really friendly and nice. How do I earn their respect?

Luckily, we had another coach who took us under his wing and pretty much exclusively coached us that year. He had issues with the head coach as well and spent many hours after practice and throughout the season calming us down after this coach would purposely do things to piss us/me off. He wasn’t shy about making it known either that he didn’t like our boat. What I know, for a fact, was that he didn’t anticipate this novice 8+ being as good as we were. They still are the best boat I’ve ever coxed – I’ve never seen a better women’s eight, even when I coxed in college. The one race we lost was the BEST race I have ever had in a boat. It was at the Midwest Championships and we lost by less than a bow ball after being in a dead heat with the winning crew for all but the last 5-10 meters.

Looking back on it, coxing that boat was hands down the best “punishment” I’ve ever had. We all got along, I never questioned their commitment, they worked harder than any crew I’ve ever had, and they wanted it. Some of the other crews on the team, I felt like they knew they were going to win so they started to get a little complacent about things. This crew, even when they were winning race after race after race (and setting course records while doing so) never had that attitude.

My coach also told me that one of the reasons why we were as good as we were was because of what I brought to the boat – they benefited from my three years of previous experience, my passion, and my get-shit-done attitude. I knew when to push them but most importantly I knew how to push them. There were times when I felt like I was slave-driving them but no one ever said they didn’t want that and that, I think, made all the difference. I wouldn’t necessarily say that bumping me down gave me a reality check, because I don’t think that I was ever complacent or anything about my spot in the boat beforehand to the point where I needed a reality check, but it did open my eyes to a lot of things and I am 1000% a better coxswain for it.

I wouldn’t be bitter about your situation. I was bitter for awhile but I quickly realized, unbeknownst to the head coach, that I was in a much better position now with this boat than I was with any of the varsity boats I’d coxed before (and I’d been coxing varsity since I was a novice). Yea, it sucks being moved around, especially when you think that someone who has less experience than you has the potential to be better than you are, but you’ve got to find something positive about being switched and use that to fuel you.

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 using your energy to be upset that your friend got moved up, channel it and your coxing skills towards making your new boat the fastest boat on the team. Shock the hell out of everyone. Trust me, there really is nothing like racing with your boat and looking over to where your teammates are on shore and seeing stunned looks on their faces because they had no idea you were this good.

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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I have a slight situation. I’m a 2nd year coxswain for a D2 college and I feel like I’m associated with the bottom boat because we are the only boat that practices frequently with the new assistant coach. I know I have a lot to improve on and I shouldn’t have that mentality that I’m a horrid coxswain but I just don’t know what to do when I try so hard during the pieces to increase the intensity (with rhythm calls, focus 5/10s, powers, imaginary scenarios, etc.) but there’s just a lack of ‘something’(will power? determination?) in my boat. It’s been especially tough this week. On Tuesday, we did 2X25’ 18-22-18. I drove the only 8+ with the other 3 varsity coxswains in 4+s. 8+s are definitely supposed to beat 4+s, no matter what, but we finished behind every time. We were started 2’ behind on the first piece, but even on the second one when we all started together, we still didn’t pass them. Coach had a talk with our boat after and gave them a chance to redeem themselves on Thursday, but he switched me and two rookie rowers out. The boat definitely moved and beat the 4+ on all the pieces. The lack of intensity happened again today though when we practiced with the novices, whom we also finished behind. I just don’t know what it is. One of my rowers said that if she’s in a shitty boat one more time she’s quitting, but I don’t think she means that my boat is the “shitty” boat (cause she’s been with novices lately), but at the same time it does lower my morale. Though she might not have meant that I drove the bottom boat, I feel like my other teammates do. I don’t know what to do anymore, or say anymore. Is it me? What can I do to change this?

Maybe the reason you’re with the “lower boat” is because your coach sees something in you that he thinks could resonate with those rowers. He thinks that you could be the key component in making them better. That’s a compliment, not an insult. Is that actually the case? Why knows, but it’s a lot more positive thinking that than it is “well, clearly I suck and that’s why I’m with this crew”.

If you’re curious why you’re with that boat, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask. You might find that there are certain parts of your coxing style that he thinks would help these rowers but there are other parts that he wants you to work on in a lower-stress environment than if you were with the first or second varsity boats. Maybe your vocal intensity and the clarity of your calls is something he really likes but your steering is something that needs a lot of work. You never know until you ask.

What’s your overall team/boat morale like? Are the rowers people you can depend on to show up (literally and figuratively) every day and give 100% or are they the type who are pretty “meh” about things? If it’s the latter, I don’t want to say they’re lost causes but there’s really only so much you can do. They have to be motivated to go out and row their best before they even wake up in the morning. If they’re not there’s nothing you’re going to be able to say that will help them.

If you know they’re committed, great. If they’re not, talk with your coach and get their take on things. Do they know that this is their attitude towards the team and it’s something they’ve accepted and found a way to work with or are they unaware about the lack of commitment from them? Either way, if it’s to the point where they’re going out and just rowing without a purpose or literally just going through the motions, that’s something that warrants a conversation with your coach. No one wants to coach people who are unmotivated or unwillingly to put the effort in and I know for me, as a coxswain, I cannot cox people like that. It mostly has to do with my already dangerously low levels of patience but also because I want to row with people who are just as fired up to be on the water as I am – if I can tell right away through your attitude or performance that you’re not excited to me there, it makes me less motivated to be with you, which then leads to me putting in less effort.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if your teammates think you’re the reason the boat performed one way or the other, it’s whether or not the coach thinks that. The only way to have any kind of definitive answer is to sit down and talk to them. I would also talk to the rowers in your boat. Ask them what felt different, why’d it feel different, what did that particular coxswain say that they think helped them move, how did she say it, what’s something she did well that they’d like to see you incorporate, etc. Also talk to that coxswain. I’m an extremely competitive person and would probably be really annoyed if I was in your situation because I would see myself to now be in direct competition with this other coxswain but experience (and maturity, obviously) has taught me that there’s a lot of value in using our competition to our advantage.

I mean “competition” in a friendly way too. If something she does can help you improve your skill set, by all means, interpret it to your style and incorporate it and vice versa – if she thinks that something you do would help her, tell her how you do it, let her interpret it in her own way, and go from there. Yes, personally, our goals as coxswains are to get better but the main point of our role on the team is the help make the boats move fast. If that means using something you learned from another coxswain who took out that boat one day then so be it. I’m trying to get away from the mindset of automatically shunning things because I disagree with how they’re done (because it’s not how I do them) or who the person is that originally did them and in doing that I’ve picked up a lot of great techniques that they’ve used but have been able to incorporate into my style and make my own.

Spend some time talking to your coach, teammates, etc. and get feedback from them. Use your coxing powers to do what you can to get people excited to be at practice. Maybe if they see that you are enthusiastic about being there and going out and you can get them fired up to row, regardless of who they’re up against, that’ll trigger something in them that motivates them to give it a little more when they’re on the water.

Coxing Q&A Racing Training & Nutrition

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I was talking to one of my rowers today who said what’s scary about rowing is that when you get tired, it’s not like another sport where you can just run slower. You all have to just keep rowing together. What do you think is a good call to motivate them to power through? I don’t want to just be like “you can do it!”

When we were doing Head of the Charles pieces in the fall, my boat would always start to really feel the fatigue right after the Eliot turn, when there’s about 750 meters to the finish line. One thing I constantly said to them coming out of that turn was we’d made it 2.5 miles down the course and we’re gonna keep pushing through that last half-mile.

Another thing I’d say is “bodies over brains”. Rowers of all people should know this, but I think we often forget how much our bodies are capable of and the amount of discomfort they’re able to endure. A lot of the time when we react to pain, it’s our brains reacting, not our bodies; our brains make it out like it’s worse than it is. When I know they’re starting to feel it, I tell them “bodies over brains” or “don’t let the brain defeat the body”. It reminds them their bodies are stronger than they give them credit for and that they have the ability to push through the pain, all they have to turn is block out the voice in their head telling them to stop. A friend of mine used to say that to his boat a lot so I started incorporating it into my calls too.

Related: Words.

One time I got really pissed at a boat I was coaching because they weren’t putting in the effort I wanted and I stopped practice for a few minutes and said something to the effect of “would you rather experience a little bit of pain now or would you rather experience a lot after the race is over?” Somebody asked what I meant and I said that whatever pain you’re feeling now is insignificant. It makes you better, it makes you stronger, it teaches you things. The pain you feel after a race you should have won or after an erg piece that you gave up on, that is the kind of pain that can defeat you because it weighs on you for a long time. You keep going over and over in your mind what you could have done differently or better or how maybe things wouldn’t have happened this way if you’d just given it your all during practice. People that accept that pain during practice or on the erg don’t normally ask themselves those questions after a race is over.

Another time a kid I knew in college was talking about how he hated pieces like 8x500s at 100% pressure because they’re absolutely brutal when you’re going for 1:30ish splits. I laughed and said “don’t lie, you know you like it” and he smirked and said “it’s true”. At the time rowers hate the pain but I guarantee you afterwards, secretly, they like it because they know they’re making progress. Remind them of that – they hate it now, but they’ll appreciate it later.

Related: How to survive winter training, pt. 3

Then there was that other time (in high school) when my boat was whining about how they were tired and sore and didn’t want to do another piece and blah blah blah … I was getting so irritated listening to it that I just blurted out “suck it the fuck UP!” Everybody stopped talking and my coach, who was in the launch beside us, said “OK … are we ready to do some work now?” Up to that point in the season, that boat was undefeated and I was determined to finish the season undefeated. After practice we had a quick meeting with our coach and I apologized (although to be honest, I didn’t really mean it…) but he said no, don’t apologize, if you guys want to finish this season with a “0” in the loss column, you’ve got to embrace the pain and suck it up. For the rest of the season, no one complained about being sore or tired or wanting to “not do any more pieces”.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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I never want to be THAT coxswain whose rowers zone out and don’t listen. I feel like my rowers look out of the boat a lot and it affects the set and their technique. Do you have any posts/suggestions to make sure I’m on the right path?

I really believe that about 85% of the effort in staying focused in the boat HAS to come from the rowers – the coxswain has a job to do in that respect but they can only do so much. The best and most effective way to find out if you’re on the right track is to talk to your coach and your boat. Explain that you’ve noticed a lot of people looking out of the boat, etc. which causes all these different problems and you’re wondering if there’s anything you can do to help them keep their focus in the boat.

Get feedback on how you’re doing overall – can you be more aggressive at times or are you doing a good job wit that? How does your tone of voice resonate with the rowers – do you sound engaged, present, focused, etc. or are you pretty monotonous and flat with your calls? Do you sound like you’re in control and have a solid plan that you’re ready to execute or do you make your calls like you aren’t really sure of what you’re doing? The information you get from them will be way more valuable to you than anything else.

Related: My rowers told me after practice today that I should focus on the tone of my voice and not be so “intense” during our practices. I don’t really know how to fix that actually. Like I don’t think I am so “intense” but rather just firm and trying to be concise with the command I give out. They said that they really like how I cox during a race piece because my intensity level fits the circumstances. But they also said that if I cox in a similar tone to race pieces, they can’t take me seriously during the races. But my problem when I first started coxing was not being firm enough and getting complaints about how I should be more direct on my commands. Now when I am, my rowers say this. I don’t really know what is the happy medium. Like I listen to coxing recordings and I feel like I am doing fairly similar tones.

In my experience, rowers looking out of the boat and stuff tends to be more about them than it does you. Obviously you need to be doing your part to keep them engaged and focused but some people are just that ADD (literally and figuratively) and have a hard time staying “in the boat” when they’re just moving back and forth. It takes a lot of concentration to row which a lot of people, especially novices, don’t realize. If they’re looking out of the boat a lot, you’re right, it will definitely affect the set and technique. That’s something I constantly try and tell the kids I coach – even though it seems minimal, you turning your head shifts your body weight enough that it will offset the boat.

Coxing How To Q&A

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I still have trouble judging distances [m] any tips?

I used to have trouble with that too. Practice and racing have been what’s helped me the most in gauging how far I am from something. Nearly every race I did in high school was on a buoyed course and the last 250m were always red buoys so comparing where the start of the red buoys were and where the finish line buoys were helped me learn to gauge what 250m looked like on the river when we were practicing. A lot of it is just carefully calculated guesswork though.

I also try and study the river that I’m on to get an idea of how far apart the major landmarks are from each other and then I convert the distance in miles to meters. On the Charles there are a ton of things you can use for landmarks but on your home course it can vary. My coach in high school, who was also a coxswain, taught me that trick and while it’s time consuming, it helped a lot. As I got used to what 50m, 400m, 1000m, etc. felt like it almost became like muscle memory to me so it’s gotten a lot easier to judge distances the more experienced I’ve become.

Coxing Q&A Racing

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So nervous for spring races! I’m so worried that we’ll start and I won’t keep straight, crash into another boat and not only ruin our race, but another boat’s. I know practice makes perfect but how do I take down the anxiety attack?

I actually feel similarly before most races. It’s not so much that I doubt myself but the adrenaline building from the time I launch all the way up to the start gives me the jitters. When we get locked on to the stake boat I usually take a second where I close my eyes, take a couple deep breaths, mentally run through my game plan, and tell myself that I know what I’m doing, my crew knows what they’re doing, and all we have to do is execute. As soon as the start marshal says “GO” everything gets channeled into the race. The adrenaline that gave me jitters before fuels me during the race – I literally think I run on nothing but pure adrenaline for those six minutes.

Related: Hi! Since the spring races all start boats at the same time, do you have any tips on steering straight? I can tell when I’m veering off my lane, but for some reason, I can’t/don’t know how to fix it! I remember you saying it’s all about the small adjustments, then straightening out, but I can’t seem to get it. [Ex today: all 3 boats lined up, me on the outside, I end up too far out away from the other 2]. Tips? Thanks!

You have to trust the face that you know what you’re doing, your coach trusts you, your crew trusts you, and you trust them. Assuming you’ve been having good practices and your crew is well-prepared, you’ve got nothing to worry about. You know how to steer. If you didn’t, your coach wouldn’t keep you with that boat – he’d put someone who know what they were doing in there.

If it’s something you’re not 100% confident about, practice your steering every time you go out. Have your coach watch you and give you feedback. Most likely you’ll have buoys when you race so you’ll have a guide on either side as you go down the course. When you get to the starting line, take a second to breathe, remind yourself of the plan, and get ready to go. When the starting marshal says “GO”, let your instincts take over. When the race is over you’ll wonder why you were ever anxious in the first place.