Month: March 2013
Question of the Day
So my coach (who rowed but was a coxswain for a short bit of time) has been telling me to only steer when the rower’s blades are in the water… I’m kind of confused by this and I’ve never heard of only steering when the blades are in. Any help please? Thank you so much. 🙂
When I first started coxing my coach told me this as well. It basically has to do with the stability of the boat. When the oars are in the water, that’s when the boat is at it’s most stable, so steering has the least amount of effect on the set when you use the rudder then vs. when the rowers are on the feather out of the water. As I got more experienced I tended to do it less and less (because sometimes it doesn’t make sense to only steer when the blades are in the water) but when you’re just starting out and your rowers don’t totally have the hang of setting the boat, it’s a good habit to have.
This is another reason why coaches tell you to tell the rowers when you’re on the rudder, especially during head races, because if you have to go around a hard corner and can’t afford to steer just when the oars are in the water, it throws off the set. Alerting them to the fact that you’re on it can allow them to compensate with their handles on the next stroke.
Novice Racing Rowing Teammates & Coaches
My top 15 racing tips
Back in early October, one of the first posts I wrote was in response to a question I got asking for race tips. I recently got a similar question asking me what my top tips are for spring regattas and since everything I said the first time still applies, I’ve posted those below in addition to a few more tips that’ll hopefully help you have a great season.
Get some sleep
It is CRUCIAL that you get an adequate amount of sleep the night before your race. You can’t expect to be prepared to row your hardest if you only get 3-4 hours of sleep. Aim for at least eight.
Eat a good breakfast
If your race is in the morning, this can be tricky because you want to give your body enough fuel but you also don’t want to eat too much too soon before your race. If you eat a big meal too close to race time, all the blood that should be going to your muscles will instead be going to your stomach to help digest all that food. 2-3 hours before race time eat a small meal, such as a bowl of oatmeal, a slice of toast, a handful of strawberries, and some OJ. If you can’t eat that far ahead, try to eat something like a bagel and cream cheese an hour or two beforehand. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water too.
Check your seat
Are your shoes tied in? Are the nuts and bolts on your rigger tightened? What about the seat tracks? Are they clean? (If not, the seat won’t slide smoothly and you can jump the tracks). Your coach or coxswain will go through and do a once over before the boat launches, but if you’ve already looked at your seat and know something needs adjusted, it will get done that much faster.
Relax
Save your energy. Don’t be walking around a lot before your race. An hour or so before you’re supposed to meet at your boat, find a quiet spot near your trailer/tent and just chill. Throw in some headphones and relax.
Know the race plan
Yes, it is more important that your coxswain know the race plan so that they can execute it properly but it’s also important that rowers be clued in as well so that they know what to expect and where to expect it. Having an idea of the plan allows you to pace yourself. Don’t fly and die.
Be a good sport
Good sportsmanship is a huge part of rowing so take the opportunity to tell the other crews “good race” after you’re done.
Breathe
Don’t get so caught up in pulling hard that you forget to breathe. Relax and stay composed.
Remember your technique
The more tired you get, the better your technique needs to be. The more tired you get, the more focused you need to become. That’s when injuries happen, when rowers start rowing with poor technique. When you feel like slouching, sit up a little taller. When you feel like hunching over, push your shoulders back. One of my favorite things to tell my 8+ is to not let your brain defeat your body. Your body is capable of SO much more than we think it is and you are hardly ever as tired as you think you are.
Let your coxswain do his/her thing
Head races are for coxswains. It’s basically like Mario Kart come to life. It’s going to be hectic, crowded, frantic, confusing, and at times a total clusterfuck. If she knows the cardinal rule of coxing (don’t let ‘em see you sweat), you won’t know when she’s freaking because the eight in front of her isn’t yielding or because she’s totally confused by the warm-up area and the horde of boats clogging the traffic lane. Don’t try and tell her what to do or how to do her job. When you’re done racing, make sure you tell her she did a good job too and you appreciate her getting you from point A to point B.
Wear sunscreen
It doesn’t matter if it’s warm, cool, sunny, or cloudy, you should always have sunscreen on any exposed parts of your body. Coxswains, make sure everyone, including yourself, puts some on at least 30ish minutes before you launch.
Pack accordingly and then TRIPLE check that you have everything you need before you leave
My team in high school traveled no less than 300-400 miles every weekend to race in the spring (not kidding) so that always meant at least two nights in a hotel. Regardless of whether you’re traveling 20 miles to race or 200, do not wait until the last minute to pack your stuff. Inevitably that leads to you forgetting something that you later in the day wish you had or realize you need.
Find ways to occupy yourself
Ideally you’ll spent the majority of the time that you’re not racing on the water’s edge supporting your teammates who are out there but during your down time (which at some regattas you may have a significant amount of) you have four options: 1) sleep, 2) hang out at your team’s tent and eat, 3) wander around the merchandise area(s) and buy overly-priced heinous looking spandex, or 4) go to other team’s tents and trade gear. Shirt betting is a thing obviously, but it’s still a ton of fun to go meet other rowers and swap team shirts with them, even if they weren’t in any of your races. One of my favorite shirts I traded for I got from an all-guys school in Michigan called Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. It’s a great way to meet new people and it’s always a ton of fun at the same regattas the following year when you see each other again.
Bring your parents
Hear me out! Having your parents there doesn’t totally suck because even though they’re your parents and they’re all “that’s my baby!” to every other parent watching from shore, it’s nice knowing that there are one or two people there specifically rooting for you. Even if your team is like mine and you have to travel a few hundred miles to get to the regatta, tell them to make the trip at least once, just so they can get an idea of all the hard work you’ve been putting it.
That was another thing I loved about my team was that despite the distance, so many parents came to each regatta. Invite them to come and then, as patiently as possible, give them a tour of the race site (especially if it’s a nice one you’ve already been to), explain the ins-and-outs of crew (if they don’t already know), tell them the race(s) you’re in, etc.
Be proud of yourself
It doesn’t matter if you came in first place of DFL, be proud of your accomplishments. Does coming in last suck? Of course it does. I’m not going to lie and say you should try and get some deeper meaning out of coming in last because personally I think that’s a bullshit thing people tell other people when they don’t know what else to say. But think about all the people who never even started, the people who quit in the middle of winter training because it was too hard…those people never got to experience what you just did. You raced. You killed your body for seven minutes and even if the result isn’t what you wanted, you’re a stronger person for it, mentally, emotionally, and physically. You still accomplished something, even if you lack the hardware to prove it.
If you won, be proud of the time and effort you put in but don’t forget about the contributions of everyone else in your boat. You didn’t do this all on your own. Be proud of yourself but be proud of your teammates as well – and tell them you’re proud of them. Like I’ve said before, you don’t have to like the people in your boat but you must respect them.
Have fun
Don’t get so caught up in racing that you forget to actually enjoy the experience.
Image via // @rowingpost_teguran
Question of the Day
I want to try coxing men. Mainly because I know I won’t “feel bad” pushing them to max … and it might be a little selfish, but I want to see what it’s like to go even faster! I’m typical women’s cox size, 5’2 and 112 lbs … will I work? Oh and what’s master’s programs? Like is it for summer/graduates/ex-rowers, etc?
That’s why I like coaching guys – I don’t feel bad at all for how hard I push them. The guys I’ve coached previously all joked with me that I was like a slave driver because I never let them quit but none of them ever complained because they knew they were going to be better for it. It’s not selfish at all to want to be in a boat that goes fast. That’s why I like coxing guys. It’s impossible to explain the feeling you get when you’re coxing a great men’s boat that really knows how to work the water. I don’t think there is a typical men’s size or typical women’s size of coxswain – it’s not like we’re pre-packaged in small, medium, and large sizes (although now that I think about it, maybe we are…) – so yea, I’d say you’d be fine. Minimums for coxswains who are in men’s boats is 125lbs so you’ll have to carry weight with you but that’s like, the most minor issue ever.
Masters rowing is for anyone 24 and older. I think it’s 24. Basically if you’re out of college and not doing high performance or elite rowing, you can be a part of a masters crew. That’s what I cox right now and I like it. The women in my boat have all been rowing for a range of 5-20+ years. Coxswains of masters crews can be any age too, so you don’t necessarily have to cox rowers the same age as you. Your age doesn’t count either when they calculate the average age of the crew (I’m 24 but my boat’s average age is 50). The only downside is that it looks like there aren’t as many regattas to go to because not many have events that are specifically for masters crews. Oh, and races for masters crews are also shorter (1000m instead of 2000m).
Question of the Day
So … why in an eight is 3 seat considered the “worst rower?” Technically they’re still in middle 4 and I just don’t get it. Thanks!
I touched on this in a similar question about 5-seat – it’s linked below. The middle four has ONE job – row hard. They’re usually the bigger rowers of the crew so their only responsibility by being put in the middle is to generate power. That’s not a bad thing. Three seat just happens to be the seat where you have the least amount of impact on the balance of the boat (due to the boat being more stable in the middle since it’s wider), so theoretically you could put your weakest technical rower there and it would have as much of a negative effect on the boat as if they were in one of the other seats.
I think the only reason people think three seat is the worst rower is because they read those boat personality things and take them way too seriously. And by people, I mean novices (sorry guys) who sign up for crew, do some Googling to find out more about the sport, and then get it in their head that that’s the worst seat in the boat and they must suck as a rower if/when their coach puts them there.
Assuming your coach actually put some thought into the lineups, each person was probably placed in their specific seat for a reason. Unless you coincidentally display the same kind of personality traits as the ones listed in those boat personality things, they don’t actually mean anything.
Question of the Day
Do you have any advice on coxing starts without calling out the fractions or counting out every stroke? They happen so quick that it’s hard for me to squeeze in useful calls for my rowers.
The whole start (starting four or five, high strokes, and settle) takes about a minute (ish) to get through. After that you can make all the calls you want but until that point, executing the start is more important than whatever else you might say. Rather than saying “1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full” and trying to cram words in between each one, pick one or the other to do. Either call the fractions or say something like “pry send, complete, complete, lengthen, full…” but don’t do both. If/when you make calls, they should be short, monosyllabic words that are quick and easy to say. It’s easy to trip yourself up if you try to say too much so just focus on keeping it simple.
If you need some inspiration, listen to the recordings I’ve posted and hear how those coxswains do their starting calls. That should give you an idea of how you might do it.
Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
Question of the Day
I am a coxswain on a competitive women’s varsity team. Today at practice my coach screamed at me for every little mistake I made. Everything from not making my boat turn fast enough (ports were rowing and starboards were backing!) to drifting a bit to the shore side during a piece. After practice she pulled me aside and proceeded to list off every single error I made, I nodded and agreed to make changes and focus more on the water She then was like what happened to your boat today? (Even though we won each 3 min piece by open water) I explained to her what we were working on and how they were responding to my calls. She then said that my boat shouldn’t have been going faster than the other boat but something I did was working and she didn’t understand b/c it couldn’t possibly be that I was a better coxswain. I didn’t know what to say. I feel like she hates me? Should I do anything or just work harder?
What the hell … it couldn’t possibly be because of you?? That’s so rude! I wonder what she would say if someone said when you guys win races this season that it can’t possibly be because of her coaching. I don’t even understand why a coach would say that.
In situations like that, there’s really nothing you can say or do that will please your coach. You definitely don’t have to agree with what they’re saying but you do have to know when to bite your tongue and just say “I’ll keep working harder”. Before you go out tomorrow, gather your boat and have a quick talk with them. Tell them that the coach said something to you about turning the boat too slowly so today we need to work on getting it turned around faster (regardless of whether or not you were actually turning it slowly). Explain to them what your coach said, even if it didn’t have much to do with them, just so they understand why you might seem tense or slightly more pushy to get things done on the water. Ideally they would recognize the issue and work with you to help appease your coach, since you’re an important part of the crew too. Make sure they understand that they need to be focused, on top of their game, etc. when they’re on the water – don’t give your coach any reason to say anything negative to you.
Stay on top of your game too. Don’t let this incident rattle you or make you question yourself. If she keeps doing this, I’d consider maybe having a sit-down conversation with her to figure out what her problem is. If it was just a one time thing, maybe she was just having a shitty day and needed to take it out on someone. You never know. Unless you specifically did something that would give her a reason to be legitimately pissed at you I would just listen to what she said, make note of what she wants you to do better, faster, etc., and then go out and do that at your next practice.
Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches
Question of the Day
Do you ever do the “tchaa” thing that you hear Olympic coxes do a lot? Also if you’re an experienced rower in a boat with a new coxswain who just doesn’t know how to make calls or have a good boat voice (she shouts over the cox box), what do you suggest we do? I don’t want to be rude to her or anything, I just want to help.
I do! I started doing it when I was a junior in high school. For a while I resisted because I thought I sounded stupid when I said it but it eventually became one of my regular calls, usually during steady state pieces when we’re just going for long, powerful strokes.
As experienced rowers, I don’t want to go so far as to say it’s your responsibility to help her out, but in a way it is because you’re the older rowers on the team. Novices look up to you for insight and leadership. I would maybe grab one or two of the experienced coxswains and ask them to work with her and teach her what they know but there’s nothing wrong with you telling her she doesn’t need to yell into the mic (huge pet peeve of mine when novices do this), this is how calls should sound, etc. Let the other coxswains do the majority of the teaching but if the opportunity arises on the water to say something, do it. I don’t really recommend doing this though unless you’re the stroke or 7 seat. Even 7 seat is a little iffy. The reason I say that is because then it becomes either a game of telephone going down the boat or you have to yell to make her hear you and your yelling to be heard can be misconstrued by her as you actually yelling at her. Even if you’re constructively criticizing someone, yelling it so the whole river can hear it makes the other person incredibly uncomfortable.
Don’t forget, she’s still a novice. At least for the time being give her the benefit of the doubt. Before your next practice, remind her to talk normally into the mic (show her the speakers to make your point if you have to) because when she yells, it dilutes what she’s saying and irritates the rowers. Try not to get too annoyed with her though (way easier said than done, I know) – instead, be friendly and helpful when you can. Offering to help isn’t rude, it’s just the delivery of the help that can be interpreted as such.
Question of the Day
I’m a novice coxswain and I have my first race on Saturday. I have a question. What questions should I ask my rowers during our boat meeting? I know I can ask them what they like to hear most, but what else?
What they want to hear is probably the only question you need to specifically ask them. You can get their input on where to make specific moves (such as when to start the sprint, if you want to take 20s at each 500m mark, etc.) but during the race it might end up being a judgement call on where to do it based on what you see unfolding during the race.
I’d just ask them what they want to hear, both as a boat and individually. Individually, what’s one technique call and one motivational call they want directed towards them? As a boat, what have you been working on? What is your boat’s biggest strength that you can use to motivate them during the race? What is their biggest weakness that you can make a call to remind them to be aware of?
Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
Question of the Day
We don’t seat race coxswains on my team so our boating is based mostly off of what the coaches think, which normally is fair and just, but recently rowers have started voicing their opinions and a coxswain who just moved up to varsity this spring season has the V8 because the stroke seat said she liked the coxswain after one day. Is there anything I (a third year coxswain) can do about this? Or should I just focus on myself?
I definitely think you have a valid reason to talk with your coach but as I’ve said to everyone else that has had a similar issue, the goal here is to not prove why the other coxswain is unworthy, it’s to prove why you are worthy of the V8+. Talk yourself up instead of talking her down.
Ask your coach what they consider specifically when deciding who gets which boat. Ask them what they feel your strengths and weaknesses are and where they’d like to see improvements. If and when they ask you why you’re asking you can tell them that you’re a third year coxswain, obviously the V8+ is a goal (I’m assuming…?), and seeing a first year coxswain get it is motivating you to work harder. Simple as that. Keep the pissed off bitterness to yourself and let it come out in your coxing – I swear this is the whole reason why they let us yell and give us a microphone to do it into.
Also talk to the V8+ and ask them what they like about that coxswain. What does she do that resonates well with them? Talk to her as well. Just because she got the upper boat doesn’t mean she’s a crappy person or someone you can’t learn from and/or be friends (or at the very least, friendly) with. Even if/when you’re friends with each other, coxing is very much all about “keeping your friends close and your enemies closer”. There’s nothing wrong with that either, as long as you don’t get bitchy or catty about it.