Month: March 2013

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Um, so I have a really big problem – when I race, my hands sweat (IDK why) and eventually they get so slippery that I can’t feather at all because there’s too little traction between my hand and the oar. Also, my hands get splashed from the lake/river that we’re on which makes it worse. I end up getting crabs because of this. Do you have any suggestions?

Have you asked your doctor about it? It could be possible that you have a form of hyperhidrosis, which is just an increased amount of sweating above what is normal to regulate your body temperature. One of my (guy) friends has this problem and sweaty palms is a fairly common side effect for him. He doesn’t row but he’s a cyclist so he has similar grip issues as a result.

In the short term, have you tried putting deodorant or chalk powder on your hands? You know, the stuff gymnasts and weight lifters put on their hands and equipment to reduce friction and give them a better grip? That might be an option. I’m sure regular baby powder or Gold Bond would work as well. Runners sometimes put some form of antiperspirant on their feet before putting their socks on and going for a run because it helps stop them from sweating, obviously, and reduces the likelihood that they’ll develop blisters. That might be helpful to you because if you have a hard time getting a good grip, you might eventually start to over grip, which leads to a whole list of other issues, not including epic blisters.

As far as getting splashed, it’s gonna happen. If it’s really bad then ask your coxswain if they can make some calls about carrying the hands lower on the recovery to avoid having the blades dragging on the water so much. Everybody’s gotta make the changes and adjustments for it to be effective though.

Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hey! I am a novice rower and I hear the term “bow loader” a lot but I have no idea what it means, and I thought you would know. Also, I love your blog – it’s great! Thanks! 🙂

Bow loaders are a type of four where the coxswain is lying down in the bow of the boat (behind the bowman) instead of sitting in the stern in front of the stroke.

The reasoning behind them is that it lowers the drag factor of the boat because instead of having five bodies sitting straight up and creating wind resistance, you’ve now got one less person to worry about because they’re lying down. The only positive to them (in my opinion at least) is that it gives the coxswains an unobstructed view of what’s in front of them which should help them be able to steer a pretty straight course.

Coxing Q&A Recordings

Question of the Day

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What would you want to hear in a coxswain recording? Is there something that really makes a good recording?

A short list of things include…

Know the difference between intensity, assertiveness, etc. and just being loud

Actively give feedback to the crew (this includes technical feedback during practices or if you’re racing, where you are on the course, what’s happening around you, etc.)

Execute the practice/race plan

There’s obviously a ton more things that make up a good recording but these are the three primary ones. I also don’t want this to become a checklist that coxswains try to “tick off” when they’re on the water so that’s why I’m just leaving it at three. I think that would just lead to them focusing too much on making sure they hit every point rather than actually doing their job.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Are you only supposed to get blisters on your inside hand? I have one on my outside hand on my fingers which has never happened before. I also have a tendency to over grip and feather with my outside hand. Would that have anything to do with it?

I think it’s common to get them equally on both hands although because of feathering they could potentially be worse on your inside one. If you’re over gripping with that outside hand that’s probably going to play a bigger part in it than feathering would. With feathering you’d have blisters on your palms or where your fingers meet your palm whereas what you’ve got sounds more indicative of just holding on to the handle too tight. When you’re out, try to remind yourself to keep your grip loose – you should be able to wiggle your fingers on the recovery and on the drive, you want to feel the weight in your fingers but you don’t want to be holding on to the handle for dear life.

Related: Do you know any secret remedies for blisters? It’s the first week of winter conditioning and after only two practices I have killer blisters on my hands and ankles that I never got last year until later, and not as bad. I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong with my form or something, although I’m not quite sure that could be the problem.

Over gripping your hands usually means you’ve got a lot of tension in your shoulders/upper body too. If you remember, ask your coxswain at your next practice if she can periodically say something to remind you to loosen your grip, relax the arms and shoulders, etc. Also make sure you take proper care of your blisters. Soap, water, and band-aids. It hurts like hell but it’s better for it to sting for a bit than develop an infection later.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Is it ideal to sound like a “scary coxswain”?

That depends on your definition of “scary”. Some coxswains are considered scary because of their intensity and the fact that they’re intimidating as hell. Others are scary because they sound like they’re going through an exorcism. I don’t like when coxswains are told they need to sound angry or scary because it gives them the wrong impression, which is a problem I often find with novices because they’re told they have to yell and be angry so they do, and then they end up sounding ridiculous, they aren’t effective, and/or they lose their voice. You can tell them to get angry, but they should never sound angry in the sense that they’re screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs for no reason.

Related: I know a coxswain’s number one job is to steer straight but one of my fellow rowers decided that sounding aggressive and making good calls is what MAKES a cox. There’s a girl who she says “just sounds like a cox” but hasn’t perfected steering/navigating yet. The view is that you can teach a cox to go straight/proper channels with time but you can’t teach them to sound passionate, aggressive, motivating, etc. What do you think?

It all goes back to language and tone of voice for me. Like I said, I don’t like when coxswains are told to sound angry, scary, etc. – instead, they should be told to put some intensity and purpose behind their calls and then the definition of “intense” should be discussed. What does it mean to you and what does it mean to your crew? If you go through the recordings I’ve posted so far you’ll see where I’ve written about coxswains with good (and great) levels of intensity in their voices (and others with not so much). You’ll notice that most of the time they aren’t yelling or forcing anything either. It’s all very natural and conversational but still in your face, focused, and demanding at the same time.

So, I guess my answer to your question is both yes and no but it all depends on what you define as “scary”.

How to protect your voice

Coxing How To Novice

How to protect your voice

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Previously: Steer an eight/four || Call a pick drill and reverse pick drill ||  Avoid getting sick || Make improvement as a novice

We’re getting closer and closer to racing season so you want to make sure you’re taking the necessary steps now to ensure your voice is in working order on race day. Similar to other athletes, you can do everything right and still injure yourself – in the case of a coxswain, you can still lose your voice regardless of the preventative measures you take. I’ve learned that many times. Most people don’t realize that it’s about prevention first and not just dealing with the after effects. It’s different for everyone so no guarantees but here are some of my tried and true ways to protect your voice when you’re out on the water.

Stay hydrated

Drink lots of water throughout practice (and before and after too). I’m guilty of not doing this and there are definitely times when I regret it, most often when it’s cold outside. I end up feeling like I’m swallowing needles, which is not pleasant. You know when you go to sleep in the winter and you wake up with your nose and/or mouth really dry because there’s no humidity in the air? Take that feeling, get in a boat, and talk at a loud volume for two hours … you can imagine the damage you’re doing to your throat. Your vocal cords essentially become two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. Water acts as a lubrication to keep things sliding off each other the way they’re supposed to, so when you remind the rowers to get a drink make sure you do too.

If you have allergies or a sore throat and are taking any kind of medicine, make sure you’re drinking lots of water to counteract the decongestants. I had to take a lot of allergy meds in high school because I was allergic to the pollen, mold, etc. that was down by the boathouse and my doctor, who knew I was a coxswain, told me to drink a lot because when the tissues in your throat dry out it reverts back to the whole sandpaper feeling.

Stay relaxed

The more tense I was, both mentally and physically (with my upper body), the scratchier my throat got when I was doing intense pieces. Make sure you’re breathing correctly when you’re calling races and talking a lot. You should be breathing from your core, not your shoulders. Breathing from your shoulders creates tension which eventually leads to your vocal cords cramping up. If this happens too often you can get nodules which will really suck because they’re essentially blisters on your vocal cords. These are our version of the blisters rowers get on their hands. If they’re bad enough they might require surgery to fix.

Take it easy

If you have a cold or sore throat, switch with another coxswain for the day and ride in the launch or ask your coach if you can stick to drills and stuff that don’t involve the usual loudness during practice.Your coach and boat can survive without you for a day if it means you’ll be 100% on race day. A sore throat alone is not a reason to skip practice though. If you have a cold, the flu, etc. duh, stay home but if you just have a sore throat but are otherwise fine, ride in the launch and take video of your crew or something.

The type of injuries coxswains suffer are different than rowers which tends to lead everyone to think they aren’t “real” or as serious because they see rowers with shoulder injuries, back injuries, etc. Our overuse injuries are internal where they can’t be see so it’s up to you to be your own advocate and speak up when there’s an issue. Personally, I think that if you’ve got a sore throat and you continually go to practice and don’t do anything about the issue, your coach and boat have every reason to be pissed at you when you can’t cox on race day. Just like with the rowers, it’s irresponsible to not take time off when it’s needed because in addition to yourself, there are now four or eight other people affected by your choices.

Minimize how much you’re coughing

This sounds hard to do but when your throat is dry and you’ve got that scratchy tickle in there, but get something to drink instead of trying to hack up a lung. Dry coughs are the worst because not only can they hurt like hell and give you a killer headache (been there, done that more times than I can count), but they can also damage your vocal cords. Coughing regularly isn’t so much a problem, it’s when it becomes a repetitive habit that you can start to get the overuse damage to your throat. Before inducing a coughing fit to get the tickle out of your throat, try to drink something to lubricate the tissues.

Limit the amount of pop you drink

Before you go out and after you come in, try not to have a lot of caffeinated drinks. The caffeine in pop dehydrates you in general but it can also irritate your throat, especially if it’s already sore. When I was in high school I played the clarinet and we were always told to not drink any pop before playing because the caffeine swells your tongue (it’s not usually visibly noticeable) and makes it harder to enunciate the music, especially at a fast tempo. I did it anyways but … do as I say, not as I do. If you’re drinking a lot of pop and getting that swelling in your tongue, it actually can have an effect on your speech and your ability to rattle things off during a race. If you’re thirsty, try to always drink water.

To follow up on that last point, while I’m on the vein of what not to drink, if you’re one of those hot water-honey-and-lemon people, eliminate the lemon. The acidity from the citric acid combined with already dry, potentially damaged tissues can just irritate them more. Lemon is really only beneficial for sore throats when you have a lot of mucous and stuff because the acidity cuts through it and helps eliminate any lingering bacteria.

A good alternative to water or water and honey is chocolate milk. It’s a little denser than regular milk so it coats and soothes your throat. I have a constant tickle in my throat so I am always clearing it and I know up front that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate something coating it because it’d just make me cough more. If you’re like that, stick to the regular remedies but if you can stand it definitely try the chocolate milk.

Related: I’ve only been coxing for three years but I feel like it has changed my voice…do you feel like that? Like, I feel like I cant hit as many high notes when I sing in the car (haha) or is there something I’m doing wrong?? I lose my voice easily in races now, especially during the spring when we have like 3 races in a day. What can I do about this? Should I change the way I cox?

The best, most foolproof way to prevent losing your voice is to just be smart. Coxswains are typically talkative and social people so it can be hard to “rest” your voice when you’re always around other people but it’s a small sacrifice to make. Resting doesn’t necessarily mean taking a vow of silence either. Resting by just lowering your usual talking volume can be a good thing. For naturally loud people this can be tough but I promise you, it’s an effort worth making.

Image via // @fergybill
Coxswain recordings, pt. 6

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 6

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Purdue university men’s Lightweight 8+ 2012 Milwaukee River Challenge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=KbhgdqCq12M

There’s a lot going on here with the rowing that is pretty … bad … so I’m going to skip over talking about a lot of that and focus on just the coxing. This is also a long recording so I’m cherrypicking what I think is the most important parts rather than pointing out every single thing. Ultimately I think this audio was solidly average. There were a lot of missed opportunities but the stroke seemed happy with it so take what I say with a grain of salt. If your rowers like what you’re doing by all means, keep it up, but at the same time, recognize where improvements can/should be made too.

While they’re sitting there waiting to start, see how 7-seat is moving his oar back and forth a lot? This would have driven me nuts because it messes up your point, not to mention is really irritating (especially up in the stern) since it jerks the boat a little. That’s probably part of the reason why he has to tell 2-seat to tap it a couple times.

At 3:11 he says “we’re in the cute”, which is a good thing to let your crew know, especially in bigger head races like HOCR where the entire starting area is a humongous clusterfuck.

At 4:45, notice how he calls the 10 really sharp and concise (albeit a little forced) but returns to his normal voice in between counts? That’s a good way to maintain the intensity and keep the crew relaxed.

Between 4:56 and 5:07 is a good example of how to communicate with your stroke during a piece or race. They’re not having a conversation or anything, rather the stroke says what he’s feeling in one quick breath and the coxswain translates it to the rest of the crew. In that same vein though, as the race went on this started to annoy me because even though stroke-coxswain communication is important, I wanted this coxswain to be saying all the stuff the stroke was saying before the stroke said it. Everything he said, with the exception of a couple things at the beginning, the coxswain should have already seen and made a call for. The coxswain should not be coxed by the stroke, if that makes more sense.

When he says “we gotta pull something out” … *long pause* … “alright, we’re going for it” at 11:36, I was pretty convinced that he didn’t actually have a plan or know what he needed to do in the upcoming stretch. You can’t say in a semi-aggressive tone that they’ve gotta make a move and then stop talking. You also can’t say “alright we’re going for it” like you’re debating whether or not you should actually go for it. If now is when you need to make a move, get on their asses and tell them you’re taking a fucking move. When you’ve got contact on a crew like this and you’re trying to walk through them, this is where you take a 20 to get even or put your bow ball in front. A 10 might get you to them but it’s not going to get you through them, which is what you want. If you stop your ten and you’re only half a length through them, that’s going to give their coxswain an opportunity to counter whereas if you take a 20 and can get up to their 2-seat, you’ve essentially absorbed them and it will be harder to counter.

A pro-tip for going around turns like the one at 12:43 is to tell one side to power down to 1/2 or 3/4 pressure and the other to power up. It seems counterintuitive but it’s actually a lot more effective than having one side still at 100% and trying to get the other side to out-pull them. In most cases you should be able to get around in 5-6 strokes. This is something you should practice when possible though so the crew gets used to “powering down” for a few strokes and develops that muscle memory for what it feels like (because 1/2 pressure when you’re consciously thinking about it is a lot different than 1/2 pressure in the middle of a race when you’ve got a shitload of adrenaline pumping through you).

When he says “you’re missing a ton of water” at 15:06, my immediate reaction was “…no shit/OK? How do you want them to fix it??”. You should never assume they know what to do or that something is obvious, especially since it’s your job to tell them what to do and more importantly, when. They’re missing water, you want them to not miss water, but what about their technique needs to change? Just saying “get it in” isn’t going to do much, especially if you’ve already been saying that for 10+ minutes.

Last thing – unless you’re like, 5 strokes from the line, you’re not “almost there” … and even if you are, “almost there” is not a call you should make EVER.

Other calls I liked:

“Together, we move…”

“The boat felt alive…” He said this after the race but this is a great (motivational) call to make during the race when the boat’s running well and you’ve got a good rhythm going.

OARS Lightweight 8+ 2013 Youth Nationals Petite Final

Right off the bat I love that he reminds them to “look at the flag”. This is important and definitely something I recommend coxswains do. Remember, you go on the drop of the flag, not when the announcer says GO. If the flag comes down before he says GO, you go anyways. You can’t see that so it’s important that everyone else in the boat is watching for it.

About a minute in he says ““we’re ahead of everyone” … cool but by how much? If you’re going to tell your boat you’re ahead or behind, always tell them by how many seats. If you only say you’re up or down, inevitably someone is going to look out of the boat because they want to know by how much. Usually I’ll say something like “up on the field, three seats over Lane 3, two seats over Lane 5” and tell them where we are compared to the lanes on either side of us. When everyone is still clustered together it tends to be too difficult to say specifically where you are on five other lanes so a semi-specific overview is generally sufficient.

At 6:15 he says “come on, don’t let them take it…”, which can be a good or bad call depending on your tone. You’re in the midst of a very high-energy situation and you obviously don’t want to give anything up but you also don’t want to make it sound like you’re begging because that just comes off like there’s no hope. Instead of “come on” say “show me what ya got”, “right here, lemme see it”, “stomp on the feet, lemme feel it”, etc. Instead of “don’t let them take it” say “don’t give an inch”, “don’t yield to them”, “show ’em you’re not backing down”, etc. All of this requires a bit of “planning” ahead of time but if modifying how you say something results in a more positive psychological response by your rowers, it’s worth it.

SoCo Crew 2013 Youth Nationals men’s v8+ Heat

The very first thing I noticed – not even joking, the very first thing – is where the starboard buoys are at 0:27 (a foot or two off the blade) and where they’re at at 0:43 (nearly under the rigger). Come on guys. Gotta steer straight. It’s literally your primary/only job.

When you’re counting out strokes try not to just count out the strokes and say nothing in between. I’m definitely guilty of this sometimes, usually when I’m trying to concentrate on something else that’s going on (either where we are, something with the blades, etc.), but it’s something I’m always conscious of and working on. When you’re just counting strokes, especially during a 20, it’s so monotonous. Case in point, the beginning of this race was 50 seconds of straight counting. Go sit in front of someone and count continuously for 50 seconds and see how long it takes for them to get up and walk away. Personally I’m also really anti-counting up and then counting down when calling 20s. If you’re going to count up (1, 2, 3…) on the first ten, do the same with the second ten. Don’t start counting down (10, 9, 8…) because it makes it seem like you’ve hit a peak and you can start coming down now when in actuality you’re still building into the piece. Psychology, guys. Psychology.

At 1:23 he says “we need to get under 1:40 the whole time to win this…”, which might have been something they discussed beforehand but regardless, there are definitely better ways to make this call. Knowing your splits during a race can be both a blessing and a curse and as the coxswain it’s your responsibility to know how to work that information to your advantage. You should go in with a plan – are you going to negative split the whole time or try to hold a steady average? If you go into the race wanting be under a 1:40 you’ve got to communicate and remind your crew of that in an encouraging way. “We committed ourselves to holding a 1:38, let’s see that commitment right now. Sitting at a 1:40, let’s go, big press now … drive it, find that rhythm, 1:39, press swing … 1:38. Connect, press, sssend. YES! Let’s maintain this until we make our move at the 1000m. Commit, sssend. Commit, sssend.”

“I want it bad so we gotta have it…” is a bullshit call and not something you should ever say to your crew. Stop with the separation between you and the rest of the boat. Same goes for the “this is unacceptable” call at 3:17. Yea, maybe it is, but this still is not something you say to your crew in the middle of a race.

The counting between 6:06 and 6:46, randomly calling power 10s in the middle of another power 10 … dude, no.

The biggest thing I noticed in this piece was that the coxswain sounded so irritated the whole time, like he was just pissed to be there. Yea, you’ve gotta stay on them and pay attention to what’s happening around you but saying stuff like “this is unacceptable” or “I want it bad” during a prelim would make me seriously reconsider wanting you in the boat for semis and finals. I went and looked up the heats results from Youth Nats this year and in this race it was first place to semis, next two to the reps. Does going to the reps mean you’ve gotta row another race, yea, but sometimes you’ve gotta cut your losses and know that that’s the inevitable result instead of pushing your crew to beat a team that you’re (most likely) not going to catch. Anyways, I feel like this coxswain has a lot of potential that he’s just not taking advantage of. His voice is great and his intensity (when he’s channeling it properly) is solid but the calls and overall race strategy need work.

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Coxing Q&A Racing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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At one of the races a coxswain hit the finish buoy (just the oars though). Apparently he didn’t warn the boat or say anything after and didn’t even mention it to anyone back on land. As a coxswain what do you say when this happens to you? I mean I’m sure you’re supposed to say something but do you just apologize and move on?

You should always tell your crew if you’re about to hit something, if you bumped a buoy, or are going to be over the buoys with the oars. When they’re rowing they’re in a zone and you hitting something will throw them off, especially if they’re hitting whatever it is with their oars. Pretending like it didn’t happen is just ignorant, negligent, and annoying. If you hit one of the bigger buoys head on or with a rigger, you should mention it to your coach too (if they didn’t see it) just because you never know what’s going to damage a boat or the oars and it’s better they find out straight from you than have to ask twenty people what happened. It’s irresponsible to not say anything, both on and off the water.

When I’m close to something I’ll just tell my crew whatever it is, where it is, and to let me worry about it. I usually say “passing a log close here on the port side” or “starboard blades are gonna be over the buoy line here, no worries, I got this…” just to let them know what’s going on and that I’ve got it under control.

If you hit something, yea, you should apologize but unless it caused damage to the boat, effected your standing in the race, injured someone in your or another crew, etc. you should really just let it go. If further action needs to take place then the coach will deal with it but the rowers should accept the apology and move on. I can’t say I blame them though if they’re a little iffy about your steering skills when you go back out with them, especially if you neglect to tell them in the first place when you’re getting close to something and/or might hit whatever it is.

Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Through the drive are you meant to push away with the whole foot? When I drive I tend to just drive with the front part of the foot. I’ve tried using my whole foot but it feels really strange.

When you get to the catch, the only part of the foot that should be on the stretchers are your toes and the top part of the foot. If your whole foot is on the stretcher it means you aren’t fully compressed, which means your stroke is going to be short and not as powerful.  If you have really good hamstring flexibility then sometimes you can be fully compressed while still having your feet flat against the stretchers but that’s not a super common thing.

Related: Question about the foot plates on the ergs – what number do you find it’s best to keep them on? Is there a standard it’s “supposed to” be at or is it best for each girl to change them for herself? What do those numbers even mean?

You want to feel your heels come up as you come into the catch so that when you start the drive you can push them down and against the stretcher – hence why rowing is more of a “pushing” sport than a “pulling” one. This is also why coxswains tell you to “stomp”, “feel the connection”, “connect and press with the toes”, etc. The only time you should have your whole foot against the stretcher is when you finish the leg drive (when the slide stops) and start the recovery (before the slide starts).

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Yesterday a friend of mine told me “You’re definitely a men’s coxswain. That’s where I see you. That’s your coxing style.” I agree with her (good thing, because I AM a men’s coxswain!) but I’m not sure how to articulate what it is about my style that makes it more geared toward men. What do you think makes that distinction? What makes someone’s style better for men or women?

I’ve never really given much thought as to what made the distinction between men’s and women’s coxswains. Even though I coxed women all through high school and when I was in college, I always knew that I was better suited for guys just based on my personality. A lot of people have told me that too. I talked about this the other day with someone – I think the reason why I enjoy coaching and coxing guys is because the way I push people resonates better with them than it does with women. With women, as this person said, they have a natural tendency to take that and internalize it too much and ultimately end up getting offended, upset, or insecure about themselves or their rowing. I truthfully just don’t have the patience for that, not because I dislike the person or am insensitive to what they feel but because I don’t know how to react or deal with it because I’m the complete opposite. This is a huge reason why I like guys because, for the most part, they don’t do that.

Like I’ve said before, this isn’t saying that women can’t be pushed or that they are somehow weaker compared to men. That’s not it at all. My boat senior year was one of the most driven, laser focused, no-nonsense boats I’ve ever coxed and they were women. They learned quickly how I coxed and learned to accept the criticism, intensity, etc. and know that it was all coming from a good place.

Related: I’m a guy who almost exclusively coxes women at the moment. However, I rowed for an entire year up to this October and I’m pretty naturally athletic. I still run and cycle pretty quickly. When we do land training, I feel like if I got on an erg and joined in I wouldn’t be helping as I’d be faster than most of them – and your cox being quicker than you would be pretty demoralizing. The only time I’ve joined in was when we did a 5k run and I agreed to be a backmarker and make sure nobody got left behind the pack by encouraging them to keep running and not give up. Do you think I’m right that it would be demoralizing for the girls if I joined in or do you think joining in would have a “leading from the front” aspect which would be beneficial for the squad?

How women are motivated though is different and that’s where coxswains have to make that distinction themselves. Everyone I’ve known that has coxed men have all been extremely confident (borderline cocky), ferociously outgoing, brazen people who don’t take shit from anyone. I think that’s an unspoken requirement for coxing guys, especially if you’re a girl. You’ve got to be able to take their shit at times and be able to throw it right back without blinking.

Everyone I’ve known who has coxed women has been equal in skill when compared with the guys’ coxswains but their personalities are calmer and their focus is more based around praise and reassurance. Guys can take the “your rowing is shit right now” call, make a change, and then think nothing of it two strokes later, whereas girls, in my experience, internalize it and start overthinking things, which can cause their rowing to get worse instead of better. When I cox women I’ve always found myself holding back just a little bit because I know saying “are you kidding me right now with these splits?” would cause a huge problem whereas with guys, I can say that and they instantly go at it harder and keep it there.

There’s definitely a psychological thing that goes along with it too. Sometimes people are just naturally better at coxing one sex or the other and it can’t be explained. Some people know why they’re better with one than the other and can easily pinpoint why. Other times, some coxswains just aren’t comfortable coxing certain people. Girls might have a hard time coxing fellow girls but find they’re great at coxing guys or they might be uncomfortable coxing guys and prefer to stick with the girls because it’s less intimidating. It changes from person to person.

Related: Advice from a coxes perspective would be great. I’ve been lucky enough to have the same cox for 2 years & he used to be amazing. Recently, it’s felt very much like he’s lost interest. He’s just in the boat, not part of the crew. He’s going through the motions. It makes it very hard to stay motivated, given everything else that’s crappy. He’s also coxing the elite men, maybe he sees them as his chance to win & we’re just the disorganized cranky old women he coxes sometimes. Should I call him on the change?

Regardless of who you’re coxing you obviously can’t be a dick about how you’re communicating. There’s a fine line between calling the rowers out and saying “this feels like shit, we need to fix XYZ now” but doing so in a positive way that communicates a sense of urgency and focus and doing the same thing but in a negative way that just brings down the mood of the  boat. Some people will get in a boat with guys and think they have to be super macho or tough or whatever and the latter is what ends up happening. Regardless of who you’re coxing, your style, etc. your singular focus has to be on unifying the crew with whatever you’re doing.