Month: March 2013

Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Being a novice cox, I can’t wrap my head around this. A varsity cox switched with me so she was coxing one of the novice boats and they went faster and harder than ever! I feel like my intensity is ok … but it’s different with her I guess, can you explain it? Thanks!

This is totally normal. I coxed the novice 8+ when I was a senior and part of the reason why I think they were able to go as hard as they did is because I knew how, what, and when to say things to them that a novice coxswain wouldn’t have known to say or do. It’s not that you’re doing anything wrong, it’s just that she has more experience and has her voice more “developed” than you do. She’s also got a better technical eye so she can pinpoint things easier which means she can make the calls to fix them faster.

Intensity is only a small part of being a coxswain. Don’t focus so much on how much better your crew did without you and with her – instead, talk to her and ask her what she said, what she did, what she saw, etc. Pick her brain, take notes, and then the next time you go out with them, use everything you learned to help make whatever changes they made while rowing with her stick.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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You’ve posted before on calling rowers out in practice for what they’re doing wrong (e.g. “Three, you’re late”). Does the same count for technique? For example, my bow seat always opens with his back. Is it appropriate for me, when talking technique, to say something like, “Keep your knees over your ankles so you don’t over-compress and open with your back – that means you, bow seat,” even if I can’t see it actually happening, or does that sound antagonistic?

Yea, correcting technical issues is 98% of the reason why you call a rower out. Unless I’m just joking around with my boat I’d never actually say “that means you” though unless I’ve been calling for this change for awhile and the rower isn’t responding … and even then, I’d probably try to phrase it a different way. If I’m calling out someone in my boat with regards to technique, 95% of the time it’s because I’m seeing them do something that directly warrants the call so I’ll say “Sam, keep the shins vertical at the catch…”.

Related: In the boat, when you’re calling a rower out to make a change, is it better to call them by their seat or name? A rower told me that by using a name it puts them on the spot – but isn’t that the point to make a change?

If you’re just making general calls because you don’t want to call someone out directly, it’s not hard to see how they’d be annoyed if you follow it up with “that means you” when you could have just not wasted time in the first place by telling them directly that they need to make a change. Like I said though, I’d probably phrase it differently and say something like “Come on Sam, that’s you…”.

Coxing Q&A Quotes Rowing

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If you had to choose one, what is your FAVORITE rowing and FAVORITE coxswain quote(s)?

My favorite coxswain quote is this one. I have it written on a post-it note and stuck on the inside of my notebook.

“Strive to be a great coxswain, not just a good coxswain. Of all the coxswains in the world, 50% are just plain bad, 30% are decent, 15% are good, and only 5% are great. Strive to be great.”

My favorite rowing quote is a little harder to pick but here are two I really like.

“One of the unique aspects of rowing is that novices strive to perfect the same motions as Olympic contenders. Few other sports can make this claim. In figure skating, for instance, the novice practices only simple moves. After years of training, the skater then proceeds to the jumps and spins that make up an elite skater’s program. But the novice rower, from day one, strives to duplicate a motion that he’ll still be doing on the day of the Olympic finals.”

The one above is from Brad Alan Lewis and the one below is attributed to an exercise and sports science professor from South Africa named Tim Noakes.

“Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.”

Coxing Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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During races my coxswain always tells us we’re on, say, 5 seat when in reality we’re even or sometimes even behind. Other than that she’s a good coxswain but we can obviously tell that she is giving us the wrong information. We have politely asked her to be honest but she just keeps saying that she does it to keep our morale up. We’d all so much rather know where we actually are! How do we handle this? Thanks!

Ugh coxswains, stop doing this!! There it is in writing – rowers want the truth, not what you think they want to hear.

This goes past the point of just not listening to what her crew wants. For me, it’s now an issue of respect. Yea, you’re the one calling the shots but you’ve got to respect the rowers enough to listen to them when they ask you to do something differently because whatever you’re doing isn’t working. I’m glad you guys have asked her politely but now might be the time to ask her a little more firmly. Sometimes it’s necessary to be a little harsh to get your point across. Just tell her straight out that her coxing is great but she’s not helping you and it’s not boosting morale when she tells you things that you can blatantly see aren’t true. Tell her why it doesn’t help you and the reasons you have for wanting to know where you are, regardless of whether your position is good or bad.

Related: I want to try to get this straight [no pun intended]: When boats are racing, if our bow ball is on the other boat’s stern deck, you call that or say like “riding their stern?” and when it’s cox to cox it’s “lined up?” And if the cox is next to the other boat’s 6 seat or is it when our bow ball takes their 6 seat? Thanks!

If talking to her (again) doesn’t do anything, talk to your coach. You’ve given her several opportunities now to make a change and she hasn’t respected your requests. Hopefully your coach can understand where you’re coming from and talk to her. Maybe hearing it from a more authoritative figure will spark something.

Coxing How To Q&A

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When we’re getting lined up, I get scared to be close to other boats. I can get even, but I’m always kind of far away. Can you do a diagram on which rowers you would use to get closer? [whether left or right more?] Thank you!

Sure. Here I just assumed that the other crews are lined up on your port side but if they’re lined up on starboard, you’d still do everything the same way, you’d just flip who you’re giving instructions to.

When I first started coxing I was always a little nervous to get close to other crews too but as I got more comfortable with it I was able to better judge what the proper distance was to have between boats, which made lining up a lot easier.

If there are more than two crews and you’re on a narrow stretch of river, you might be forced to have a short distance between each boat so you’ll have to get comfortable pretty quickly with being closer together. If you watch college crews practice you’ll see that they keep the spacing between crews pretty tight too – it just makes things easier for the coaches and it desensitizes the rowers to having other crews right beside them.

Q&A Rowing

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What’s the difference between a JV8 and a 2V boat? Or are they the same thing?

It probably depends on each team and what races are available at the regattas you attend, but sometimes yes, they can be the same thing. Below I’ve listed how my team always did it. If we went to a regatta that didn’t have a novice eight but they had a freshman eight, we’d take the one or two freshmen from the JV boat and put them in the novice boat. (Novices are first year rowers regardless of what year they are in school.) If there was a 2V race but not a JV race, we’d enter the JV boat as the 2V “B” boat. Same with the 2V – if there wasn’t a 2V race, we’d bump them up to the varsity race and enter them as the varsity “B” boat.

Varsity 8+/4+

Comprised of rowers with a solid combination of high erg scores, stellar technique, a good attitude, and a strong sense of dedication to the team – those last two things were very important to my coaches. Typical makeup was usually six or seven seniors and two or three juniors.

2V 8+/4+

The second set of rowers below the V8, with times and technique just a little bit off the V8’s (no change in attitude or dedication though). Typically six juniors, a senior, and a sophomore. Sometimes it was all juniors, other times it was four seniors and four juniors, but for the most part it was the first combination I mentioned.

Junior Varsity (JV) 8+/4+

This boat was usually made up of sophomores, a junior who might not be as strong or technically advanced as the other juniors, and one very good novice.

Novice 8+/4+

All novices, obviously. Usually about six or seven freshmen and two sophomores. On occasion there might be a junior or senior in there, but it was almost always completely comprised of freshmen.

Freshman 8+/4+

Different from the novice boats in that freshman crews can only contain freshmen.

Hope that helps clarify things. Like I said though, each team does things differently so the best way to figure out how your team classifies things is to talk to your coach.

Coxing Q&A Racing Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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My girls really like when I cox off of other boats, even if we’re just doing steady state. I’m in the 2V boat so they all want to beat the 1V at ALL times. I find it easy to cox when we’re next to another boat/in front of it. However, I never quite know what to say without being negative and annoying when we’re CLEARLY behind another boat. Yesterday afternoon we were practically three lengths behind the v1, and we STILL didn’t catch up even when they added a pause. What do I say at times like these? I always end up getting rather quiet since the overall attitude of my boat is pretty down. I feel like whenever I call a 10 or get into the piece at this point it does absolutely nothing, since my rowers have practically given up.

This is a tough situation. I’ve been in this spot before and it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s definitely always easier coxing when you’re ahead of or at least close to the boats you’re rowing with, but when you’re behind it’s an entirely new ball game. Your personality plays a huge part in situations like this too – my boats, regardless of their experience, knew that I was always going to be very matter of fact and brutally honest with what I said.

I could easily tell when we were behind because we were being out-muscled and when we were behind because our rowing was atrocious. If we were behind because we were being out-muscled and I knew there wasn’t a chance for us to catch up, I’d start focusing on technique. If we can’t beat them, we can at least row better than them, right? While they should still be rowing hard, there is no point in constantly telling them they’re behind, they need to row harder to catch up, etc. because it’s demoralizing and the rowers don’t get anything out of it. If your coaches get pissed off and say you should have been pushing them harder, honestly, I’d just shrug and move on. I got so frustrated when one of my coaches said this to me once that I just threw my hands up in the air and was like, short of pulling the oar myself, what do you want me to do? There’s only so much the coxswain can do, and all three parties – you, the rowers, and the coach(es) – have to accept that.

If this is the situation you’re in, try to take the competition out of it (regardless of what the rowers want) and focus on the things you can control, like how well they’re rowing. It doesn’t have to be “OK well, we’re like three lengths behind so let’s work on catches now!” but if you notice you’ve fallen to the back of the pack, just casually stop talking about the other boat and start calling for crisper catches, quick hands away, strong cores, jumping on the first inch, controlled recoveries, clean finishes, level hands into the catch, etc. Every minute or two, throw in a burst and get really into it. Call it like you’re calling a dead heat at a race. 

If the crew we were out with was one that we should be beating or staying with, all gloves are off, no apologies. I am not going to be nice and you can bet I’m going to kick your ass up and down the course until you row like I know you can. I don’t care if we get ahead of the other crew so much as I care about the rowing getting better. I still push for us to get ahead though, obviously. When this happens, I call the rowers out one by one. I make it a point to find out what makes them tick, what pisses them off, what motivates them, what are their goals, what do they want, etc. so that in times like these I can use it to our advantage. I’ll also use what I know about the other crew to push mine – “Amanda’s split was 8 seconds higher than yours Danielle. You know you’re stronger than her so start acting like it. Yea, there it is! Now, let’s get after that 5 seat…” When they do something you want, even if it’s the most minuscule, seemingly unimportant thing, you have to get pumped. Not to the point where it’s obvious you’re faking it, but get excited. Your excitement motivates the rowers and makes them want to work.

The other boat is irrelevant anyways. You’re not going to improve unless you focus on what you are doing and how you are rowing. I’d remind your rowers of that since it sounds like they might be more concerned with beating the 1V instead of becoming better athletes. Yes, the competition is good, but only when it encourages you to get better. When all you care about is beating someone, everything else falls to the wayside. Also, keep in mind that if they were beating the 1V every time they went out they probably would be the 1V … but they’re not, they’re the 2V which means their expectations need to be realistic given the lineups and whatever else.

Related: Today during practice we just did 20 minute pieces of steady state rowing. My crew gets bored very quickly and their stroke rating goes down, so I decided to add in various 13 stroke cycles throughout the piece, but I regret doing it because it wasn’t steady state. I’m just confused as to how to get them engaged throughout without sounding like a cheerleader but at the same time keeping up the drive and stroke.

Whatever you do, don’t get quiet. Regardless of the situation you’re in, you can’t give up. If the rowers have given up it’s your responsibility to get them back into it. If that’s something you’re struggling with then I’d talk with them and spend some time sorting out your priorities. Set goals for your steady state so that they aren’t only focusing on beating someone because that is rarely the goal for workouts like that.