Month: April 2013

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 7

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 7

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Oxford vs. Cambridge 2011 Boat Race

https://soundcloud.com/kpcc/olympic-sounds-boat-race-coxes

This is a short clip of Sam Winter-Levy (Oxford) and Liz Box (Cambridge) from the 2011 Boat Race. The thing to listen to is their tone and how they’re communicating their calls to each of their crews. One spot in particular is right at the beginning when there’s a clash of blades – nothing changes with her tone, she doesn’t fall apart, she just communicates what’s happening and moves through it without any loss of focus.

Abingdon vs. Belmont Hill 2009 Henley Royal Regatta princess elizabeth cup Quarter-final

At the start, good job telling the crew what’s happening as far as when your hand is up, when it’s down, that your timer is ready, etc. I feel like this helps keep the crew focused and prevents any surprises (like, “oh shit, we’re starting now!”). Maybe – maybe – overdid it by telling them about Belmont’s coxswain but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal considering there’s only one other crew there. Personally I probably would have just focused on what I was doing and only said “both coxswains’ hands are down” when I saw that we were both ready but it’s really not that big of a deal. I don’t think any crew has ever complained about their coxswain giving them too much information.

Right when the marshal says “attention”, you can see Belmont bury their blades just a tad. Look at their blades at 0:43 compared to 0:45. This is a good habit to get into practicing with your crew just so you can be positive that the blades are fully buried at the start and you’re able to get as much water on the face of the blade as possible. It also drastically reduces the likelihood that you’ll wash out on the first stroke.

The intensity in his voice off the line is solid. Take note guys, this is how a good start is called. The intonation at 0:57 when he’s saying “one, send, two, send…” is spot on. The catches are called with a sharp bite to them while the recoveries are a bit drawn out, just enough to remind the rowers to keep the slides long. Similarly, notice at 1:13 that coinciding with the shift in pace is a shift in his tone of voice? The intensity is subtle but it’s there even though the volume isn’t as high as it was a few strokes ago. Don’t get so caught up in coxing that you forget to talk to your crew.

At 3:33 he makes a call for a “…concerted effort for one minute…” If you remember Pete Cipollone’s HOCR recording, this is exactly like what he says when he calls for that one minute commitment through the Powerhouse Stretch. I think this is a great call – you should never be afraid to ask for, or at times demand, a commitment like this from your teammates. This is a strategic call though and not something you should just randomly call out for because you think it makes you sound like you know what you’re doing (novices). You’re essentially asking them for a power 10 except over the course of 60 seconds – it’s not always an easy thing to do which is why this should be used sparingly and only when necessary. Later when he says “level, now walk“, that’s where you finish the job that you started with the one minute commitment. If that was where you started to break them, this is where you finish it. Once you’re level, you don’t give up a single inch to that other crew. Commit and go.

I love the call he makes at 4:04 – “they went too hard, fucking punish them…” I obviously respect the crews I’m racing against because when it comes down to it we’re all doing the same thing but you can bet when we’re racing that I’m sure as hell not going to feel bad for them. If they make a mistake and I see it, I’m gonna nail them on it and do my absolute best to make sure it haunts them long after the race has ended. Watching the other crew(s) in addition to your own can be tough but it gives you the advantage of seeing when someone else messes up, which then gives you the opportunity to say “punish them” and really mean it.

Another thing to pay attention to is when he’s telling his crew where the other crew is. Abingdon is down for the majority of the race but I doubt any of the rowers ever felt defeated by him saying where Belmont was on them. Several times he’d say “they’re up half a length” or whatever the margin was but I don’t recall him ever saying that his crew was down. Other times he’d just say “half a length” without saying “up” or “down” at all. There’s a subtle bit of psychology there that I think is important to think about. If you hear that someone else is up it’s like, “ok, time to do some work to close the gap” but if you hear that you’re down it’s like “ugh, dammit, how are we gonna get out of this”. Think about the words that you’re using (another reason why recording yourself and planning ahead is important) and see if there are any subtle changes you could make that might affect your crew differently.

The last thing is at 4:45 when he calls for the “magna shuffle”. You can hear him at 4:46 call for the bow pair to get in quick and for the middle four to “lift”. Calling for the bow pair to go in quick isn’t necessarily saying “go in before everyone else”, it’s more so about being so spot on with the timing while erring towards being just the tiniest bit early (less than a nanosecond-tiny) in order to get the bow out of the water right at the catch. Lifting the bow like this makes it easier to accelerate the boat, which is what he’s asking for when he calls for the middle four to “lift”.

Another thing that helps “lift” the boat is making sure everyone is sitting up tall and is light on the seats. Lightness is key. Generally when the boat looks or feels heavy it’s because the bow isn’t coming out of the water at the catch (for whatever reason), which results in the rowers feeling like the load is heavier. Think of the bow being lifted up like you walking on your tiptoes through molasses. The lighter you are and the less you’re touching the molasses the easier it’ll be for you to traverse it, whereas if you were walking normally with your feet completely flat on the ground it’d be very difficult for you to move because there’s more surface area for the molasses to attach itself to which in turn increases the load you’re working against in order to move. Watch this video of the USA men’s 8+ and pay attention to the bow of the boat. Look at the difference between when they’re paddling and when they’re on. See how at the catch there’s just a little bit of daylight under the bow of the boat? That’s what I’m getting at.

Other calls I liked:

“Swing the waists into the headwind…” Good job reading the wind here and telling the crew how to react to it.

“Loose, long in the wind…”

“Now we’ve broken them, go, go, go…”

“On bowman, finish the fight…”

“I’m coming for you Belmont!”

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

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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How do you stay calm during races? I freak out when our boat is down after the first 500 and my coxing goes downhill.

It’s hard to explain – it’s one of those things I just do. I know that my job is to think for the rowers when they’re too tired to think for themselves and I tend to focus so hard on the race and what we’re trying to accomplish that I don’t even have time to freak out once we’ve started. Plus, I can’t think for nine people if I let my nerves consume me. It’s just not possible. My time to “freak out” (internally) before we launch or at the latest, on the way to the starting line and while I’m getting locked on to the stake boat. As soon as the official starts the countdown, I’m focused on racing. When he says “go” all the nerves immediately convert to adrenaline which just makes my coxing that much more intense.

If you get down early that’s when you have to really have to maintain your composure and push your rowers to stay in it. If they sense that you’re falling apart, they will too. I don’t cox any differently when we’re down vs. when we’re up. I might push them harder if they’re down but my tone of voice, what I’m saying, etc. doesn’t change. The easiest solution would be to not get down after the first 500. The second easiest solution is to simply focus on you, your boat, and your race. You have to be aware of the other boats but at the same time you have to ignore them and focus on what you’re doing. It’s like driving…you aren’t actually paying attention to the other cars on the road but you’re aware of when they speed up or slow down.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

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Ok, so I’m a novice coxswain. I’m the only coxswain my team has, but we have 2 eights of girls, so the JV cox coxes the B Boat while I cox the A Boat. My coach told me that even though I have the A boat right now, I can be bumped down. I want to know if you have any advice for a novice competing with a more experienced coxswain? I’m really trying to just be confident, but is there anything else?

Commit to learning (about rowing, coxing, your rowers, yourself, etc.). Be coachable. Listen to everything your coach says and use what they say as calls on the water. I never realized how big a deal this was to my coaches until I became a coach. Hearing your coxswains repeat something that you said to the rowers is awesome because it shows that you were paying attention, you know why the coach said what they said, and you recognize why it’s important for the rowers to keep hearing it.

Exude confidence in everything you do. Do everything like you know it’s right unless someone tells you otherwise. Be a little cocky but never obnoxious. Respect your teammates. Be a hardass when it’s necessary but know when to turn it off. Don’t settle for anything less than the best. Push your rowers. Act like an experienced coxswain. Ask for constant feedback from your rowers and coach(es) and use it to help you improve. Be humble with the positive feedback and understanding with the constructive criticism. Make your rowers want to come to practice and always act like you want to be there. Have fun. You have the best spot in the boat but you also carry the most responsibility. Strive to be great.

Novice Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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I’m being forced to bow a quad in an upcoming practice. I’ve been sculling for a week and I feel a little intimidated. I don’t even know which oar I have to put pressure on to turn the boat in my desired direction. The only time I’ve had any experience was when I was in a double with a varsity member. I didn’t learn the basics, but from being in that position I learned how to sound confident. Do you have any tips?

Take your time. If you’re not sure what to do, ask. That is always preferable to guessing, even if it takes a few seconds out of practice. Try and figure out what you’re doing during practice before you get on the water so that you have a chance to go over the practice plan with your coach and can get an idea of what you need to say. Assuming your coach is going out with you, it might be better to just let him tell the crew what to do so you can focus on rowing and steering. That’s how it normally works with novice coxswains.

If you want to turn the boat to starboard (your left), you’ll need to row with your right oar. If you want to turn the boat to port (your right), you’ll need to row with your left oar. Basically whichever way you want to turn, row with the opposite oar.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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So we recently got a new coach and she said that she is not going to group us based on experience anymore and that we pretty much have to try out for varsity again. As a two season varsity rower I think it’s unfair that I have to prove myself to this coach and that she’s bulldozed over all of my hard work and making me start from scratch. Would you ever do that? Also, is there any way to not get huge thighs from rowing?

Personally no, I wouldn’t do that. I would reserve the right to maybe reevaluate seats (over a lengthy period of time) in the varsity boats if I felt someone wasn’t deserving of their spot in the first eight or if someone in the third eight deserved to be in the second, but I wouldn’t make someone try out again. I think there has to be respect from the rower’s end that she’s the coach and is going to do things how she wants to do them (regardless of whether or not people agree) but there also has to be respect on the coach’s end for the work that everyone has put into getting where they are now. To disregard all of that seems selfish.

Rowers are blessed/cursed with the gift of thunder thighs. The quads and hamstrings are THE main muscles that we employ while rowing (I say “we” like I actually row or something), so naturally the more they get used, the stronger they become, and the larger the muscles get. Just like there’s no way to prevent people from saying “your arms must be so strong!”, there’s no way to prevent getting huge thighs. Embrace it!

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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What do you find the most difficult thing about coaching? Besides money issues/weird hours…

The most difficult thing about coaching for me, disregarding the money and hours, is working with people who are less dedicated than I am. When I commit to doing something, I commit 100%, not because I’m trying to be that person who is overly enthusiastic or a suck up or whatever but because to me, that just seems like the “normal” thing to do. I think it probably just comes off like that because most other people appear to be OK with settling whereas I’m not.

If you commit to participating in something, why wouldn’t you show up every single day? Isn’t it like, oh I don’t know, assumed that you need to be at every single practice? It pisses me off when people say “oh, well, it was cold so I didn’t think we had practice” or “it rained this morning (for ten minutes) so we didn’t bring clothes or tennis shoes because we didn’t think we’d be going out (eight hours after it stopped raining)”. In that same vein, I have zero patience for people who half-ass the workouts, especially the easy stuff like calisthenics. Complaining about every single exercise, making no effort to do it properly, and then complaining even more because you’re sore and/or hurt yourself … why are you even there? You’re wasting everyone’s time and making me question whether or not you actually want to be there. If you’re not putting any effort into practice, where is my motivation to put any effort into coaching you?

People act like saying things like that is taboo or whatever, like it’s not something coaches should ever think or say, but I disagree. If you’re going to make it apparent that you don’t want to be there or you’re less dedicated than your teammates and coaches, I’m not going to hide my lack of interest in coaching you. I’d rather focus my attention on the people who show up and do what needs to be done without acting like they’re having their teeth pulled.

Coxing How To Q&A

Question of the Day

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Is there a ‘right way’ to sit in the coxswain seat? My left foot always gets super numb during practice!

You should make sure your low back is pressed against the back of the seat and your feet are pressed into the footboard on either side of your cox box (if you have it in your boat – some boats, like Resolutes, don’t). This will help you feel the boat but it might not always be the most comfortable.

Sometimes my foot goes numb too or I’ll get an epic cramp in my hip but I attribute it mostly to sitting for a long period of time with my muscles tenser than they should be. I often have to remind myself to relax because I can feel when a cramp in my leg is coming on and those things hurt. Usually when we stop rowing I’ll stretch my legs out in front of me or stand up and stretch for a second to loosen everything back up.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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How can I figure out distance in a race? I have trouble figuring out how much is 500 meters, half way and so on. I have a sprint race coming up and I want to have a race plan and do a power ten at half way but how will I know where that it? Is there a sign?

There are typically large buoys that mark the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m marks along the course. The last 100-250m, depending on the course, are also usually all small, red buoys. Even if courses aren’t divided by buoyed lanes they should still have at the very least buoys marking each 500m.

Determining distances was always tricky for me too but I got creative and taught myself how to recognize 50m, 100m, 250m, 500m, etc., which is basically what you have to do. I got a map of the river and plotted out how far certain things were from each other (usually notable landmarks, like the distance from a bridge to the boathouse or this really obvious tree to the marina) and then forced myself to pay attention to how long it took us to go from Point A to Point B when we’d row past those landmarks. By getting a feel for what the distance looked and felt like, I was better able to guesstimate those same distances during races or pieces. It took a lot of time (at least a year or so) before I was really comfortable with it but it was worth it.

Miscellaneous coxswain gear

Coxing Novice

Miscellaneous coxswain gear

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Previously: Basic gear for novice coxswains

I previously talked about some basic gear that coxswains should have on them but in today’s post I want to highlight some miscellaneous stuff that you might not think to have, especially if you’re a novice. None of this stuff is necessary right when you first start coxing (or at all, depending on who you’re coxing) but the further into this you get the more likely you’ll be to say “I wish I had a … in my bag”.

If you’re coxing guys obviously rubber bands probably wouldn’t be applicable (unless your team rocks man buns) but if you’re coxing girls (or you are a girl), this is a super convenient thing to have on hand. You can never have too many rubber bands.

I usually keep a roll or two of electrical tape in my locker so I can use it when we’re loading the trailer and then I’ll throw it in my cox box so I have it when we’re at the race site. I’ve always been responsible for making sure the coxswain’s seat is “packed up” and the caution tape flag is hanging off the stern and it’s a lot easier to do that if I don’t have to spend 10 minutes tracking down a role of electrical tape first. Sometimes I’ll take it in the boat too before a race to write down the names of the crews we’re racing against. For this I recommend using a lighter colored tape (white or yellow works best) so that it’s easier to read. A single roll should last you at least a season or two.

A mini first aid kit is especially useful at the beginning of each season and on training trips when blisters are most likely to be an issue. I have a small kit that I take on the water with me with just the essentials (a few alcohol swabs, Neosporin, band aids, and tape) and then I have a larger, full size one that I keep in my car or locker that I can replenish my water kit with or go to if a larger injury occurs. I also like to throw a small travel size bottle of sunscreen in my water kit so if we’re out on a really hot/sunny day I can reapply it on my shoulders and face midway through practice.

I started keeping a spare pair of batteries on hand after I went to use my recorder at a race and found that the batteries were dead. My coach had some extras in his toolbox and recommended I get to keep on land or in the travel case for my cox box so I’d have them if I needed them. Most recorders nowadays can be charged via USB or batteries but I recommend having a set of rechargeable ones on hand just as a backup.

Carabiners are seriously one of the most underrated tools for coxswains. I used to keep a small one on my cox box to hook my watch to, I have a few on my backpack to attach my cox box and water bottle to if I need to be hands-free, and I use a couple of large ones to store all my wrenches on.

Snacks aren’t something you should necessarily be stockpiling but one year I had two girls in my boat who were both diabetic so I kept a couple bags of fruit snacks in my bag just in case they needed them during practice. In that same vein, you can’t predict when a situation will arise where someone will need their medication so if they’re prone to asthma attacks or are allergic to bees, having a spare inhaler or epi pen on hand can be a lifesaver (literally). I’ve been in situations a few times where someone in my boat has needed an emergency inhaler, as well as one time when a friend with a severe allergy to bee stings was stung in the middle of practice, and we were able to avoid some potentially bad situations because I had their meds in my bag. Even if they say they haven’t used it in months, it doesn’t matter – better safe than sorry.

You should also carry enough nuts and bolts for at least two full riggers, in addition to at least one set of wing nuts for the foot stretchers. Extra spacers are handy because whenever someone tries to adjust their rigger height, inevitably the spacer will pop off, land in the water, and be gone forever. You can ask your coach or boatman if they have any spare parts you can have but if they don’t, you can usually order a full set straight off the boat manufacturer’s website.

Image via // Sofia Donnecke