Month: May 2013

Coxing Novice Q&A Racing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Today my coach posted the line ups for our race this weekend. I am racing in the 2V8+. It is a pretty good boat, but we have a novice coxswain. She has coxed for us before, but she often crashes into other boats and in the last race she called a power 10 for the muffins at the food tent! We have tried to give her suggestions for what we want to hear, but she just doesn’t listen. Is there any respectful way to ask my coach if we can have another coxswain?

When you’ve given her suggestions in the past on things to say, how have you done it? Have you just kind of thrown out a bunch of ideas all at once or did you write them down and give her the piece of paper? Speaking from personal experience, I know it’s hard to remember what eight different people want you to say when they just word-vomit the ideas out at you. When I realized I wasn’t going to remember anything they said, I went around to each person and had them write down one or two calls that they want/needed to hear and then I’d take the paper out with me and try to incorporate them into practice. If that’s the reason it seems like she’s not listening, I’d try writing stuff down and giving it to her, then seeing where it goes. If she’s not listening just because she doesn’t want to or doesn’t care, that is an issue that you should talk to your coach about.

Being that your race is in two days, I think that, unfortunately, it’s probably too late for your coach to put another coxswain in the boat. I’m not sure how big the regatta is that you’re going to but most require lineups to be submitted a few days ahead of time and to change the lineup the day of requires a lot of work that no one really wants to waste time on. It’s also possible that your coach is putting her in the boat with you so that she can get experience with a crew that actually knows how to row, if that makes sense. Sometimes novice coxswains pick things up faster when they don’t have to also worry about coxing eight people who have no idea what end of the oar goes in the water.

That’s not to say that you still shouldn’t talk to him/her though and explain that when you’ve had her in the past, this is what’s happened, and it makes the boat feel uncomfortable when she’s coxing. Ask if today and tomorrow he can spend some time on and off the water working with her on whatever you/the boat thinks she needs help with. She is a novice, remember, so there are still going to be kinks that need to be worked out but hopefully your coach can get through to her the importance of steering straight, making good and effective calls, etc. I would also grab one of the varsity coxswains and ask them to work with her and give her some pointers.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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IDK if you can help with this but I’m a novice coxswain and there is another rower/coxswain on varsity who keeps giving me a lot of crap for things that are out of my control. Like, if I tell my boat to be back at a certain time and they are a little late or if another coxswain makes a mistake and takes my boat’s oars – I get blamed. Like it is my fault that other people messed up. It really just shakes me up and stresses me out before we race. Any advice to get her to stop?

People like this are the kind of people you just have to learn to ignore. I know it can be intimidating as a novice to have a varsity teammate always on your ass like this but the best way to deal with it is to either ignore it or just say “OK thanks, I’ll take care of it” and then walk away. There’s no reason to let it stress you out. At one point or another I think we’ve all had teammates or people we’ve worked on group projects with that are like this. It’s like they’re bored or something and just looking for something to complain about to make it seem like they’re doing or contributing something. I just roll my eyes at them and ignore it because that’s really all the consideration I tend to give to whatever they’re saying.

Something you could do is make an appeal to your boat or the other coxswain who took your oars. Tell your boat that when you say to be back at a certain time, they really need to be back by that time so you can then do whatever you’re going to do – go out on the water, your erg tests, etc. You don’t have a lot of practice time so the time you do have can’t be wasted. When they say (and they will say this, trust me) “we were like, two minutes late, what’s the big deal…”, tell them that you know that and while it might not seem like a big deal to them, things still get said to you about how your boat was late and it gives the impression that they don’t listen to you when they frequently aren’t at the boathouse when you ask them to be there. You don’t have to be mad or angry when you tell them this – just have a conversation and let them know that as their coxswain, teammate, etc. you’d appreciate if they could make an effort going forward to please be at the boathouse when you ask them to be there.

As far as other coxswains taking your oars go, make sure it’s clear before you take the boats out who is supposed to take which oars and which oars go with which boats. If someone accidentally took the set that your boat was supposed to use, whatever, but don’t be afraid to say “hey, I think yesterday you might have grabbed our oars on accident – we’re taking the one with blue tape…” and then leave it at that.

If the varsity rower/coxswain who is giving you problems continues and doesn’t let up, talk to your coach or team captain. Explain the situation, tell them that you’ve talked to your boat about being on time and the other coxswains about making sure you’re all taking out the correct oars, and then get their input and go from there.

Don’t let it stress you out or piss you off. Is it annoying? Yea, absolutely but the less you fuel the fire by responding to what they say or getting upset about it, the less they’ll bother you.

Marathon runners talk about hitting ‘the wall’ at the twenty-third mile of the race. What rowers confront isn’t a wall; it’s a hole - an abyss of pain, which opens up in the second minute of the race. Large needles are being driven into your thigh muscles, while your forearms seem to be splitting. Then the pain becomes confused and disorganized, not like the windedness of the runner or the leg burn of the biker but an all-over, savage unpleasantness. As you pass the five-hundred-meter mark, with three-quarters of the race still to row, you realize with dread that you are not going to make it to the finish, but at the same time the idea of letting your teammates down by not rowing your hardest is unthinkable…Therefore, you are going to die. Welcome to this life.

College Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi there, I’m a rower from New Zealand and I am considering going to Uni in the states. I was wondering if you could help me out on what type of rowing scholarships there were and what the benchmark erg times are? And how to go about applying for one? Thanks 🙂

You don’t apply for athletic scholarships, they’re offered to you if the coach feels you’re worth it. If you don’t get one your freshman year don’t worry though because you can still get them your other three years.

I’m assuming you’re a girl since you’re asking about scholarships so here’s what I’ve previously written about erg times as far as recruiting goes: lightweight and open/heavyweight.

Here’s a few more posts that might help you out too.

What questions to ask coaches during the recruiting process

What NOT to ask coaches during the recruiting process

Waiting for responses from coaches

Getting the attention of coaches

Making a beRecruited account

Also check out the “recruiting” and “contacting coaches” tags.

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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In high school my coach was a former coxswain and put a big emphasis on teaching the coxes. I spent 4 years learning how to cox from him, my fellow coxswains, countless recordings, clinics, etc. I am very much of the opinion that there is a right way to cox, and one of the things I learned from my high school coach that’s really stuck with me is to avoid the use of “filler”, i.e. meaningless encouragements, general yelling, and just general talking for the sake of talking.

Now that I am in college, I am working with a different group of rowers who haven’t ever known this philosophy of coxing. For the most part, their high school programs were less serious, and they learned to row in a “coxswains are cheerleaders” environment. When my coach has them fill out feedback forms, I get comments like “You are very organized and I always trust you at races,” “You make great technique calls,” “Great steering,” etc. Always followed by the “but you’re not aggressive enough during pieces.” When I’ve asked what they’re looking for, they pretty much define filler. They want me to yell stupid things about the crews next to us to get them fired up and essentially just scream from start to finish. At a small and inconsequential race in the fall, I decided to try it. I finished thinking that that was some of the worst coxing I had ever done. There was no coherent race plan, no useful information about the course, no technical focuses. However, the feedback I got was “That’s some of the best coxing you’ve ever done.” All I did was yell nonsense for 5k!

This spring, my unwillingness to compromise my coxing lost me the boat. (Granted, this was not a coaching decision, but a simple vote from the top 8). I am absolutely willing to work with the girls on specific calls that work for them and get them fired up within the scope of our race plan, but not at the expense of everything else I do well. How do you think I should deal with this? I learned how to cox around rowers who were taught the same things I was about coxswains, but now I’m stuck coxing in a “coxswains are cheerleaders” environment.

A few things to start:

Have you ever explained your style of coxing to your crew(s) and why it works, not only for you but for the boats you’ve coxed previously?

I’m a firm believer in not compromising what you know works and what you do well just to satisfy other people. I’ve been asked to do it before under threat of losing a boat and I willingly gave up that boat because I didn’t want to stop doing the things that I knew made me a good coxswain. I agree with and absolutely support you because I’ve been there and I know what it’s like. You definitely have to be flexible and willing to try new things but the line’s gotta be drawn somewhere.

Have you ever considered or tried coxing men? Your style, which I will now affectionately call “sugar and bullshit free coxing”, sounds like something they would really respond to.

I’d start by having a conversation with your coach(es). Explain to them that this was how you were taught to cox from the very beginning, this is why it worked for you, and this is why it’s a strategy you believe in (and it absolutely is a strategy). Help them to understand how the type of rowers you’re coxing now are different than the ones you’re used to coxing (and then further explain the cheerleader-coxing conundrum) and why it’s hard for you to adjust something that you know works to something that makes you feel like … not a bad coxswain, but an inefficient one. Just like how you and your crew have to “buy in” to your coach’s philosophy and the rowers have to “buy in” to your style of coxing, you also have to buy into your style. The rowers might buy in to your (fake) cheerleader style but if you can’t get on board with it, how good is your coxing really going to be? You’re not going to be passionate about it, which means that on some level there’s going to be a lack of intensity and aggression.

From there, have a conversation with the rowers and tell them the same thing. Try to avoid the “my coxing style is inherently better than your previous coxswain’s style” just because there’s the potential for a lot of issues to arise there. Tell them what you just said too about working with them on specific calls and being willing to compromise in that aspect but at the same time don’t be afraid to tell them that you can’t change your entire style because it’s something you’ve worked hard to develop and, if you were a recruit, most likely a very large part of why you’re part of the program you’re coxing for. Stick up for yourself and don’t feel like you have to cave to their requests/demands just because there are eight of them and only one of you.

I’d really encourage you to consider seeing if you can cox the guys for a practice or two just to see what it’s like. Talk to their coach about it and see if you could set something up. If you can’t get anything figured out before the end of the year, try coxing for a master’s program over the summer. The guys are older obviously, but they’re still guys. I actually heard a men’s masters crew last week telling this girl that was, I assume, filling in for their usual coxswain “We don’t care what your style is, just don’t do any of that cheerleader bullshit”. If coxing for the men isn’t an option at all, do the best you can to make it work with the women. If it means not coxing the top 8+ and instead coxing the 2nd 8+, embrace it. Explain to them right off the bat that this is your style, this is how you cox, you’re willing to work with them and throw in some calls they’d like to hear but on the whole, this is the kind of coxswain you are. Commit to making this boat fast by being the best coxswain you can be for your crew while still staying true to your style.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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One of my rowers get so much layback she looks as if she’s about to completely lay down! It’s affecting her timing with stroke seat, what would you suggest?

Tell her to stop. I know that’s the blunt and obvious answer but it really is what I say to rowers who layback like that. When they keep doing it after I’ve told them to stop I start telling them about all the ways they’re screwing up their low back (and abs, to an extent) and eventually that’s what gets them to quit. Have you talked with her outside the boat regarding her timing issues? Does she know that her timing isn’t with the rest of the boat’s? I’d tell her off the water and explain to her how her layback is playing a large part in that and ask her to work on it the next time you go out.

Her layback isn’t going to be something you’ll be able to see but you will be able to see what her timing is like. After practice talk with your coach and ask him how it looked today. Keep reminding her of both the timing and the layback. Say something to her about timing only when you notice it’s an issue but throw in a few “Jenny, sit up tall, support the stroke with the core…” calls just as a general reminder to her. This will get her thinking about it for a stroke or two and she’ll either remember to not layback too far or realize she is laying back too far and fix it by sitting up taller and only going back as far as she needs to.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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What’s your opinion of rowing couples/coxswain-rower couples? Especially teammates?

My initial thought is that I don’t think they’re a good idea. Rower-rower ones are less detrimental to the team than coxswain-rower ones, in my opinion, but I think the general consensus it that they’re still inadvisable. If you’re a coxswain dating someone in your boat (especially if it’s your stroke), first of all DON’T, and second of all, that could potentially lead to some involuntary (or voluntary) favoritism, which will piss off the other rowers and cause a lot of tension within the crew.

If you break up you’re still going to have to see each other every day, which depending on your level of maturity could either be a non-issue or the equivalent of North Korea and the rest of the world. I hate to be so negative about it but it’s really just not a good idea. In situations like this you do have to think about the implications of your relationship on your teammates too and not just what it means to you and your boyfriend/girlfriend.

This is obviously a much bigger deal when you’re in high school vs. when you’re in college so keep that in mind. People tend to be more mature in college so they’re able to maintain a more professional relationship when they’re at practice but problems can/do still arise. Ultimately it’s on you though to make it work and not let your relationship/personal issues negatively impact your boat or the overall atmosphere of the boathouse.

Coxing Ergs Q&A

Question of the Day

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What’s a good split for an average coxswain to have for 2k?

It’s been quite awhile since I last erged but I could probably hold a solid 2:15-2:20, so for a girl of around my height and weight (4’11”, 95lbs) with reasonable athletic ability I’d say anywhere from 2:10-2:30 would be good. If I pull my ass off I can go 1:55-2:00 for about 300m, so I tend to save that for the end. For a guy, that’s a little harder for me to guess for obvious reasons, but I’d say 1:40-2:00 would probably be reasonable.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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One of our rowers was out today, and since sprints are Sunday our coach came in the boat and rowed with us! It was pretty cool, but towards the end of warmup she yelled at us to pull harder during warmup (especially power 10s) because she was panting and working harder than we were. It was frustrating because it’s no fun when anyone says they’re working harder and blames the rest of the boat, let alone the coach. Should I say something, or just let it go since it’s unlikely to reoccur?

As annoying as it was in the moment, I’d just let it go. That’s a dick move though. I don’t think there’s an issue with the coxswain asking you to “pull harder” (as long as they rephrase it and don’t actually say “pull harder”) but for your coach to get in there and say that she’s working harder than you is pretty … inconsiderate, for a lot of different reasons.

The moment someone gets in the boat, whether they’re a coach, coxswain-filling-in-as-a-rower-, etc., they cease being what they were before and become a rower whose only job is to listen to the coxswain and row. Not only is it disrespectful to the actual coxswain but it’s also, as you said, frustrating for everyone else. I get where that frustration is coming from but unless she decides to hop in the boat with you again, I’d just move on and not say anything.