Month: August 2013

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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Hello! I also am a senior who is looking to cox in college, and I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate your extensive replies to all the others’ questions about recs and things. I do have another question though: if I were to not try to be recruited, and instead “walked on” a college team, do you think that could still happen? Would I still have a chance to cox or do you think all of the spots would be taken already? At my HS we never have enough coxes, but maybe it’s different?

Definitely! I’ve said this a couple times but you don’t have to be recruited in order to be on the team. Rowing is one of the few sports where walk-ons are heavily encouraged and relied upon, so you would definitely have a spot on the team if you decided coxing was something you wanted to keep doing. The fact that you already have a few years of experience will be great too.

Either right before or as soon as you get on campus email the head coach and find out when the team is having a walk-on meeting and where it’ll be. Assuming you’re going to a school with a varsity program, if you say that you’re interested in coxing in college and you’d like to walk on to the team they might include you in with the recruits since you’re an experienced coxswain. It doesn’t hurt to talk with them and say that you’re considering coxing in college but aren’t sure if you want to fully commit yet. They know it’s a big commitment so just ask for some info on the team and go from there.

College Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I’m going into my first year of coxing at the university level and have a training camp coming up. Any recommendations for what to pack for the five days? A kind of obvious question I know, but my OCD self feels the need to ask anyways. Thanks!

I’m the same way and yet I still inevitably always forget something, no matter how many list I make.

Personal stuff:

Enough clothes for at least two workouts a day just in case you get gross during the day and want to change.

Casual clothes/team gear for team dinners or other events/activities outside of the rowing bubble

Tennis shoes for running

Shower stuff, towels, etc.

Eye mask and/or ear plugs if you have trouble sleeping (since you’ll probably be in a hotel room with 2-3 other people)

All the chargers and USB cables you’ll need for your phone, laptop, GoPros, recorders, CoxBox, Speedcoach, etc.

Any other medicine you regularly take, plus extra Ibuprofen just in case

Rain jacket + pants, because it always ends up raining on the days when the forecast says “0% chance of precipitation”

Chapstick, particularly one that has SPF in it

Pillow + blankets if you’re staying in dorms rather than hotels

Snacks (Clif bar, raisins, granola, etc.), although you’ll usually get per diem to spend on food once you get there

Rowing stuff:

Notebook + pencil (or two)

Recorder

Multiple wrenches in all the sizes (7/16, 10mm, 13mm, etc.)

Cox box and/or SpeedCoach

Band-aids, tape, etc.

Extra nuts, bolts, spacers, etc. for the boat*

Water bottle(s)**

A backpack or fanny pack of some kind to carry all this stuff on the water with you

* When you get to camp you can ask your coach/boatman if you can raid the toolkit and grab extra parts for at least a rigger or two, plus maybe two extra spacers or so. It’s always good to have this stuff on hand if you have to make adjustments on the water and lose something (like spacers).

** I’ve found that having a spare water bottle on hand during practice is good, especially on hard days when rowers go through their own water pretty quickly. The benefits double when it’s really hot and/or humid out because it helps prevent the rowers from becoming dehydrated.

Letters of Recommendation

College Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

Letters of Recommendation

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Following up on a question I got yesterday (linked below) and to answer a few other similar ones I’ve gotten recently, today’s post is going to be on letters of recommendation. They’re not usually required like they are with regular college apps but they can help you out during the recruiting process, especially if you’re a little late to the game.

Related: I’m going to be a senior and I’m really interested in getting recruited as a cox. I just finished my novice year and I did some rowing camps at universities. The coach at my 1st choice university was really impressed (she approached me at the end of camp and asked about my grades, college plans, etc.) but she told me I was a little late to the recruiting process. She encouraged me to ask my coach to write me recs to help. What are the guidelines for coach recs? When should they email the recs?

Letters from your coaches essentially follow the same format that ones from your teachers do. The goal is for them to write about their interactions with you, how they’ve watched you grow as a person and athlete during the time they’ve been coaching you, what you’ve brought to your team and what you can bring to your future teams, etc. “Letter” is just the general term too – the vast majority of these will be written and sent off via email, although you can go the snail mail route if you really want to.

There’s some common sense/common courtesy protocol that you should follow but it’s really up to you how you go about doing this. If you’re asking someone to write you a letter you kinda want to go out of your way to make the process as simple and straightforward for them as possible, that way all they have to do is write it and send it off. Plus, it makes you look good. Don’t be a total kiss-ass but don’t just assume that you don’t have/need to be a little more formal than usual just because of the nature of your relationship.

Here are some general tips and guidelines:

Who should write them

Varsity coaches are obviously the best choice because theoretically they’ve been with you the longest but if there’s another coach on the team who you have a good relationship with, have known for at least one year (spring and fall seasons if possible), and can attest to your character and abilities, by all means ask them if they’d be willing to help you out. You want to have the best people possible speaking on your behalf so while the 24 year old super chill assistant coach might be your bro off the water, if you haven’t had much interaction in terms of being coached by them at practice, I’d wouldn’t put them at the top of my list.

I had both of my coaches, who coached me for three years each, write letters for me. From what I was told, one wrote his letter based on my overall contribution to the team, my leadership skills, my success on and off the water, etc. and the other, who was a coxswain himself, wrote a little more specifically about me as a coxswain.

When and how to ask

Privately, obviously, not in the middle of practice or when there’s a million things happening. If they don’t already know that you’re considering rowing or coxing in college, fill them in because you never know what connections they may have than can help you out down the road. Tell them of your intentions, the schools you’re looking at, etc. and then say something along the lines about how you respect them and their opinions and it would mean a lot if they would be willing to write a letter of recommendation on your behalf. Most, if not all, coaches consider it to be an honor to be asked to write something like this so make sure you show your appreciation in return by saying “thank you” and that you’ll give them all the information they’ll need within the next day or two (and then actually get it to them in that time frame).

Put together a list of your accomplishments

Assemble your rowing resume and give it to your coach so they can see your results and accomplishments on paper instead of having to rack their brains to figure out how well you did in the JV 8+ at Stotes your sophomore year. It’s also a good idea to include your most recent report card (or your transcript if you can get a copy) and a copy of your SAT/ACT scores so they can see the kind of student you are in and use that to further promote you in terms of what you’ll bring to the university as well as to the crew team.

Remember, erg scores are great but your grades are what’s going to get you into college. Don’t be stupid and assume otherwise (and yes, that is a stupid assumption). You could also include a brief list of your other extra-curriculars so they can see what all you’re balancing in addition to crew but since you want the letter to mostly speak of your athletic background, try to keep it about rowing for the most part.

Write a brief summary of your plans and goals

This should be at least half a page but no longer than one page. All you’re doing is giving your coaches some insight into what you’re planning to do in the future and how rowing plays a part in that. Include what you’re hoping to major in, what you’d like to do with that (if you know), why you want to row in college, if you have U23 plans, etc. This could also be laid out during a conversation with your coach but some might not have time to do that so writing it out is easier. I did both with my coaches – one I wrote everything out for and the other I had a conversation with after practice.

Give them a timeline of when this needs to be completed by

Coaches are busy people too and most have jobs and lives outside of rowing. It’s very easy for stuff like this to get lost in the fray so for your own piece of mind and for their own organizational purposes, let them know the date that you’d like to have these done by. I asked my coaches if they could have everything done within two weeks from the date that I gave them my stuff and they were great about sticking to that (mostly because I think they knew how important it was to me). If you give them everything today (August 7th) I think it’s pretty reasonable to ask for everything to be completed by August 21st. That’ll give them two weeks to sit down, think of what to write, look over your accomplishments, reminisce about the good times, put together a thoughtful letter, and get it sent out. Any longer than two weeks and you run the risk of it being forgotten about or lost in the shuffle.

Compile the contact info of the coaches/schools you’re talking to

This will give them a chance to do some research on the program and get an idea for how you’d fit in there. As far as contact info goes, include the coach’s name, phone number, and email. Make sure you’re including the coach who’s listed as the recruiting coordinator, not just the head coach since the assistant who handles the recruiting will likely be the one you’ll interact with the most. Most times when you email the head coach they’ll glance at it but just end up forwarding to the coach who’s actually in charge of recruiting.

The other thing to remember is that these letters are confidential between your coach and the coach who reads them. If you feel the need to double check what they say about you to make sure they said something good maybe you should consider choosing someone else to write your letter. You can ask them what they said but a) that’s almost sorta kinda inappropriate and b) they don’t necessarily have to tell you. That’s why it’s important to choose someone ahead of time that you know can and will say positive things about you.

After mine were sent out my coaches asked if I wanted to know what they said and since we had a pretty good relationship I said they could tell me if they wanted but I trusted that they said good stuff. They gave me a general overview (which is how I know that one spoke about me as a coxswain and the other wrote about my contributions to the team, leadership skills, etc.) and that was that.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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What do you think of “Once a rower, always a rower?” Even if you have to quit not because you don’t like it, but because you have to? There was a conversation that came up with us about how people who quit shouldn’t be wearing their crew gear anymore. What’s your opinion?

The most basic way I can explain is this: we put so much time, effort, money, blood, sweat, tears, etc. into this sport that our racing tanks, unisuits, jackets, tshirts, and anything else with our team logo on it become sacred to us. We can’t wear our medals all over the place so we wear our gear instead to show off the pride we have in our team, our teammates, the sport, and ourselves. If you’re not on the team anymore it’s kind of like they’re on the outside looking in, you know what I mean? I know it sounds kind of stuck up to say that but I can’t think of another way to explain it.

On the other hand, you bought the stuff with your money so technically you can wear it whenever and wherever the hell you want. It’s not like anyone’s gonna go up to you and say “you’re not on the team anymore, take your shirt off…”. If someone had rowed for a few years and had been a fairly dedicated member of the team I wouldn’t have that much of an issue with it but if you rowed for like, a season and then quit? That’d annoy me (and was kinda what I was getting at up above).

College Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I’m going to be a senior and I’m really interested in getting recruited as a cox. I just finished my novice year and I did some rowing camps at universities. The coach at my 1st choice university was really impressed (she approached me at the end of camp and asked about my grades, college plans, etc.) but she told me I was a little late to the recruiting process. She encouraged me to ask my coach to write me recs to help. What are the guidelines for coach recs? When should they email the recs?

As far as I know there aren’t any guidelines they have to follow in terms of how it’s laid out unless there is a specific form that the college coach(es) give you to have them fill out. Some do that and some don’t. Basically all they’re doing is saying who they are, the nature of your relationships (coach-athlete, etc.) how long they’ve known and/or coached you, and then just talking about how awesome you are, what you’ve brought to the team, why you’re an asset and what makes you one, what they think you can contribute to a college team, how well you get along with and lead others, etc.

In terms of when to email them, I would do it as soon as possible but probably no later than the first week or two of September. I’d also email the coaches of the schools you’re planning to apply to and saying you’re interested in joining the team (if you haven’t already) and to expect a letter of recommendation or two from your coaches to arrive within the next week, two weeks, whenever. That way they’re not getting letters from coaches about potential coxswains they’ve never met or heard from before. I’d give your coach a deadline too and say that you’d like to have them sent out by this date since that’s when you told the college coaches to expect them. Otherwise you run the risk of them starting it, forgetting it, and then not remembering it until you mention something in November.

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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Hey Kayleigh! I was wondering about the general process of going to colleges when visiting about recruitment. I’ve already sent in my rowing resume, a recording, and school transcripts to the coach, and he said he’d like to meet and discuss the team when I visited campus. What goes on at these meetings and how does the topic of recruitment come up? I don’t want to be blunt about it when I’m there but I’m curious about admissions and when I’d know about whether or not I am a definite recruit. Also, do you know what kind of questions might be asked? Thanks!

The questions I got were mostly about my rowing background, what I was hoping to study, general questions about why I was looking at that university, why I chose to apply there, what attracted me to the major I was interested in, what my goals were with crew, etc. The questions they asked me revolved more about my education than anything else … the majority of the rowing related questions came from me. Most of the coaches straight up said that they wanted to make sure the recruits came to the university because of the education we’d be getting, not specifically for the rowing program, so they really touted the benefits of the school itself and the academic resources that were available to us through the athletic department.

As far as recruiting goes, you can still be on the team if you aren’t a recruit – you’re basically an experienced walk-on. There were several girls that did that when I was at Syracuse and they were always lumped in with the women who were recruited. The only difference between the two groups was that one group was pursued by the coaches (the recruits) and the other pursued the coaches (the experienced walk-ons). I think the best way to go about finding out your “status” is to just ask where you fall in terms of the coxswains they’re looking at and how serious they are about supporting your application.

Other than all of that, they’ll probably take you on a tour of the athletic facilities – their weight room, erg room, adviser’s offices, etc. – and then invite you down to check out the boathouse. One of the coaches I met with also gave me a tour of campus, which was nice. Basically any time you spend with them is an opportunity to ask any questions you think of (like the ones linked below) so use it wisely. You can always email them afterwards if you think of something after you leave but it’s always so much simpler to ask questions in person and get a response right away and typically with more detail than you would in an email.

Related: What questions should you ask coaches during the recruiting process?

I would also recommend, if you can, talking to some of the rowers who are currently on the team. That’d be a good way to go about getting info on team culture, training, balancing school and crew, etc. from an actual student’s perspective, which I tend to take a little more seriously than the coach’s simply because the rowers are living it and are dealing with the same circumstances that you potentially will be.

Whatever you do though, ask a lot of questions. The coaches will appreciate it because it shows you’re serious about being a part of the team and the university and it’ll be good for you because it’ll give you an idea of what the coach/program is like and how you’ll contribute to the team if you decide to go to that school. You want to be able to make an informed decision when you ultimately decide on what school to go to so get as much information as you possibly can when you go meet them. Oh, and be relaxed too. It’s not like you’re going into a high-stress, super serious meeting. All the meetings I had with coaches were pretty chill and easygoing, so don’t be nervous.

Masters Video of the Week

Video of the Week: NINE

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This crew was organized by a woman in my masters eight named Diane Cotting and let me tell you, she. is. amazing. Not only in the normal way that people are amazing but she truly just goes above and beyond the definition of the word in so many ways. People would be lucky to have someone half as enthusiastic as her in their boat every day. Watch the video and read this article to learn more about my awesome teammate.

This is also a good video to watch if you’re coxing masters women because you can kind of get a sense as to why they do this and what they get out of it. It’s so different from coaching high school or collegiate women but at the same time, it’s exactly the same.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Last season (my junior year) I coxed the JV boat all fall and most of spring and a week before championships my coach handed out ranking sheets to the rowers and they chose who they wanted as their coxswain. Half of the girls in the JV boat wanted me and half of them wanted another girl who has a year less experience than me. My assistant coach made an “executive” decision to put the other girl in the JV boat. This summer I had lunch with one of my close friends who was a rower in that JV boat, she told me that after the ranking day some of the other rowers texted her and talked about how they didn’t pick me because they didn’t like me as a person. I asked her what that meant and she said they meant that I was “too sassy and demanding” with them. Now this fall season it’ll be me and the same girl going after the varsity boat and I really want that spot. What do I do about the fact that the rowers don’t like me as a person? Do I just kill them with kindness or what? I honestly have no clue what to do. I’ve had several people come up to me and tell me personally that I am a much better coxswain than the other girl so I don’t understand why people have to use the fact that they don’t like me against me. How should I approach this season?

Ranking sheets? Is that the same or different than coxswain evaluations? Straight ranking sheets sound like … a bad idea.

Here’s the thing with coxing women … anytime you’re in a position where you’re giving directions or telling other women what to do you have to watch how you do it because the slightest hint of anything in your voice is going to be mistaken as you being a bitch. There’s nothing wrong with being demanding, especially in the position we’re in, but you have to make sure that your demands are realistic and actually achievable by the people you’re working with. If you have varsity heavyweight men’s 8+ expectations of a JV women’s 8+ then yea, that would be too demanding. If you have varsity women’s 8+ expectations of a JV women’s 8+ and their abilities indicate that those expectations are reasonable then that’s fine. If you’re constantly pushing them harder than they can reasonably tolerate, physically or psychologically then that would/could cause problems.

How you give direction is another thing you’ve got to be aware of. There’s always got to be some sense of self-awareness on our end as to what we’re saying, how we’re saying it, how it could/is being perceived, etc. so that we can be sure we’re building the rowers up and not tearing them down. Think about how you say things and ask yourself how you’d respond if someone said the same thing to you in the same tone of voice. Would it rub you the wrong way or would you not think twice about it? Try to be objective and not biased towards yourself, if that’s possible. Basically, don’t just assume you’re not doing anything wrong and that the rowers are just being bitches for no reason. If you’re brave enough you should talk to the ones that don’t like you, for whatever reason, and ask what you can do better this season with regards to communicating with them. They don’t have to like you and it shouldn’t be your goal to get them to like you. That isn’t your responsibility. I doubt every soldier liked George Washington but they respected him enough to follow him into battle. That’s the mentality that you should have. Rowers don’t have to like their coxswains but they do need to respect them enough to follow them into battle. That goes for coxswains as well – to earn respect you’ve got to give it. Making an effort to figure out how you can improve as a coxswain by getting feedback from the people you’re working with is a good way to start earning it. In return, you should take their feedback and actually use it to help you going forward.

Should you be nice to them? Yes, because that’s just common courtesy. Should you kill them with kindness? Eh…my personal opinion is no because ultimately what’s that going to do for you? Granted it could work out well but it could also come off as really, really fake, which will just piss them off even more. There’s a big difference between liking you as a coxswain and liking you as a person and my theory on why rowers use how much they like you as a person “against” you is because with the amount of time you’re going to be spending together, why wouldn’t you want to be with someone you genuinely like? I don’t necessarily agree with it but I do understand it. In a perfect world all coxswains would be chosen based on their abilities and not on popularity but that is never going to happen. Popularity is always going to play a small part, especially in high school, especially when you’re coxing women.

In addition to talking to the people in that boat and doing some self-reflection on your own, talk to your assistant coach. Ask her if she can share why she ultimately chose the other coxswain and what she based her decision on since it seemed like the votes were evenly split between you and the other girl. I wouldn’t straight up say that some of the girls prefer you because you’re the better coxswain but I would just say that you want to know what you can do to improve because you want the varsity boat, obviously, and as the senior coxswain with four years of experience you feel like you deserve a shot at it because of X, Y, and Z. There’s nothing wrong with saying you feel like you deserve a certain boat as long as you’ve done the work ahead of time and actually do deserve a shot at it. Seniority alone isn’t a reason, as much as we’d like to think it is. Your cohesiveness with the rowers, how likely it is that they’ll listen to you, your ability to control things on the water, etc. are all things I think any good coach would look at.

For me, I’d also be looking at how much drama I’d be setting myself up to deal with if I knowingly put you in a boat where there’s friction between you and some of the rowers. Drama in some instances is inevitable and that’s fine. Everyone is equipped to deal with it to an extent. It’s part of the game, so to say. But, as a coach I don’t want to have to deal with a mutiny in the middle of the season simply because there are a million other things that I need to worry about. Whoever I ultimately chose as coxswain would need to be able to make it work with everyone in the boat, regardless of their friendships or lack there of off the water. Looking back on the previous season and seeing that there were personality clashes, no respect being given or received, etc. it would take a lot of convincing for me to put that coxswain with those same rowers, regardless of their skills. Their skills could be amazing and they could be a great coxswain but I’d be delusional to think that personality doesn’t play a part in being a good, effective leader. Like I said, they don’t have to like you but they do have to respect you and there can be no question as to whether or not that will happen.

In this order, look at how you’ve handled things in the past and how you’ve interacted with these women previously, then talk to your coach, then talk to the rowers. Start thinking about your goals for the season and use them and the feedback you get from everyone to help motivate you to make some improvements throughout the start of the season. I won’t lie to you, it sucks having to making adjustments to your attitude, personality, etc. just to avoid pissing people off but I will promise you this: in the end, it’s worth it. All those stupid situations in school where your teachers are like “oh, working on this group project is going to teach you how to deal with people in the future”…no. We all know they don’t. What teaches you how to deal with different personalities in the future is having conflicts with people and figuring out the best way to interact with them going forward. Sometimes that requires changes on our end and it requires taking the time to figure out what you’ve done in the past that you could do differently, more effectively, or just plain better going forward.