Guys – we’re halfway done with winter training. We’re practically on the other side of the mountain at this point. I mean, yeah, polar vortexes and random winter snow storms be damned but racing season is coming!!
https://play.spotify.com/user/1241641027/playlist/5JGjYQN7s5EsDOTmYOeAMwMonth: January 2014
Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches
Question of the Day
Are there rules about coaches making coxswains weigh in to check their weight? Obviously coxswains need to weigh in at certain regattas to make weight. I remember someone telling me that it was against some rule to have coaches require coxswains to report their weight, but I forget where I heard that/if it is actually true.
As far as I know there isn’t a rule that says coaches can’t require coxswains to weigh in and report their weight. When done correctly, I don’t think this is a bad thing. It’s when coaches go on power trips with it and try to shame the coxswains (and rowers) for their weight that I start having issues with it. I think it’s good though because it keeps you accountable and helps the coaches keep an eye on everyone (ideally for safety and general well-being purposes).
Help me out with summer camp stuff!
One of the questions that I’ve gotten most frequently is about summer camps for this year. I’m going to start working on that stuff over the next week and hope to get it all up by mid-February-ish. I’d like your help though! Last year a lot of people (mainly parents) asked my opinion about various programs and for most of them, I knew nothing. I think it’d be good to include some anecdotes about the experiences other people have had, that way people can get a real idea of what the program is like and whether or not it’s worth the money.
If you’ve attended a summer camp at a university or done a summer-long program like Penn AC, Vesper, or the USJNT (dev camp included), send me an email (rowingandcoxing@gmail.com) and let me know the following:
Which program you attended, where it was held, and how long it lasted (i.e. One week-long camp at XYZ University in [city, state]).
Pros/cons – what did you like and/or not like (preferably one of each so as to keep it fair)
Was it worth the money?
Would you recommend it to other people?
What was your biggest takeaway from the program, i.e. what was the biggest/most helpful thing you learned
Extra special bonus points for programs aimed at coxswains, programs held outside the US for the non-US readers, and programs not on the East Coast. I always get questions for programs in the Midwest, on the West Coast, etc. and have a hard time finding stuff or knowing where to look since I’m on the East Coast. If you’ve gone to any of these email me!!
Everything will be anonymous as usual so no need to worry about your name being attached to anything once I get it up. There’s no limits on length either so don’t feel like you have to leave anything out. For the parents that read this, feel free to email me too and let me know from your perspective what you thought of the camp that your kids attended. Thanks for your help!
Question of the Day
Hi. I’ve been rowing on my high school team for four years now and I’ve been considering continuing crew in college. However, my times aren’t good enough to be recruited and I’ve always wanted to cox. People have told me I would be good at coxing but my coach wants me to row for him. But my weight is an issue. I’m 5’3″ and weigh around 140. I don’t know if I can healthily get down to a weight to cox, so is it possible for me to cox men? Thanks!
Depends on where you go to school. If you go to a school with a club program you could probably row or cox because they’re typically more lax about the height/weight requirements since a lot of the people on the team are new to rowing or haven’t participated in sports before (thus they don’t have the typical rower’s build). I would agree with you that getting down to a healthy weight range to cox women is probably going to be tough so unless you’re at a club program where that’s not as big of an issue, I personally wouldn’t consider it an option.
As far as coxing men goes (at all IRA schools and probably 99% of the competitive clubs (men aren’t NCAA, remember)) , that’s also tough because like women’s teams, they typically want their coxswains to be as close to racing weight as possible for reasons I’ve discussed before (basically, no one wants to carry around more dead weight than they have to, which is understandable). If you’re 140lbs now, that’s 13-15lbs you’d have to lose. I can’t tell you if that’s healthy for you or not because I don’t know you but assuming you’re a senior now and start college in the fall … yea, you’ve got plenty of time if you wanted to go that route. It’s a lot of lifestyle changes though so make sure you take that into consideration.
(Quick edit because I forgot to include this before I posted this.) If you want to cox the guys this season, as in three months from now, I’d say it’s still possible but you’re giving yourself a bit more of a time limit, which can be some people’s downfall. If you want to cox in college you could always still row this season and then walk on to the team in the fall and say “I want to cox”. You don’t have to cox this season but the practice certainly wouldn’t hurt. If you’re not trying to be recruited though (that period is pretty much over now anyways, I think) then it doesn’t really matter what you choose to do. Just remember that if you try to cox the guys you’re giving yourself a very small window to get in the racing weight range.
As a general note to everyone reading, I want to throw out a clarification on coxswain weights and who you’re coxing for. I know I’ve said many times that if being or staying at 110lbs to cox for women is not feasible for you then coxing men is always an option because their minimum is 125lbs. I’m not backing down from that because I do think it’s a reasonable option. I don’t, however, want people to get the impression that you can just jump right into coxing men regardless of your weight because their minimum is higher than the women’s. Their minimum is higher because they’ve got to accommodate male coxswains who probably haven’t been 110lbs since 7th grade. That’s it.
However, if you’re thinking about coxing you have to understand that weight is an important and dare I say critical component of being a coxswain. It’s not the most important thing but it’s something that needs to be given the proper attention by everyone who’s considering coxing. There’s really no easy way to say this but please don’t just assume you can jump right into coxing guys if your normal body weight is 10, 15, 20+lbs over 125lbs. You’re going to be gently nudged or sometimes flat out told to lose weight depending on who you cox for. If you really want to cox that badly but are more than like, 130lbs, you need to start thinking about making some serious changes in order to get down to racing weight (in a healthy way) by the time the season rolls around.
Question of the Day
Hello! I just starting coxing in the winter season and I’ve been really quiet while coxing erg workouts because I never know what to say to encourage someone. What are your staple phrases to use to encourage someone during an erg test/workout or during a regatta?
The first thing you should do is always ask the people erging if they want to be coxed. Some people need it, other people hate it. In my experience most people are OK with subtle technique reminders but don’t care too much for the “yay, go you” motivational calls, mostly because they’re largely unnecessary unless someone is really struggling. This obviously varies by team though. If you want to say something encouraging, say it to the whole group – something like “looking strong, guys” or whatever. Don’t be cheesy though. I beg of you. If whatever you’re going to say sounds like it could be on a Hallmark card or part of a “deep” Tumblr text post, don’t say it.
When I’m coaching or coxing an erg workout I typically just walk around and watch people’s form. For the most part I’m fairly quiet too. I like to use the time to observe rather than talk because my theory is that when we’re on the water, that’s my time but when we’re on land and they’re on the ergs, that’s their time. When I’m walking around, I’ll lean down and say something if I see something stand out with their technique or if I see their splits climbing above where they should be but usually it’s just a quick reminder like “get the arms all the way out”, “chins up”, “watch your split, get it back to 1:49”, etc. If there’s something that requires some more detail, an explanation, etc. then I’ll just wait until they’re done erging before I say something to avoid distracting them.
“Staple phrases” is tough because there sort of is no such thing – my staples are different than most other coxswains staples and their staples are different from other coxswains’ staples. As I’ve said many, many, many times before, the best way to figure out how to motivate someone is to just ask them. What do they want to hear, what do they need to hear, what reminders do they want/need, what are their goals, etc. From there, all you have to do is repeat that to them when you feel they need it (or they tell you they do). You could always go through the “calls” tag too if you wanted – there’s a lot of stuff in there so I wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you’ve got some free time on your hands.
Related: The worst coxswain calls
All that being said, you’re a novice – you really shouldn’t be saying that much because you don’t know anything yet. The only thing worse than not saying anything is saying stuff that you yourself don’t understand. Walk around with the experienced coxswains, ask them questions, learn about technique on the ergs, get to know the rowers, talk with the coaches about the goals of each practice and why you’re doing the workouts you’re doing, etc. Spend time educating yourself at and outside of practice and then as you start to get more comfortable with the terminology, technique, etc. then you can start coxing the rowers (if they want you to).
Question of the Day
So I have a question. My rowers are asking me to take power 10s basically every 20 ish strokes. It seems excessive to me but I feel like I should follow their request. What do you think? Thanks!
My first question is why are they asking you to take them every 20ish strokes? I’d figure the answer out to that first before deciding whether to acquiesce their request or not. I’ll agree that that does seem a bit excessive but if you’re doing it during practice, say during a steady state piece or something, then I think it’s fine. On occasion I’d do that with my eights when we were doing longer pieces to break up the monotony – they wouldn’t just be power 10s though, they’d be 10s for something, but hopefully that part’s obvious.
During a race, yea, that’s pretty pointless. When you do any kind of burst the output is typically expected to be just a bit above normal compared to the rest of the race. If you’re rowing at 96% as your “baseline” then the 10s or 20s you take, assuming you use them sparingly and strategically, should be able to be right around 98%. If your base is 96% and your consistently taking 10s/20s then right around 750m in you’re going to stop feeling any difference in power between your base and the bursts. Around 1250m you’ll start to feel everything falling off and nothing will be as powerful because they essentially wasted their energy and spun their wheels in the first half of the race.
Talk to them and figure out why they want you to call 10s so often and then decide from there. Just because they’re requesting something doesn’t mean you have to do it. Life’s full of little disappointments like that. If you don’t think it’s an effective use of your time though then tell them why (you can use what I said up above if you want, just don’t just say “no, that’s dumb, shut up and row”). It’s also possible that they’re asking you to call power 10s because they don’t think you’re talking to them enough or giving them enough feedback while you’re rowing and since power 10s are an easy “go to” thing to tell the coxswain to do, that’s what they’re doing. Regardless of what it is though, you need to communicate with them and figure out why they’re asking for this, why they think they need it/what they think they’re getting out of it, and then decide if it’s a worthwhile use of your time. Talk to your coach too if you’re unsure. They know your crew better than I do so they’d be able to say “yea, they need some practice taking some hard strokes when they’re tired (like they will be during a race)” or “no, that’s not what they need to be doing, rather you should have them do something like this instead: _____”.
Video of the Week: Arriba! Vamanos!
There are only three words I understand in this whole thing – arriba, vamanos, and ocho. If anybody understands the rest, I’d love to know what he’s saying.
Question of the Day
I’ve noticed a lot of the coxswains in your recordings liking the “hook, send” call. What exactly is meant by this?
“Hook, send” is a two-part call that you make at the catch (hook) and the finish (send). Every coxswain kinda tweaks what the meaning of “hook” and “send” are for their crew so I’ll tell you my definitions of them. The hook part refers to that upward “J”-like movement you make to put the blade in the water. Since the goal at the catch is to go straight to the water, I’ll say “hook” to remind the rowers of that sharp, quick move they have to make to get a good latch on the water. The send part means exactly what you’d think it means – you’re sending the boat when the blades are out of the water. If you’ve heard the term “run”, it means basically the same thing. When I say “send” I want to feel a good, clean snap at the finish when the blades are released and feathered (watch the GIF in that link to see what I mean) and then I want to see and feel the boat run under us on the recovery. Getting a good amount of run can only happen if you have a good catch, solid drive, clean finish, cohesive swing, and a balanced boat. “Hook, send” focuses on the first three of those things.
Sometimes you’ll hear “kick, send” too, where “kick” refers to the pushing-off movement you make against the stretchers once you’ve got the blade in the water.
Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
Question of the Day
There’s a coxswain who is excessively competitive. She’s very cocky and hard to practice with. We had a day of skill & drill and she cut me off while launching/docking, ignored my requests to start drills together, coxed 1/2 to 3/4 pressure like race pieces, and didn’t really try to keep our boats together. She doesn’t help set up workouts on land until I ask, and clearly looks down on rowers/coxswains on lower boats. Is there a way to talk to her or the coaches without heightening the tension?
This is something I’d let the coaches handle. It’s likely they’ve already noticed her behavior (and if they haven’t, well, that’s another issue) so bringing it up to them shouldn’t come as a surprise. Raising issues like this with a coach always carries the risk that they’ll blow you off or think you’re just being petty but if I was in your position I’d say something. It’s really irritating, not just for you but for the rowers as well, when there’s such a blatant lack of communication between the coxswains, most especially when it’s one-sided. As I’ve said in the past, when you talk to your coach(es) keep it simple and to the point. Try to keep your personal feelings out of it and just give them the facts (basically everything you said up above). Let them know that you’ve tried talking to her previously about keeping the boats together, doing drills together, helping with land workouts, etc. but nothing really seems to get through to her. Once you’ve said that, let that be the end of it from your end and let them handle the rest. Ideally they’ll take her aside privately before or after practice one day and talk to her.
If you try talking to her and just end up repeating what you’ve said before, not only will she likely ignore you but she’ll also probably get pissed because you’re trying to tell her what to do, you’re being bossy, etc. (even though that’s obviously not really what’s happening). If she wants to do her own thing on the water, let her and then let the coaches deal with it if they think it’s an issue (which they probably will, especially if they’ve given her specific instructions to do the workouts with another coxswain and to keep the boats together). Don’t bother trying to keep up with her or adjusting your practice plan to fit what she’s doing because you’ll just end up playing catch-up the whole time which will result in a wasted practice for the rowers. As far as docking goes, just give her space and let her go. It’s not worth risking a $30k+ boat just to be able to be the first one to dock. Her attitude towards the other coxswains and rowers is most likely not going unnoticed by them so it’s really only a matter of time before someone else raises the issue of her attitude with your coaches. Do your best, along with the other coxswains, to try and maintain a positive atmosphere when you’re at practice. If your coaches don’t say something to her first, she’ll start to realize on her own that her attitude is making her the odd man out.