Day: January 21, 2014

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi! In a race, when you call a power 10, do you call it two strokes ahead (Power 10 in two, that’s one, two,) or do you just call it?

I say it’s up to you, what you’re comfortable with, and what you see. With younger, less experienced crews you almost always call it in two because they need that “warning”/prep period a little more than an advanced or elite level crew would but as you start working with advanced high school crews, college crews, etc. you can almost always call it “on this one” if you choose to.

I tend to go back and forth with how I call it. If I can see another crew making a move or we’re running out of water to make our move, regain seats, walk away, etc. then I’ll say “on this one” because I don’t feel like I can afford to waste those two strokes where you’d normally say “one, two”. If we’re in a good position and I want to keep building on that then I’ll say “in two” or something similar because I think that it helps to maintain the pace that is (hopefully) already working for you and it doesn’t give that sense of immediate urgency that “on this one” does.

College Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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A coach reached out to me a couple months ago and we emailed and talked on the phone for a couple of weeks. I sent him an email about a week ago just to check in, give him an update, and reassure interest. How long should I wait for a reply? When we spoke before it was no longer than two days between emails so I didn’t know if it was weird that things were moving slower or if most seasons are just starting to pick up now.

Right now most teams are returning from winter break/training camp and getting back into the swing of things with school and stuff. I wouldn’t worry too much right now about not hearing back from him right away. Plus, if you didn’t include anything that he thought warranted a reply (i.e. you didn’t ask any questions or anything) then he might have just looked at your email, said “great!”, and filed it away for later. If you did ask him a question, especially if it’s time-sensitive, maybe give it another week or so and send a short follow up with the original email attached below the new one and just say “Hi Coach, just wanted to follow up on the email I sent last week. I know you’re probably busy with XYZ but I wanted to get your opinion/some advice/some insight on _____. Looking forward to hearing from you!” and leave it at that.

Even if you don’t hear back from him, I’d continue to send emails (maybe once a month at most) to update him on any progress you’ve made with the university (such as being accepted, deciding on a major and wondering if anyone else on the team has also majored in it/what their experiences were/how tough was it to handle the academic requirements of said major while on the team, etc.), your plans to come visit campus, any PR milestones erg wise (especially if you’re planning on going to CRASH-Bs next month or participating in any of their satellite events), as well as your race results once the season rolls around.

Moral of the story is don’t take it personally and don’t worry too much about it. Keep him updated on your progress and go from there. If you have a question or something you want to know about, CC the assistant coach (almost always also listed as the recruiting coordinator) on the email if that’s not who you’ve already been talking with. It tends to be their responsibility to deal with the incoming freshmen and all their questions so you might get a quicker response from them than you would from the head coach.