Day: April 22, 2014

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 19

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 19

By

Drexel University 2014 Kerr Cup Men’s Varsity 8+

The biggest thing that I noticed in this recording was that he used a lot of basic calls but never actually said anything to the rowers (except on like, two occasions) or made a call about their position on other crews. It was mostly a good example of how some coxswains go out with this “tunnel vision” mindset where they execute the race plan and kinda ignore/forget about everything that’s happening within their own gunnels or in the lanes around them. He also did a lot of counting and counting down to things that didn’t really need countdowns. I like the “in 2 … in 1…” countdown but is that really necessary just to note the 500m mark? It wasn’t a bad piece overall though – how he said his calls almost made up for the fact that he was saying a lot without saying much at all. The best part of the race by far though was that turn through Strawberry Mansion. If you’re a Philly coxswain, definitely take note of that execution.

Related: Navigating the Schuylkill

At 1:11 when he says “back it in”, make sure you’re not making catch-specific calls like that midway through the drive of that stroke. You don’t have to say each stroke number when you’re counting out a five or a ten so if you call your strokes at the catch (like you’re supposed to) but have a catch-specific call to make, just replace that number with your call. You could also say “back it in, one … back it in, two“, etc. and say the number of the stroke you’re on at the finish. Point being though, don’t make catch-specific calls at any point other than the catch, otherwise the effectiveness of that call is lost. Same applies to finish-specific calls.

Other calls I liked:

“At the wire, you’re bringin’ the fire…”

George Washington University vs. Holy Cross 2014 GW Invite MV8+

At the start you hear Connor say “when they say our name, bury ’em…” with regards to getting the blades fully buried before the start. Watching crews lock on and lock in right at that moment is pretty cool. The point of doing this, regardless of whether you do it when you hear your name or when they call attention, is that it helps ensure everyone’s blades are in the water and in the best position to allow them to take a powerful first stroke. It’s something worth practicing though because sometimes people get a little too aggressive with it and jerk their hands up, which throws the boat off, causes them to dig too deep at the start, etc. This is also why I like that “sharp and shallow” call he makes because it’s a good reminder to keep the catches on point without lifting the hands too much.

Listen to the slide speed during the starting 20 between 0:40 and 1:10, then listen to it right at they transition into their settle at 1:11. You can actually hear the slides lengthen out. Between that and the sharpness of the catches throughout the piece, this race is so satisfying to listen to. A few strokes later at 1:39 he says “about half a seat down, no worries…” in the most chill tone, which is exactly how you should tell your crew you’re down, particularly at the beginning of the race.

I’m a huge fan of how he makes that “long, rhythm…” call at 1:45. Rhythm in rowing means that the crew is relaxed, they’ve got good swing, they’re getting good run, and they’ve just got a smooth, consistent flow going. One of the best ways to tell if your crew has a solid rhythm is to feel the boat and then look at the stroke rate. Does it feel like you’re rowing at the rate your cox box displays? If it feels like you’re rowing lower than the displayed rate, that’s usually a good sign that your crew’s got a good rhythm.

Another thing you can do to gauge your crew’s rhythm is to watch the shoreline. (This is best done during practice.) If the crew is moving well together and not rushing then you should notice that on the recovery you stay in relatively the same place in relation to something on shore. You only surge forward on the drive. If you ever get a chance to ride in the launch, pick a rower and watch for this. If you’re feeling like the boat is being rushed or like there’s no consistency in motion between the rowers, a call like “long, rhythm…” (spoken in the same way Connor said it) is a simple and to the point call to make. It’d also be a good call to make coming out of the start and into your settle as a way to help establish the rhythm following the frenzy of your high strokes. In order for a call like this to actually get the message across, it’s important that during practice or off the water you communicate with them what rhythm actually is so that they know the “deeper meaning” behind the call you just made. Practice is the time to do the explaining and clue them in to what your calls mean, that way during races you can be short and to the point in order to keep them engaged and sharp.

At 2:36, I like how he jumped on the opportunity to move and made that “now we walk” call. Whenever you’re down on another crew, if you take a five or ten for something you should always be watching to see if that burst resulted in you walking on the other crew, even if that wasn’t your original intention. If you do gain on them, capitalize on that and immediately say “even”, “gained a seat”, etc. followed by something like what he said here: “now we walk”. These opportunities are rare and fleeting over the course of a 5-7 minute race so when they come up, don’t miss out on them.

“They came out too hard, now we punish them” – this is another opportunity that you can capitalize on if you’re paying attention. If you notice a crew go out hard and fast, you’ve gotta make a judgement call: do you push your crew to keep up and risk burning them out too early or do you wait for the other crew to crash and burn so you can (hopefully) walk through them with a strong finishing 500? If you wait and see the other crew starting to fall off pace, jump on it immediately. They made a mistake, now’s your chance to burn them. Bonus points if you lock eyes with someone in the other boat when you tell your crew they came out too hard – trust me, it’s a whole new level of (twisted) joy you have to experience to understand.

Another call that I thought was smart/good was the “internal now” call. If you’ve been making several calls in a row about other crews, following them up with something “internal” helps bring the focus back to you guys. He makes a similar one a little bit later where he says “focus on me, not on them”, which is particularly useful if/when you see rowers looking out of the boat. (That should be a cue though that if they’re looking out of the boat they’re probably trying to see where the other crews are so you should give them a position update if you haven’t done so in awhile.) Also with regards to internal calls, with the “one bad stroke, get it back” call, regardless of why it was a bad stroke, move on. Make this call to keep the rower(s) present and focused on the strokes ahead, not the ones (s)he’s already taken.

Last thing – at 3:28 he says “we gotta keep moving”, which I think is one of those calls that sometimes we know we need to make but aren’t sure if we can or should make because it’s demanding and coxswains don’t always feel comforting demanding their rowers do something. Your job though is to execute the race plan and strategize in real time what the crew has to do to finish ahead. If you find you’re just sitting on a crew (not giving anything up but not taking anything either), get aggressive and make a call to recommit, get the catches in, and drive the legs. Don’t let the crew settle for anything because you never know when the other ones are going to make a move and surge ahead.

Other calls I liked:

“Sharp and shallow…”

“Ready … steady … now!”

“They’re fucking toast!”

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

College Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hey! Lately, I haven’t been getting boated much during practices and have only been boated for one race. Some of our assistant coaches have claimed that I’m better than the other coxswain and that it’s become more of a matter of favorites. Any tips on how I can show the head coaches that I want to be boated for races, especially with one more race plus Pac-12s coming up? I don’t know what else to do other than prove myself each time I’m on the water (which isn’t often) and going over recordings with our coach once I’m back on the water.

As frustrating as this answer is, I think your best option is to keep doing what you’re doing. Take advantage of every opportunity to show your skills when you’re on the water, get constant feedback from your coach(es) and rowers, and continue going over audio with your coach(es). “Wanting” it only gets you so far – you’ve gotta put in the effort on and off the water. If you can make a case for yourself by doing all of that then I can’t see why your coach wouldn’t give you some consideration.

When you talk with the coach that makes the lineups ask him/her point blank why these other coxswains are being boated over you – what have they got that you could stand to improve on? I think this is a great question to ask and yes, it’s very possible to ask it without coming off as a whiny brat. If they’re free, ask one of the assistant coaches to come with you when you talk to your other coach too. This will give you the opportunity to bring up what the two of you have discussed in terms of areas where you’re excelling or could use some improvement so that you can get your coach’s feedback on how tweaking some of those skills could result in you potentially getting put in a racing lineup. If/when you do this though make sure you’re completely clear on the feedback they’ve been giving you and do not throw them under the bus by saying something like “well they said the only reason I’m not in the boat is because I’m not one of your favorites”. I’ve seen that happen and I’ve had that happen and from all assistant coaches everywhere, you’re a real asshole if you misrepresent our conversations like that in front of the head coach.

It may very well be that your coach has a favorite coxswain (sometimes it’s hard not to) that he wants with a certain boat but in my experience, favorites don’t just pop up randomly. The reason they’re a favorite is usually because the coach has found that they’re reliable, they communicate well, they’re trustworthy on and off the water, and they’ve got whatever special quality it is that your coach looks for. Not that you don’t have or do any of those things but it’s always worth asking (or thinking about on your own), in comparison to [the coxswain in the boat you want], where am I (potentially) falling short? Reflect on that and talk about it with your coaches. As a coxswain and a coach I really appreciate seeing a coxswain who comes into a meeting prepared to say “this is what I think I’m doing well, this is what I think I need to improve on to get into this boat … confirm or deny”. That shows me and the other coaches that you’re actively thinking about where you can make improvements rather than just expecting us to spoon feed you and give you what you want.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I’m nearing the peak of racing season and I’m already burned out! I’m tired of coxing at the moment and I’m sick of my teammates because I’ve spent way too much time with them. I’m scared to miss practice though because I’m worried about losing my seat, what should I do?

I say this with empathy, solidarity, and love: suck. it. up.

There have been numerous times in the past when I was coxing (and even (very) recently with coaching) where I had no interest in being at the boathouse because I was sick of seeing or dealing with people, stressed, burned out, etc. but I showed up anyways, not because I had to in order to keep my seat but because I’d made a commitment to show up and if I didn’t, eight (or more) other people would be adversely affected by my decision.

Outside of when I was in college I think the only time I got burned out on crew was midway through my last season in high school, which was also simultaneously my best and worst season. Best because my crew was great and we kicked ass every week and worst because our head coach was an asshole who I’m positive sat up at night coming up with ways to make us all dislike him more and more each day. Around the beginning of May (peak season for us) I was definitely starting to just go through the motions – I was there physically but not mentally. Our assistant coach noticed pretty much right away and essentially made me spill my guts about why I was suddenly so much less on point than usual. Senioritis, poor team leadership, feeling like I wasn’t improving at the same rate as my crew, and a general sense of the “meh’s” were all key points. In his usual way of “saying something without actually saying it” he pretty much told me to suck it up, set an example, and be bigger than whatever issues were threatening to bring me down.

Burnout is like depression (figuratively and almost literally) – it isn’t really something you can just decide to get over and how you handle it is unique to every person. For me, I did just suck it up because that’s what was necessary. Regardless of how crappy I was feeling I didn’t want to bring my boat down to my level so I re-evaluated my performances on the water, priorities, and attitudes towards various situations so that I could get to the root of the problem and start doing something different. At this point I had one month left of high school which meant I had one month left to get my coxing up to the level I wanted to be at before I left for college. My coach and I came up with some goals so that I’d have something to work on myself while he focused on the rowers and we went from there. Each day for the next week I’d show up and he’d say “what kind of afternoon are we gonna have?” and my answer each time was “a great one”, regardless of how I felt or my day actually went. As silly and cheesy as it was, that little glimmer of positivity always started off practice on a good note.

My suggestion is this, based on my own experiences:

Take time every day to unwind and clear your head. Before practice, turn your car off and sit there in silence for a couple extra minutes. (If you don’t drive to practice, find a quiet spot to go to where you won’t be bothered.) Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Tell yourself that you’re going to have a good day on the water – actually say it out loud to yourself. After practice, do the same thing. Sit in your car for a few minutes, take a couple deep breaths, and leave everything that happened at practice at the boathouse. Don’t bring it home with you. Go home and relax for a bit. Actually relax too – if that means taking a quick nap or a hot shower, do it. If that means giving yourself a badass pedicure while watching people be violently murdered on Game of Thrones, do it. Just do something for 30-60 minutes that lets you decompress before diving into your homework.

When you get to the boathouse, don’t purposely avoid everyone but try to keep your distance (without being super obvious about it) until it’s time to get the boats out. If somebody asks what’s up just say that you’re just taking a few minutes to yourself and trying to avoid any unnecessary distractions before you get out on the water.

Find/create a support system. If you’re sick of your teammates, talk to a friend who’s not on the team. They probably won’t have any idea what the hell you’re talking about but you can at least vent your frustrations to them and who knows, they might even be able to give you some useful nuggets of advice. Same goes for your parents and/or your coaches. In theory they should automatically be supportive of you but now’s your time to actually call it in and go directly to them for support.

If you’ve got a free weekend (or a free day on the weekend) take advantage of it. I flew to Boston this past weekend and didn’t think about crew or anything else once for four days. It was incredible and came at the perfect time. It’s not the rowing that’s been the issue, rather all the administrative stuff we’ve had to deal with that’s been creating a seriously unnecessary amount of stress for everyone. Getting away from that and the other forty-seven things that are currently seriously testing my patience made coming back to practice oh-so–sweet. I would’ve loved to have been at the marathon today (my trepidation of large crowds thanks to last year aside…) but going to practice and seeing the team after being away for a few days, in addition to getting to cox our V8 and V4, let me experience one of those moments that I really cherish: that moment where we’re doing a piece, I’m in the moment, the boat is moving well, and I’m reminded in a split second why I love this sport so damn much. I swear, that fleeting nanosecond of clarity is all it takes to get me out of a rut. If you’ve got the opportunity to take a day off on the weekend, do it. Go somewhere and do something fun or stay at home and do nothing – whatever you do though, let crew be the furthest thing from your mind so that when you come back you can be reminded too of just why it is that you’re there.