Day: May 13, 2014

Coxswain recordings, pt. 20

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 20

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Marietta Tiger Navy Lightweight 8+ 2014 Midwest Championships Grand Final

This is from Sunday’s final in the lightweight 8+ at Midwest where they finished 2nd overall and received an automatic bid to nationals at Mercer.

One of the big things I talked about with our coxswain when we were going over this on the way home was that she’d make calls like “even”, “a deck up”, “they’re sagging”, “pulling ahead”, etc. but not say on who. If it’s just you and another crew up on the rest of the field then calls like that are fine but when you’re still within the pack, you can’t assume that the crew knows who you’re talking about. Similarly with regards to “specifics”, there were several times where the margins she called were way off. That’s one of the things that you’ve got to be accurate about if you’re gonna make calls for it, which you should be. If your crew is the one that’s up, you make the call based on where you – the coxswain – are. If your crew is down, you make the call based on where your bowball is. The latter is obviously tougher to gauge than just looking straight across to the other boat but it’s not that difficult if you possess even the slightest amount of depth perception. Being up a length means the crews are bow to stern – the bow of the crew that’s behind is on the stern deck of the crew that’s ahead. Being up a length of open means there’s a full boat length of open water between the crew that’s up and the one that’s down.

At 1:28 you hear the stroke say “down” because the stroke rate was too high and the crew didn’t lengthen out as much as they needed/were supposed to. From personal experience I’ve found that this is almost always because I called the settle poorly. When I’ve been sharper with the calls and given the rowers more prep time to get ready for them, they tend to be smoother and more “on” in terms of getting the stroke rate where we want it in the fewest strokes possible. Sometimes it’s because of tendencies that individuals have (i.e. rushing) but I also kinda take the blame for that sometimes because there’s almost always something I could be saying to address that. In this case, better preparation for the settle(s) and sharper calls would have helped.

At 2:03 the coxswain says “competition’s New Trier”, which we already knew going into the race so I’m not sure why she made that call but regardless, you’ve established who your main competition is, now use that to do something. This would have been the perfect spot (especially after that call and the fact that it was right at the 500m mark) to take a ten  to regain the two seats they just took in the last 100m or so. Between 2:21 and 3:21 though New Trier walks nearly a full length on us. As a coxswain you’ve got to recognize that that’s happening and make a call to counter it. It’s fine to be “in the zone” but you can’t be so in the zone that you ignore everything that’s happening outside the small confines of the coxswain’s seat.

5:58 was the only part of the race that really pissed me off. She calls “20 to go” and then the crew took three strokes. Three strokes after the coxswain called last 20. This was another thing I talked about with the girls and later with our head coach – when you’re racing, you’re giving 97, 98, 99% every stroke. When your coxswain calls “last however many to the line” that’s kinda when you re-negotiate with yourself about how much you’re hurting and say “OK, there’s 20 strokes left … I can go little bit harder over these next 20 to make sure I finish on completely empty”. You prepare to kill your body just a little bit more because your coxswain’s told you there’s a finite amount of strokes left – it’s balls to the wall, lights out for the next 20.

When you over exaggerate the amount of strokes left by seventeen there’s a good possibility that you just robbed your crew a few tenths of a second. It’s not about the rowers pacing themselves for the end or anything like that, it’s just them digging deeper within themselves to make sure they use up every last drop of energy they’ve got. There is a big difference between the two; one’s physical and one is mental. When they cross the line after only three strokes, there’s a possibility that they’re gonna think “Wait … what? I’m 99% empty, I’ve still got 1% left”. If five, six, seven people think that, how many tenths of a second do you think that amounts to? In this race a few tenths of a second wouldn’t have made a difference but who’s to say it won’t at nationals? When I coxed the lightweight 8+ there our semi-final had like, two seconds between 1st through 5th place. That margin between the individual crews was small. In situations like that, tenths of a second matter. When medals and championships are on the line, tenths of a second matter.

University of Delaware 2013 Dad Vail Lightweight 8+ Grand Final

Right out of the gate, the way she calls the start and high strokes is great. Her tone, how she’s annunciating the calls, etc. all vibes right with the strokes and just flows perfectly. This goes a long way in helping establishing the crew’s rhythm off the line.

I really loved how coming into Strawberry Mansion (which is about 750m in, I think) she says “as soon as we’re straight we’re gonna light it the fuck up“. I think her calls immediately after the bridge were a little lackluster though. Everything felt rushed and not as on point as most of the other calls up to this point. After a call as a strong as that “light it up” one I expected a little more fire when she called the move at the thousand.

As they’re coming into the last 500 she starts getting pretty shout-y and cheerleader-y  and also maybe a little too cocky because even though they were up, they definitely didn’t have it 100% in the bag yet. That’s an important thing to keep in mind, you’ve gotta cox the whole race, not just the first 1750m and then cheer the rest of the way. Overall though I’d say this was pretty solid … especially considering this girl was a walk-on who only started coxing eight months before this race.

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

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hi. First off let me say I love your blog. I completely agree with everything you say. I looked for a question like mine but I can’t really find one that’s exactly like it. I cox a group of guys and most of them are older than me, so of course they’re kind of douchey when someone younger than them is in charge, but it’s kind of gotten out of hand. On and off the water all they do is ridicule me. I have become ostracized from the group of friends that is our boat, and everything I do is constantly under scrutiny by them. There are two guys especially who are the oldest in the boat and everyone follows what they do. They are my stroke pair and no matter the importance of an issue, they constantly correct every single tiny mistake I make. Even sometimes during pieces! I have talked to them multiple times about letting me and my coach deal with it and not them, or at least talk about it on land instead, but they still do it. I.E: During a random 500 that my coach called to get us in after practice, I forgot to call the start and they yelled at me during the piece to correct me. We have regionals coming up and I’m tired of this. What should I do to end it once and for all?

Ugh, the unfortunate thing about this is that you’re completely right about older guys being jerks when the person in charge of them is younger than they are. I think a lot of coxswains who read this question will probably be thinking “wow, that’s exactly how my boat treats me”. It sucks and it’s not right and at some point, you’ve gotta do one of two things. The first is really stand up for yourself. Talking to them multiple times only does so much and to be honest, it’s probably doing more harm than good at this point. You need to flat out, point blank tell them (all of them) in a firm tone that you’re done with their shit and the only people they’re hurting is themselves because they’re focusing more on you than they are on their own rowing. Tell them that the back talking and backseat coxing ends now and from here on out, you’ll be ignoring what they say unless it’s constructive criticism that’s offered in a polite tone during water breaks or normal info that needs to be communicated between the stroke and coxswain during pieces (i.e. stroke rate, rush, etc.).

Remind your stern pair in particular that they are setting a really bad example for the rest of the boat by behaving like they are and you don’t appreciate the constant undermining of your authority that happens as a result of everyone else following their lead. If they spent half as much time scrutinizing their own stroke as they do your coxing, how much faster would you be? Instead, the time they spend getting on your ass about insignificant stuff is seconds and inches that they’re just giving away to the other boats in your race at regionals. I’m not saying that to be dramatic either, that’s exactly what’s happening and that’s what you need to tell them. You need to stand up for yourself and say this stuff (maybe not this exactly but you get my point). Until you solidly put your foot down and assert yourself, they’re going to keep thinking it’s OK to continue walking all over you. If they want to pick on teammates that are younger than them and get away with it, go join football, but until they decide to do that they need to check their egos and adjust their attitudes.

The second thing is to get your coach involved. If it’s progressed past the point of you being able to tolerate/handle the situation on your own then you need to privately say something to your coach and have him/her address it with the boat. This kind of behavior is distracting for you and takes your focus off of what you want/need to be doing, in addition to limiting what the coach can do if the rowers would rather focus on you than themselves. I don’t know a single coach that would stand to hear about or see their rowers criticizing someone else during a piece. If you’ve got that much energy then clearly you should be rowing harder. Regardless, if talking to them isn’t working and their attitudes haven’t changed then it’s time to elevate the situation to the next level and let your coach(es) handle it.

As far as being ostracized from the group, yea, it sucks but it’s truly the least of your problems right now. Like I’ve said many times in the past, you don’t have to be friends with everyone on the team but you do have to respect each other. Earn their respect and then move forward from there. Perform your duties to the best of your ability and try to avoid being that coxswain that lets their underlying Napoleon complex (we all have one) take over during practice. If they’re criticizing you for something, take in what they’re saying, dial back the attitude a couple notches, and consider if maybe they’ve made a point – maybe this certain thing is something you could/should be working on. Just because they’re assholes about it doesn’t mean that they don’t make a valid point now and then. I think that’s the hardest thing to come to terms with in situations like this. There’s always stuff to be working on and improving and as long as you’re making the effort, no one can or should criticize you for that. That’s not letting you off the hook in this situation or saying you’re doing everything right and they’re just being jerks … it’s just some food for thought.