I’m about to enter my second season of coxing with my high school. In the spring, late in the season, my coach put me in a new lineup of novice girls just like me and, just out of coincidence, we worked really well. We kept that boat until the end of the season and at the last regatta we even placed second, which was huge for our club, which is still really young, and our confidence. After finding out yesterday that all four girls are returning for fall crew, I’ve become obsessed with winning. I know the girls can do it, but is there anything I can do to help us? I think we need to get together and train outside of practice, but I don’t know how to go about doing that, especially for the long-distance races that we’ll face for the first time. I don’t want to seem whiny or annoying if I try to set something up with all of us, but I have to feel like I’m bringing something to this boat.

Just a tip/word of caution: don’t be that coxswain that gets so obsessed with crew or the idea of winning that you take things too far. (You all know the kind of person I’m talking about, don’t pretend like you don’t…) Having an over eager attitude can quickly turn into a major turn-off for your teammates (and your coach – trust me), especially if you start venturing into trying to make everything about crew. Let your coach worry about workouts, training, and all that other stuff – it is their job, after all.

The best thing you can do is show up each day and consistently work on your execution (of calls, drills, pieces, etc.) when you’re out on the water, allow yourself to be coached, and continue building up a good rapport with your teammates. When you’re on land, be a leader. What “be a leader” means is a little different for everyone so you have to figure out for yourself how to best interpret that and implement those behaviors. I never understood why coxswains think they have to do anything more than that in order to be contributing something to the boat/team. Helping your coach, keeping everyone focused, getting your crew on the water as quickly as possible with minimal time wasted … all that stuff plays a huge part in winning races, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Don’t underestimate or forget about the little things and try to jump straight into being all GO! GO! GO!.