Day: July 5, 2015

Coxing High School Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Hi! I just started coxing a novice summer competitive program after rowing for one year at a different club. There are four coxswains, and it was originally three with the girls coach and one with the boys coach, because there are three girl coxswains and one boy coxswain. The team usually has boys cox boys and girls cox girls, but the boys coach has recently been having me cox the boys too and he keeps implying that he would want me to cox boys in the fall. Problem is, I weigh in between 99 and 103lbs depending on the day, so I’m a bit too far under the boys’ weight minimum. I’m comfortable at my weight, but should I consider putting on a bit of weight to cox in general or is that weight usually fine for coaches? Thanks so much!

Coaches very rarely ever care if you’re under the minimum because it’s one less thing they (and you) have to worry about. Obviously putting on muscle is never a bad thing but unless it’s something that gets brought up by the coaches, I wouldn’t worry about it (especially since you’re a novice coxswain too). If you feel like you need to gain some weight then you can explore that avenue if necessary but I wouldn’t do it just because of where you are compared to the 120lb minimum.

Coxing Masters Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Our (predominantly) Masters club rows out of a college boathouse and we have been fortunate enough over the years to have some of their coxes cox for us over the summer. Now it seems we need to “grow our own” as the college rowers are less available and the subject of a coxswain clinic has come up. Do you have any suggestions about how to structure this clinic?

I think the simplest way to do it would be to advertise it to any/all local coxswains, partner up with the college coxswains you’ve been working with to have them teach part/all of it, and make it known that the masters club also just happens to be looking for coxswains.

Structure-wise, I’d probably make it a three-hour thing on the weekend (like 9-12pm) or since it’s the summer, something in the afternoon/evening (say, 2-5pm or 4-7pm). Regardless of whether the people you bring in are total novices, experienced coxswains, masters rowers-turned-coxswains, etc. I think it’s worthwhile to start off with something like this, that way everyone knows right off the bat where motivation falls on the hierarchy of things people expect coxswains to do (hint: it’s not even remotely close to being your most important responsibility), and/or this, again just so they can get a sense of what their priorities should be. It can also serve as a good reminder for the experienced coxswains that execution and steering trump everything else.

From there I’d just keep things simple and talk about the basics of steering, boat handling (aka how to get it out of the boathouse and into the water (PS that’s a good post to share with the novice coxswains you know)), and what the stroke actually looks like. I don’t think you need to get super in-depth with any of the technical stuff because that can get boring (fast) and it’s just not necessary (yet) for what you’re trying to do. I would also spend a bit of time at the end talking about the masters program, what you’re looking for, who would be eligible to work with you (i.e. anyone, only people two years of coxing experience, etc.) and then get a list of emails/phones numbers from everyone so you can stay in contact with the people who are interested in coxing for you.

Definitely get the college coxswains involved though. You’re more likely to attract junior coxswains that way and it can be reassuring to masters rowers-turned-coxswains to hear from people who actually know what they’re talking about (vs. just having another adult who’s maybe “coxed” three times explain what coxing is all about).