If you haven’t checked out this week’s posts yet, you can find them here and here. Tuesday’s recruiting post was on the general timeline you should be following your junior and senior year, as well as what you should be considering when looking at schools and teams. Thursday’s “coxswain skills” post was a follow up to last week’s steering post and talked about “always steering” vs. “never steering”, what “small adjustments” really means, and steering on auto-pilot.
Month: September 2015
Coxswain Skills: Steering, pt. 2
Previously: Steering, pt. 1 (Oversteering)
Depending on who you talk to when you first start coxing, you’ll either be told that you should always be steering or that you shouldn’t be steering at all. Both of those are correct-ish but are still pretty vague and can be interpreted a couple different ways, which leads to either some aggressive oversteering or watching a coxswain steer directly into a boat in front of them because you said not to steer. Obviously that’s not what you meant but to a novice who doesn’t know any better, they’re going to take you literally even when common sense dictates that maybe they should steer to port to avoid the boat that’s directly in front of them.
When you’re told that you “shouldn’t be steering” what that actually means is that you shouldn’t be overcorrecting (aka making more adjustments/corrections than are necessary). The ultimate goal when it comes to steering is to do it just enough that the boat responds but not so much that the rowers can sense that it’s happening. Outside of steering around long bends or sharp turns, they shouldn’t be able to tell (by the boat going off-set or seeing the zig-zag trail in the water behind you) when adjustments are being made. This is where knowing how your shell responds to the rudder and how far you have to move the strings before the rudder moves can come in handy.
Another important thing to remember is that “small adjustments” doesn’t relate to how far forward you’re moving the strings, it has to do with much the rudder moves. You’d think the two would be one in the same (and in most cases they are) but I’ve been in boats where the steering cables are really loose and I have to move my hand forward a few inches (aka not a small amount) just to get the rudder to move a quarter of an inch. If you know this is the case with certain boats then make sure you let the other coxswains know, especially if they’re new to the team and/or haven’t coxed that particular boat before.
If someone says that you should always be steering that doesn’t mean that you should constantly be moving the rudder back and forth, rather it means that you should always be anticipating what adjustments need to be made based on what the boat is doing, what’s happening up ahead, the wind/water conditions, etc. Hearing “you should always be steering” tends to lead to the oversteering problems I talked about last week though so a better way of saying that would be that you should always be thinking about steering in the context of the things I just mentioned but only actually doing it when you need to.
The experienced coxswains out there will know that the more proficient you get with steering the more it becomes an “auto-pilot” skill. For me, I tend to only consciously think about steering a few times per practice and it’s usually only when there’s a lot of traffic around me. If there’s minimal traffic, conditions are good, and we’re rowing well I might come off having not thought about it at all. Part of it is knowing the river and part of it is just knowing based on sight/feel when I need to make an adjustment vs. having to actually think about and process what needs to happen.
It’s a little tough to explain but you’ll eventually get to the point where you’ll get off the water and your coach will say “nice course today!” and you’ll think “… uh … I don’t even remember steering, let alone what course I took”. This isn’t something that’s just naturally going to happen though. If you aren’t consistently practicing your steering skills then “eventually” could be a couple seasons (or years) away, whereas if you’re regularly focused on all the things I’ve talked about previously that go into steering an effective course, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be fully confident in your steering abilities within two seasons or so after you start coxing.
Image via // @grimey_grim
College High School Recruiting Rowing
College Recruiting: The Recruiting Timeline + What to Consider
Previously: Intro
One of the questions that comes up a lot has to do with the general timeline of the whole recruiting process and when you should be doing what. If you’re trying to slide into a coaches inbox as a freshman or sophomore … chill. I’ll touch on contacting coaches when you’re not an upperclassman in a later post but for the purposes of today’s I’m just going to focus on what you should be doing your junior and senior year.
Junior Fall
The first thing you should do is figure out your list of schools. This is really the only thing you can actively do before your junior year rolls around but once school starts as a junior, that’s when you really want to start solidifying it. This is in no way your final list though since it’s just going to be the schools that you’re interested in learning more about. The number of schools will vary but 7-10 is usually a good number to start out with. (I think I initially had seven or eight on my list that I eventually whittled down to three by the time I applied to schools.)
I don’t remember which coach said this but as you’re making your list, don’t just throw shit at a wall and hope it sticks. You should have three general categories for the schools you’re interested in – “locked in” (aka your safety school – if you can spell your own name right, you’ll get in), “baseline” (you’re a good candidate for this school and have a realistic shot of being admitted), and “reach” (the Harvard to your Elle Woods – you’d love to go here but it’s gonna take a lot of work on your end to get you up to par with the rest of the applicants). Once you’ve got this laid out, you can fill out the recruiting forms on the athletic department’s website and send a quick email to the coaches introducing yourself (which we’ll get into more later).
Junior Winter/Spring
Now that you’ve had a couple of months to learn about the universities, their academic programs, and their crew teams you can start getting serious in your talks with the coaches. Throughout the winter you should be continuing to send them updates on your progress while at the same time beginning to narrow down your list of schools to your top 3-5. This is the time to be seriously thinking about which school/program is going to give you the experience you want. By mid to late spring you should know who falls under that umbrella and be letting the coaches who aren’t know that you’re no longer interested in that school.
Senior Summer
As Marcus said, “don’t push for an official, just ask for a visit”. Officials are offered by the coaches, not requested by the students, which is why the “pushing” can be a real turn off. Since the summer tends to be a little more relaxed you don’t necessarily need to do this right away either, especially if you’re busy doing other things like dev camp, JNT, prepping for Club Nats, etc. Don’t wait until the week before school starts though to sort this out because the two week period before classes begin can be and usually are pretty hectic.
Senior Fall
If you weren’t in contact much with coaches over the summer this is when you should be, to quote Marcus again, “re-solidifying your relationship with the coaches” and setting up your visits if you were offered any. Based on what I’ve seen/heard/experienced this tends to happen in early to mid September and then later in the month and throughout October, that’s when you actually go on them. If you weren’t offered an official, you should still utilize this time to go on unofficial visits so you can learn about the schools and meet with the coaches.
Related: Official vs. Unofficial Visits – If you’re unfamiliar with the differences between the two, check out this post.
Senior Spring
Pretty simple – decide where you’re gonna go. (If you applied early decision you’ll have already done this in December and if you applied early action you’ll have done this in either January or February.)
Now that you have a general idea of what the recruiting timeline looks like, I want to quickly touch on the things you should consider when looking at schools. There were three main points that were mentioned this summer that I think covers pretty much all the bases but if there’s something you think is important that isn’t listed here, feel free to leave it in the comments.
What do you want and where do you want to be?
Urban vs. rural, small vs. medium vs. large school, size of the rowing program (i.e. on the men’s side, do you want to be at smaller program like Stanford that typically puts out 2-3 eights or a bigger school like Wisco that fields 12…), culture of the team (i.e. partying vs. studying – if the team leans more heavily one way or the other, will that work for you?), etc.
Where do you see your ideal four years?
You have to pick a school that fits your needs. This entails the academics (not just what you choose to study but the rigorousness of the program too), the overall college environment, and the rowing program itself (ideally you’ll be on a team where you feel competitive and challenged).
Would I be happy here if I stopped rowing/coxing?
This is the bottom line and probably the most important question you’ll ask and be asked during this entire process.
At Northeast there was a handout that the kids got that included a “college evaluation grid” to help keep all this info organized so I threw that into a Google Sheet for you guys to use if you think it’d be helpful. You can find it linked below. My dad and I put together something similar when I was looking at schools and it was so helpful because all the information I had (or wanted to find out) about each school/team was in one place.
Related: College evaluation grid
In that Google Sheet there are two tabs – a blue one that has the grid in it and a green one that includes some more info on what early decision I and II, early action, and regular decision entails if you’re not sure of the nuances of each one. If you’re considering early decision I would definitely recommend doing your research since it is binding and can have some pretty unfortunate consequences if you violate the rules that are attached to it.
Next week: What do coaches look at?
Image via // @yalecrew
Video of the Week: Adjusting your foot stretchers
Adjusting your foot stretchers seems like it’d be a really simply thing to do – and it is – but without fail someone always manages to just completely screw it up and either rip out the entire footplate, lose a wing nut, or both (and 50% of the time one or both of those things happen when you’re on the water.) The most important thing to remember is to not remove the wing nuts when you loosen them – just keep them on the bolts and only loosen them as much as you need to in order to move the stretchers.
Related: Adjusting the seat tracks
Varsity rowers and coxswains, this would be something worth going over with the new novices on your team if it’s not something your coach hasn’t already mentioned or shown them.
Question of the Day
Hey! Was it like ‘bro day’ (my coaches words) on the Charles today because there were a bunch of stupid college freshmen guys in singles just basically rowing very badly. Some college must have sent out their novices in unmarked singles. What was happening was a whole bunch of guys in singles rowing steady state from about the Elliot Bridge to the Cambridge Street bridge when we spun and went back down the river. There were two singles who were especially annoying because they were going at the exact same pace as my coxed 4+ and THEY WERE PASSING ON THE INSIDE. I ended up steering us more towards the middle of the river, but still on the right side. I couldn’t get back to the right because one boat’s stern was close to my bow ball and at the other end of my boat it was the same except in reverse. They then proceeded to row AT EXACTLY THE SAME PACE AS US. The first time I saw them was during the hard right after Elliot bridge when the first guy was attempting to pass me on shore side. I had to yell to him because he was going to crash into me with his bow. (TBH it made me feel really good to yell to him…) I had brought us through the bridge badly so I had my 2 seat drop out (it was a starboard stroked boat) so yeah that was interesting. Also another time I was trying to go under some bridge and the guy on my tail wanted to go through at the exact same time. But I was like ‘hell no, I’m going for this’ and we both made it through with out crashing. I had to be a tad creative with my steering but you know whatever. The only good thing was that my coach praised me for handling the situation well and not freaking out. Oh and I got some great steering experience. This isn’t really a question I just wanted to rant. How would you have handled the situation? Or just tell me a story that’s kinda similar maybe? Or do you know if it was ‘bro day’ and WHOSE ‘bro day’ it was?
Ha. “Bro day.” I don’t want to throw any of the other men’s teams under the bus because I honestly don’t know who it could have been but your coach certainly could have asked them who they row for if it was THAT big of a deal and they wanted to mention it to that team’s coach.
I probably would have been annoyed too but I also would’ve handled it completely differently. First, there’s no point in getting competitive with them and trying to go through the bridge at the same time because you don’t know what could happen. That’s like, safety and common sense 101. Personally, I would have been pissed at you if I was your coach in this situation. If you don’t trust their steering why would you put yourself in a situation where you’re going under a bridge together? The smarter solution would have been to yell over and say “hey, do you mind waiting or throwing in a pause so we can get through the bridge and get some separation between us?”. If he was behind you and you couldn’t directly say something to him then you could have told your stroke to yell up at him to wait. You made it through without crashing this time. At the Sparks camp I was at this summer, Marcus (McElhenney) said something to one of the coxswains that applies perfectly here. The coxswain had screwed something up and said “…but it worked so whatever” and Marcus said “No, your bow seat saved your ass. It didn’t “work”.” I’ll say the same thing to you. What you did didn’t “work”, you just got lucky.
If you did say something to them about going through one at a time and they straight up ignored you (and you know that there was no way that they didn’t hear you or your stroke say something), then you can get pissed at them. You still have to maintain some sense of decorum though. My usual response to something like this is to look at the coxswain or rower if it’s a straight boat and say “Dude, really?” or I just look at them and raise my hands in such a way that you know I’m directing a really irritated “WTF” your way.
Second, they’re in singles, you’re in a four. If the singles being rowed by novices (assuming they actually were novices) are rowing at the same pace as a four of what I’m assuming are experienced rowers, that is WAY more your issue than it is theirs. YOU need to up your pressure, up your rate, row by all four, etc. to get ahead of them or stop, throw in some pause drills, etc. to let them get far enough ahead that their presence isn’t going to interfere with your practice. If your coach isn’t telling you to do one of those things then you have to make a judgement call and either just do it or ask your coach if you can modify whatever you’re currently doing. If you’re getting pissed because another crew is constantly near you and/or in your way, take the initiative and figure out how to create some separation. When you’re on the highway and get stuck near a slow moving car, do you continue to sit there and bitch because they’re not going the speed limit? No, you switch lanes, hit the gas, and move away from them. The same exact thing applies here. Coxswains get zero sympathy from me in situations like this because you’re the one with the power to tell your crew to get you away from them.
Third, if they were novices, what are the chances that they know the “don’t pass on the inside” rule? Even if it was something their coach told them, it probably wasn’t something they were thinking about while they were out there. That doesn’t excuse their behavior obviously but if they looked like they didn’t know what they were doing, what does yelling at them accomplish? I get how it can be kinda cathartic to yell at someone when you’re pissed at them but you missed an opportunity to just say “hey, not sure if you know this or not but on the Charles there’s a rule that when passing someone you always pass on the left”. I’ve said that to people before in a pretty visibly annoyed way (including to masters rowers from CBC who I know know the rules because they’ve been rowing for like forty years) but yelling at them wouldn’t have done anything except make me and my team look like assholes.
If I had to be near those guys though (i.e. we were doing drills or low rate/pressure stuff) I probably would have told them what I just said but let them stay on the inside (and moved out closer to the middle) just because I think it’s a lot more dangerous to have a bunch of errant singles out in the middle of the river, especially going downstream after Eliot, than it is to have them in between the shore and me. I’d rather risk the equipment getting dinged up than risk them or another crew getting seriously injured because they were out in the middle of the river and possibly/most likely going on the wrong side of the traffic pattern. Again though, to preface that whole situation I would have either asked them to wait for us to get ahead of them and then told my crew to pick up the rate/pressure for 10-20 strokes or had them go ahead and taken a 2-3 minute water break while we waited.
So … I guess my point is that while your coach said you handled it well, from an outsider’s perspective with only one side of the story I think there are definitely improvements you could make if you find yourself in a similar situation in the future. There’s a lot of new people on the river right now which means the rest of us have to exercise a good amount of patience when it comes to interacting with them, at least for the next few weeks. It also means that you need to COMMUNICATE WITH THEM just like you would another coxswain on your team. It honestly confuses the hell out of me when coxswains look at basic communication (especially with coxswains or scullers not on their team) as their fifth option or something instead of something they should be doing automatically all the time.
Coxswain Skills: Steering, pt. 1
Steering is the most, if not the only, visible role we have as coxswains. It’s something I’ve talked a lot about on here (you can see all those posts in the “steering” tag here) but since the new season’s just getting started I thought it’d be beneficial to go over a couple of the basics for the new novice coxswains. This should also serve as a reminder for those of you who are returning as experienced varsity coxswains and give you some stuff to touch on with the novices.
If someone asks you what your most important task is outside of keeping your crew safe, your answer should always be “steering an effective course”. I don’t like to say “steer straight” because there’s always that one person that takes it way too literally and emails me saying “but I cox on a river with a lot of turns, how do I steer straight then?”. Steering an effective course covers all the bases, regardless of whether you’re coxing on a straight-shot body of water or a more serpentine one like the Charles.
More so than telling your rowers what to do and WAY more so than motivating them, learning how to steer properly should be your biggest priority when you first get on the water. This entails a combination of things – knowing how the steering system works is obviously the main one but also knowing how the boat responds to you touching the rudder and where you need to steer more/less on the water you row on (aka turns and straightaways) are the other two components. Varsity coxswains, you should be clueing the novices in on both of these since you’ve been in the boats before and know which ones respond well and which ones don’t. You also know which turns require you to stay on the rudder longer (i.e. the downstream Eliot turn on the Charles) and where you should only need to make slight adjustments as necessary to hold a point (i.e. in the basin).
Related: Mike Teti’s “Three S’s of Coxing”
Steering too much (aka oversteering) is the most common problem coxswains, especially novices, have. This is usually a result of getting impatient because the boat doesn’t feel like it’s turning. Remember, it’s not going to respond right away – it takes a stroke or two (or more, depending on your shell) before it starts to turn so you’ve gotta wait and not shove the rudder all the way over to one side thinking that’ll make it turn faster. All that does is cause you to, as I call it, “drunk steer”, meaning you’re zigzagging down the course in such a way that would make me think you’d fail a sobriety test if given one on land.
Between fours and eights, fours tend to be the easiest to oversteer because there’s less of a “delay” in response time between when you move the strings and when the shell actually turns. One of the reasons why developing boat feel and understanding technique is such an important part of coxing fours is because it can also help you limit unnecessary (over)corrections with the rudder. Being able to gauge the impact the rowers have (or will have) on the shell will allow you to be able to anticipate the corrections you’ll need to make to your steering and limit it to only what needs to be done.
Related: Coxswain skills: Boat feel
Another cause of oversteering is not anticipating what’s up ahead. You should be looking over your stroke’s shoulder every couple of strokes to see what’s going on in front of you so you can start adjusting your course sooner rather than later. “What’s going on in front of you” includes any upcoming turns in the river, other crews that might be stopped, moving slower than you, etc., and any debris or obstacles like an errant log or a buoy. Failing to acknowledge this ahead of time leads to that “oh shit!” moment where you have make a last-minute adjustment to avoid putting yourself in a dangerous situation. Those sudden changes can also cause you to panic and throw the rudder to one side (thinking again that that will make the boat turn faster and get you out of harm’s way). This will only exacerbate your oversteering and could put you in an even worse position if you end up on the wrong side of the course (aka going against the traffic pattern) as a result.
A more rare cause of oversteering is not knowing what to say to the crew so in order to feel like you’re doing something you steer … a lot. This isn’t something I’ve come across too often but I’ve had coxswains bring it up in emails so I think it’s worth addressing, if only to say that the “less is more” theory applies not just to what you say but also to how you steer. If you don’t have anything to say or are struggling to come up with a call, don’t feel like you need to compensate for that by going all Grand Theft Auto on the steering cables. The rowers and your coach will appreciate a quiet coxswain who steers well a lot more than a coxswain who is struggling on both ends.
Image via // @rorycruickshank
Coxing Q&A Training & Nutrition
Question of the Day
Hi! I’m in my 3rd season of crew, seasons 1 and 2 were spent as a rower. I’m 5’3″, 132lbs, and my erg score was 8:43.6 at the end of last season. Over the summer, I learned how to cox, and we needed an extra coxswain this season so that’s what I’m doing. I ended up really enjoying it, and I definitely want to stick with it. The problem is, when I’m in a bow loader (which is my usual boat it seems) I don’t completely fit in the seat- my legs are too wide. I know over the summer I gained weight, because at the end of last season I weighed closer to 120lbs/125lbs. Do you have any advice for workouts I can do/foods to help me (healthily) lose a few pounds? Also know that NO ONE on the team has said anything about my weight – I’d like to do this for my personal body image as well as comfort in the already uncomfortable coxswain seat. Thank you so much!
I totally feel you on trying to find a way to be comfortable in an uncomfortable coxswain seat. I’ve been in some boats where I can barely fit into the seats because they’re so narrow (which made me freak out thinking I’d gained a ton of weight or something) and then I’ll get into another boat where I’ll have two inches or more on either side of my hips. It’s very strange.
This question has come up a lot in emails lately so to anyone that’s already asked, this response will sound familiar. Losing weight itself is a two-part process. The first step is making smarter choices when it comes to what you’re eating. There’s obviously the “eat less” part of it but people tend to think that you can just cut out 500 calories and that’s all it takes but if you’re still eating like crap then you’re not really making that much of a difference. Swapping out less healthy stuff a few times a week for healthier options is a smarter way of approaching it – i.e. instead of going out to Chipotle (for the third time this week), stay home, grill some salmon, and throw it on a salad (I’ve been doing this lately and it’s so good). As long as the portion size is appropriate, not only are you saving calories but you’re also eating a relatively healthier meal overall.
The second part is making sure you’re getting some form of physical activity in a few times a week. If your team is doing a land workout, do it with them. If they’re erging, go for a run or hop on the bike (as long as it’s cool with your coach). If you don’t mind waking up early, go for a couple-mile long run before school. You can also download an app like Nike Training Center and do that if you’re having a tough timing coming up with your own stuff to do. Sometimes it’s easier to do all this with a friend so try to get the other coxswains involved too. One of our coxswains has started running in the mornings since our practices are in the afternoon and I’m kinda hoping the other two (freshmen) coxswains get in on it since it could be a good “bonding” experience for all of them. Shoot for 45 minutes at least 3-4x a week of quality – key word, QUALITY – exercise though and you should be good.
Question of the Day
Hi, I recently was asked by my coach to cox again this season like I did last season and I am really excited. My dad however thinks that coxswains don’t even do anything and they just sit there and yell at people. I keep trying to explain that it is a lot more than that but keep messing up. Do you have any ideas for how to explain what a coxswain does to my dad? Please help! Thanks!
This annoys me, like almost to the point where it’s irrational how annoyed I am. I get it if it’s your friends who say stuff like that but your parents?? You’d think they’d be a little more supportive than to just assume you spend 12+ hours a week (at least) “not doing anything”.
Anyways, read the post linked below and/or send it to your dad to read. (Personally I’d do both.) That person asked the exact same question so what I said to them applies here as well.
I’m kinda over defending what coxswains do to people who clearly don’t want to understand the role and it’s responsibilities. I was talking about this the other day with someone and we both agreed that there’s a time when it’s necessary to defend it and we’ll do that no matter what but we’re not going to get into some random argument with someone who already has their mind made up. If they genuinely ask me what the role of a coxswain is then obviously I’ll talk about it with them because it can be really fun talking about what you do with someone who isn’t familiar with it but if they ask in a high-and-mighty kind of way and is clearly already resolved to thinking that our job is unimportant then it’s not worth my time. It’s VERY easy to tell those two people apart though so it’s not like you should just assume that every person who asks about coxing is a jerk who just doesn’t get it.
Something that I think is important to remember is that you can’t let your self-worth as a coxswain be dictated or defined by what other people think of you. As long as you’re doing what you need to do, contributing to the team in a positive way, and your coaches/teammates understand your value then all other outside opinions don’t matter. Does it suck that these outside opinions are coming from your dad? Yea, obviously, but hopefully after explaining some of the stuff in that post I linked he’ll have a better understanding and be more supportive.