Month: December 2015

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Lunge

Coxing Rowing Technique

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Lunge

By

Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle || Pick drill || Suspension || Skying the blade || Quarter feather || Pin || Run

What part of the stroke/stroke cycle does it refer to

Lunging can occur at any point after bodies over but the point in the stroke where it’s the most prevalent is at the catch.

What does it mean/refer to

Lunging is another way of saying over-reaching, diving, or falling into the catch. When you go to the bodies over position, ideally you should be pivoting from your hips. Your range of motion is limited by your hamstring, knee, and hip flexibility so some people are able to pivot more than others but for those who aren’t super flexible, they try to compensate for that by bending forwards from their low backs to get their bodies over and attain some amount of reach. For those who are able to pivot forward without issue, they tend to think that more is better so they fall forward at the last second to get a few extra inches of reach when in reality they’re just derailing the boat speed.

Relevant calls

One of the most consistent things I say to the crew in this situation is to remind them to set the bodies early and that all their body prep should be completed before the wheels start rolling. Any additional reach after that is lunging and it’s not only ineffective but it’s also detrimental to the speed of the boat. Noting the fact that they’re actively slowing the boat down rather than maintaining or building speed usually gets their attention if nothing else does.

I try to avoid saying “you’re lunging” or “let’s make sure we’re not overextending ourselves at the catch” too much because I think that draws attention to the problem (which could end up exacerbating it) rather than directing them to a solution, which is what those reminder calls attempt to accomplish. Sometimes it’s necessary to say those things (i.e. if it’s a consistent problem that isn’t being fixed) but I usually try to save this as a last resort. It’s also really easy to just say “you’re lunging” and think that’s going to fix the problem (and with more experienced crews that might be all you need to say…) but you still need to know what’s causing them to lunge in the first place so you can communicate the adjustments you want them to make. When I hear coxswains make simple calls like that over and over again and the problem still persists then I know that you have no idea what causes lunging or what you need to say to have the rowers make the necessary adjustments.

Pausing at 3/4 slide is a good drill to work on this because it limits the amount of momentum going into the catch and forces you to just drift up and quickly place the blade in the water. If you recognize that lunging is an issue with your crew and your coach says to do some pause drills during your warmup or to throw in a pause during a piece, 3/4 slide pauses can help you kill two birds with one stone.

What to look for

I look for three things all happening at the same time, or at the very least on a consistent basis within a couple strokes of each other. They are: skying the blade at the catch, an increase in the speed of their blade moving back towards bow when the rowers are moving through the top quarter of their slides, and the feeling of check in the boat. Individually those three things are separate issues with their own causes and effects but when they’re happening in rapid succession it usually means someone (or several someones) is lunging.

Effect(s) on the boat

The biggest effect that lunging has on the boat is in the amount of check it causes. Because you’re throwing your upper bodies forward and downwards so suddenly (and drastically), you’re generating a lot of momentum that is hard to counteract. Not only does this slow the boat down and create a lot of check but it also results in slower catches (mostly because you end up skying as a result of your shoulders and hands falling down towards your feet). It can also really screw up your back, not just because you’re swinging forward improperly but also because it can also cause you to shoot your tail on the resulting drive.

Related posts/questions

Top 20 Terms: Body Angle

To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.

College Recruiting: (More) Questions to Ask Coaches

College Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

College Recruiting: (More) Questions to Ask Coaches

By

Previously: Intro || The recruiting timeline + what to consider || What do coaches look at? || Contacting coaches, pt. 1 ||  Contacting coaches, pt. 2 || Contacting coaches, pt. 3 || Contacting coaches, pt. 4 || Highlight videos + the worst recruiting emails || Official/unofficial visits + recruiting rules recap || When scholarships aren’t an option || Managing your time as a student-athlete + narrowing down your list of schools || Interest from coaches + coming from a small program || How much weight do coaches have with admissions + what to do if there are no spots left || Being recruited as a coxswain, pt. 1 || Being recruited as a coxswain, pt. 2 || Technique + erg scores

This list of questions was compiled by Jim Dietz (current women’s coach at UMass and pretty notable guy within the rowing community) and includes two things – questions you should ask and questions you can figure the answers to out on your own (aka questions you shouldn’t ask because if you do it just shows a) your lack of initiative and preparation and b) that you’re not really interested in that school/program).

I’ll start with the latter, questions you shouldn’t ask…

Are they club or varsity? (Know the difference.)

Are they D1, D2, or D3? (Know the difference.)

What conference do they compete in?

Who do they compete against? (Just look at their racing schedule to figure this out.)

How often to they race? (Look at their schedule.)

Those things you can find out very easily via Google so don’t waste the coaches time by asking them during the limited period of time that you speak on the phone or through email. Now, questions you should ask…

What kind of academic support is available to the athletes?

Is the team limited to rowing eights and fours or is pairs rowing/sculling also an option?

How are the facilities and what are the conditions normally like where you row?

Do you recruit coxswains? (Obviously an especially important question if you’re a coxswain.)

How are coxswains evaluated?

What is the team atmosphere like in general and how are things handled when the environment is tense (i.e. during selection, the dead of winter training, etc.)?

Another great question to ask is what the freshmen → sophomore retention rate is, as well as what’s the number of four-year athletes that graduate compared to the number of people who were in that class as a freshmen (aka how many athletes make it all four years?). Athletes who quit during or after their freshman year usually do it for one of two reasons, culture or academics. (Both of those played a factor in my decision when I stopped coxing.) Athletes that quit later in their careers (juniors + seniors) tend to do so purely for academic reasons.

With freshmen, culture tends to be the bigger of the two unless you’re at a very academically intensive school (like MIT, for example) where balancing athletics and academics can be a challenge from the get-go. All of the freshmen that we’ve lost the last two years (which was … four or five rowers, I think) left for academic reasons, not necessarily because they were falling behind or anything but because they wanted to be able to devote more time to school and other activities (Greek life is huge here so that’s one of them) and they felt like it wouldn’t be possible to do that while balancing 20+ hours a week as an athlete.

Related: What questions should you ask coaches during the recruiting process?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but you should also ask if there are any rowers on the team currently majoring in whatever it is you want to major in. (This is also a good question/topic for conversation when you go on your official visits and have some time to interact with the athletes outside of practice.) This is especially important if you’re interested in pre-med/pre-law, engineering, architecture, chem/bio/physics … basically anything that is lab or project-intensive.

Related: College recruiting: Official/unofficial visits + recruiting rules recap

One of the main reasons why you should ask this is because it just might not be feasible to do that major due to scheduled lab times and practice times. My major was very lab-intensive since it was a research-based science major and more than once I had classes and/or labs that were only offered at one specific time once a year or once every other year. It’s also good to learn how athletes in those majors manage their schedules with crew and all their other commitments (i.e. clubs, research, study groups, etc.).

Another question that is important to ask is how committed the coach is to their program, particularly if one of the reasons why you’re looking at the program is because you want to row for that coach. Barring getting fired or other unforeseen circumstances, are they planning on sticking around for (at least) the next five years? Most coaches that I personally know would be totally cool with being asked this question, mainly because if they’re asking you to commit four years to them it’s only fair that you ask the same in return. If they have young kids who might be starting school in two years, are they going to stay in their tiny condo in the big city or are they planning on moving to an area with better schools where they can buy a house with a yard and actually settle down? What about if you want to row for a legendary coach like Steve Gladstone, for example? He’s been in the rowing game for decades … it’s not unreasonable to think that maybe he’s eyeing retirement within the next three years. (That’s not to say he is, it’s just an example.) If rowing for a particular coach is one of the reasons you’re drawn to that program, asking these questions should be part of the conversation you have with them.

Related: What questions should you ask coaches during the recruiting process?

The last thing is questions that can/will be asked by the coach to you that you can/should also ask them.

How the season went (Obviously you can look up their results but specifically, what was the biggest lesson learned from … I donno, Washington’s loss to Cal in the spring, or what was the most meaningful experience from this past year?)

What are your/the team’s goals within/outside rowing? (Our team, like I assume most teams do, has two meetings each year – one at the end of the fall and one before the start of the spring season – to lay out our goals and then discuss our progress towards them.)

Why are you interested in this school or if you’re asking the coach this, what attracted you to this school and why have you stayed there for 3, 5, 12, 40 years? (This is one of my favorite questions to ask when I’m interviewing with coaches.)

That’s it, the last recruiting post in this series. I hope the last seventeen weeks worth of posts have been helpful for you guys and have answered some of your questions about the whole process (or ones you didn’t know you had) and everything that goes into it. If you want to check out previous posts in this series you can check out the “college recruiting 101” tag. All other recruiting posts can be found in the “recruiting” tag.

Image via // @rowingrelated
Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Run

Coxing Rowing Technique

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Run

By

Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle || Pick drill || Suspension || Skying the blade || Quarter feather || Pin

What part of the stroke/stroke cycle does it refer to

The recovery.

What does it mean/refer to

Run refers to the distance the boat travels between strokes.

Relevant calls

The majority of the calls you’ll make are interchangeable with most ratio calls since minimizing check and disturbances to the boat’s run have a lot to do with how controlled the recovery is.

“Row long through the water, let the boat run at the finish…”

“Steady speed into the catch…”

“Roll the wheels at a constant speed…”

Calls for the finish can also be used to set up the run, such as “send” (the most ubiquitous finish call in existence),  “long”, “chaaa”, etc.

Related: Hello! Sorry if this is a dumb question but I was wondering, what does it mean when coxswains say “cha”? Thank you!

The thing with run is that there’s not that many specific calls for it but there are a lot of calls for other parts of the stroke (specifically the finish, swing, body angle, and the slides) that pull double-duty and apply to it in addition to whatever their primary meaning is.

What to look for

One of the best/easiest ways for a coxswain to tell how much run you’re getting is to watch your 2-seat’s puddles. If the boat is running well then their puddle should pass your stroke seat before they (stroke) take their next stroke. Also, during steady state rows the bow pair’s puddles should be clearing the stern by at least a seat or two – this applies to most experienced crews but for younger crews, they puddles should at least be able to make it to the coxswain.

Another thing you can look for (that isn’t always easy to see unless you’re in the launch) is where the boat is sitting in the water. If the boat feels heavy and the shell is sitting low (rather than rising up slightly) then the run isn’t being maximized.

Effect(s) on the boat

If you’re able to achieve good run (which is in effect a product of how well executed the transfer of weight from the bow to stern during the recovery was) then the ultimate effect on the boat will be that you’re able to travel farther with less wasted effort.

Related posts/questions

Can you explain the term ‘run’? When a cox says “more run” it’s referring to the length and lay back of the recovery and such, correct?

To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.

Image via // @r_wioslarz

Nobody Beats Us! served as our main trigger. We practiced using trigger words, private verbal keys, which unlocked certain thoughts for us. We had a half-dozen phrases - some dealt with maintaining our technique, some dealt with our stroke rating. The most powerful phrase was 'Nobody Beats Us!' According to our plan, when I said these words to Paul toward the end of the race, we would immediately shift into our final sprint, rowing as high and hard as possible, straight through until we crossed the finish line.

Brad Alan Lewis 1984 USA M2x
College Recruiting: Technique + Erg Scores

College Ergs Recruiting Technique

College Recruiting: Technique + Erg Scores

By

Previously: Intro || The recruiting timeline + what to consider || What do coaches look at? || Contacting coaches, pt. 1 ||  Contacting coaches, pt. 2 || Contacting coaches, pt. 3 || Contacting coaches, pt. 4 || Highlight videos + the worst recruiting emails || Official/unofficial visits + recruiting rules recap || When scholarships aren’t an option || Managing your time as a student-athlete + narrowing down your list of schools || Interest from coaches + coming from a small program || How much weight do coaches have with admissions + what to do if there are no spots left || Being recruited as a coxswain, pt. 1 || Being recruited as a coxswain, pt. 2

This was an interesting question that came up at NRC – does your on-the-water technique matter during recruiting or is it all about your 2k? The answers from the coaches were split with some saying yes, others saying no, and some saying yes and no. A lot of recruits will send video clips for coaches to evaluate (the importance of having a few good quality ones on hand can’t be emphasized enough) but the coaches can/will also get in touch with your high school coaches to ask how your technique is, amongst other things. They might also go out and watch practice to see for themselves how you look. In that sense technique matters because it’s not something you can hide and get away with not having.

On the other hand, what most coaches are looking for is if you know how to row in general. They’re assuming that you fit the basic parameters (i.e. you’re physiologically suited for the team and academically suited for the university), know the basics of the sport, and have a fundamental understanding of the stroke. At the end of the day though, your adaptability and coachability matter far more than your technique. Each program you’re looking at likely has a certain style or definition of technique that they try to bring their athletes around – think of Harvard and Washington’s “finish pause that isn’t really a pause” as an example. Your ability  – not even that really, more like your willingness – to be coached and make technical changes will be a highly valued trait so if you haven’t been rowing long and/or aren’t the most technically proficient rower, don’t think that you’re automatically out of the running to be recruited.

Pro tip though, don’t ever, ever say to a coach “that’s not how we did it in high school” or “in high school we did it this way…” when they’re trying to coach you on something technical. If you want to get on a coach’s bad side, this is the best and fastest way to do it. Coxswains, this absolutely applies to you too. One of our coxswains did this so many times last year and my eyes still hurt from rolling them every time she did it.

Moving on to the holy grail of recruiting – your erg score. They’re not the only thing coaches look at, obviously, but they are one of (if not the) most important. First and foremost, do your research before asking coaches where you should be or at the very least, reference your research if you want specifics with regards to times. Your best resource will be the times from CRASH Bs, especially if you’re a lightweight guy since the league has been getting markedly faster over the last few years. You can also search the rowing sub on Reddit. This question has been asked numerous times so it’s not hard to find info if you just spend a few minutes searching and reading the threads.

Similarly to each person’s rowing background, every erg score has a narrative. An eight-season rower with a 7:43 2k vs. a multi-sport athlete with four seasons of rowing and a 7:43 are two different narratives. On paper the latter is going to look more favorable so that’s something to keep in mind – if you’ve been rowing for 6-8 seasons, makes sure you’ve got the erg scores to show for it.

Related: College recruiting: Interest from coaches + coming from a small program

Many of the top programs won’t offer official visits to kids until they’re under a certain benchmark (for example, you have to be <7:20 during your junior year to be offered an official from the Wisco women) so if it’s not obvious already, simply “loving” the sport and having done it for several seasons isn’t enough. You also cannot hide behind the whole “my technique is better than my erg score” logic. It doesn’t fly with college coaches and as Kerber from Cornell said, hope is not a strategy. That goes back to the earlier discussion of how important is technique – it’s important and you need to be decent but erg scores are the most objective form of evaluation coaches have so if it’s not up to par, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Also, never say you don’t know your 2k. It’s ridiculous that you’re even entering into this process without knowing what it is so before you start filling out questionnaires, emailing coaches, etc. get on an erg and do one so you have an idea of where you’re at right now. You basically need to know two times – your PR and your most recent time. They may or may not be from the same test, it doens’t really matter. If you haven’t 2k’ed in awhile, do some training on your own and test before practice. Make sure you have a coach or your coxswain (but preferably your coach) there to verify it too. 4x500m at your goal splits with 2min rest between the pieces was one of the workouts suggested by a couple of the coaches so that would be a good starting point if you’re planning to test soon.

Next week: (More) Questions to ask college coaches

Coxswain recordings, pt. 33

College Coxing Racing

Coxswain recordings, pt. 33

By

University of Washington 2012 Windermere Cup Men’s open 8+

I realized after uploading this that I think I labeled the video incorrectly – rather than the varsity eight race I think it’s actually the men’s open eight since “Western” is Western Washington and they weren’t in the V8+ race.

Starting at 0:22, I like this series of quick calls (“now build it and here we go, get on it now…”) right before they start their high strokes. It’s a good alternative to not calling the first four or five stokes if you’re not into that kinda thing.

“One seat up, that’s fine…” Compare his call of “one seat up, that’s fine” at 0:59 to what a lot of coxswains do – “200m in, we’re one seat up, by 250m I wanna be on their bow ball, power 10!” – and it’s not hard to see why I like this, not just for what he says but for how he says it. If you’ve established your rhythm, are taking tight, clean strokes, the boat feels good, etc. then ride that and use it to your advantage for as long as you can, regardless of whether you’re up one seat or down three seats.

If you watch the time on the video, you’ll notice that 200m to 300m and 300m to 400m only took them roughly 20 seconds per 100m. That’s a little over 11mph (18km/hr). For comparison, Germany rowed the first 500m of the final in London at just over 13mph (21km/hr). I stopped paying attention to this after awhile but in the first third of the recording you’ll hear him call 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 750m, etc. While he’s probably rowed on the Montlake Cut long enough to know where each 100m mark is along shore, another way you can tell your crew where you are is by paying attention to the times. If during practice you’re pulling similar splits during pieces to what you’re pulling during your race then you’ll be able to guesstimate that each 100m is taking you roughly X seconds. This in turn means that even if there aren’t markers along shore telling you where you are, you can make a good guess based on what the clock on your cox box is saying.

At the 500m, I like the “five to set the swing” they took. Especially after the first 500m, which can tend to be a little frantic, it’s always good to take a couple strokes to re-establish that long, smooth stroke that you wanna maintain throughout the bulk of the race. Making focus-specific calls like he did here for swing is also important, especially when your busts are short like this one was. I liked the “good swing through the back” one the best.

Overall, this was a really well-coxed piece. What I really liked and what you should be taking away is how there was a good balance of everything a coxswain should be focused on during a race – position on the course, position on other crews, splits (if you’ve got a SpeedCoach), technique (maintaining a balance between general calls and calls for individuals when necessary), etc. His voice is great too – calm at times, in your face other times, but intense as hell from start to finish.

Other calls I liked:

“Hands up to the front bow six, we want no missed water…”

“Keep walking away, give them nothing…”

“Curb stomp the shit out of ’em…”

“We’re comin’ into the Cut, it’s Husky territory now, show ’em a hell of a race…”

“With the push…”, with regards to the leg drive. “On the legs” can get old after awhile so I like this as an alternative.

Gainesville Area Rowing Women’s Varsity 8+ Steady State + Docking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF9505cWYpI&feature=youtu.be

So this video is of an eight minute steady-state progression starting at rate 20 and finishing at a 26. At the start of the piece it takes a few strokes to find that long 20spm (during the 5+10) so going forward what I would do in that situation is try to hit the rates just like I would during a race, which means calling it the same, giving the same instructions, etc. (albeit minus the intensity of a race – her tone here was perfect for what they were doing), that way if you have to do something similar during an actual piece you’ll already know what to say to get them to respond (and in turn, they’ll know what they need to do).

That means telling them to hit it the rate “on this one”, making rate-specific calls such as “lengthen out a beat here”, etc. If you’re doing 5 to build or something similar then you’ve gotta communicate with your stroke beforehand and say “we’re at an 16 right now and we’re doing a long build into a 20, all you’ve gotta do is hit half a beat each stroke and we’ll be good”. From there, as long as you’re in the 19.5 – 20.5 spm range, you’re fine. Particularly at the junior level it’s unlikely that you’re going to be right on your desired rate every single stroke so going with a tight range like this gives you some wiggle room and prevents you from having to say the stroke rate every stroke to try to get it exactly on a 20.

This applies to all the other transitions too. Instead of saying “OK let’s take it to a 24 … 22.5, 22.5, 22.5, 22.5, 23.5, 23.5, 23.5, 24…” just say “OK we’re at a 22, let’s hit that 24 in one stroke with the legs … on this one, leeegs, good 24…”. Or, if you’re doing a long build again (which I think they did going from the 22 to a 24), instead of saying the rate on every stroke and nothing else, say something like “OK we’re gonna take another long build into this 24, let’s make sure we’re staying controlled, finding our length, and moving right with stern pair. Ready to go … on this one, that’s 1 through the water, 2 23, 3 controool here, 4 let’s hit that 24 … on this one, boom send…good, right on rate.”.

One of the things I think she did well was build her tone/intensity across the duration of the piece. It drives me crazy to hear one-note coxswains cox pieces like this because they never do anything different with their voice. If the rate and pressure is going up, by default so should your tone/intensity.

I love how she docked too. Good job giving them instructions and telling them what to do every step of the way. Novices in particular, take note – this was a pretty good example of how to bring it in at the end of practice.

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