Day: March 17, 2016

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hey Kayleigh! I love your blog so much and wanted your input on three different issues I’ve been navigating for the past year. I am a freshman and still adjusting to college rowing, so any advice you have is much appreciated.

1. I do a good job steering when we’re just doing steady state or drills, but when we do pieces (especially at higher rates) I totally fall apart. I’m not sure if I freak out because I’m thinking too hard about what to say and then forget to steer or if I’m just bad at steering off of other boats or if I psych myself out and try to not touch the rudder at all but end up pretty far away from the other boats – it seems like all of these things happen to me sometimes. What can I do to improve my steering on pieces?

2. Thoughts on coxswain-rower relationships?

3. Advice for balancing rowing, school, and social life?

Thank you!!!

Check out all of these posts – they all touch in some way or another on the things you asked.

Steering: Coxswain skills – Steering, pt. 1 and pt. 2 and this QOTD

Relationships: QOTD, QOTD (I assume you mean in the dating sense so that’s what those address), QOTD, RESPECT, and Follow up to the RESPECT post (those ones address “relationships” in the more professional sense)

Balancing everything: This is a long-ish post but it basically details how I failed miserably at this and what I realized (years later) I should have done instead. Also check out this post.

Something that most coxswains don’t realize you can do is tighten the slack on the steering cables. Even if they don’t seem that loose you can almost always get them a little tighter. Don’t attempt this yourself though (especially since it’s easier done in some boats than others) – ask your coach or boatman if they can do it for you. Keep in mind this might make it a little tougher to take turns but it’ll help you steer straighter when you’re racing or doing pieces and ultimately that’s the bigger priority.

I talked about this in one of the posts I linked but if you can, put yourself in the middle of the other crews you’re doing pieces with (assuming you’re out with two other crews – if not, go between the other crew and the shore). This forces you to be aware of your steering and limit how much you’re touching the rudder so that you don’t interfere with their courses or clash blades. Steering a straight course is more important than making calls so if you need to not talk or talk less in order to focus more on perfecting your line, tell your crew you’re doing that (before you go on the water, preferably) and focus on that for the first piece or two.

Also spend time off the water going over everything you’ve been doing and coming up with a bank of calls that way you don’t have to think about what to say, it’s already there in the back of your head. In high school and college I’d write stuff down in my notebook and then go back and highlight the stuff that I wanted to use as calls but since I started at MIT I’ve been (semi) organizing stuff I hear in recordings, things the other coaches say, etc. into a spreadsheet that’s broken down into calls for the catch, finish/release, bodies, racing, bladework, etc. It might be worth spending some time doing something similar, that way you can see everything in one place and you won’t have to rack your brain to come up with stuff or try to remember that thing your coach was saying to 5-seat about his catches.

As far as relationships go, just be mature about it and don’t start unnecessary drama if things don’t work out. This tends to be easier said than done when you’re in high school but by the time you’re in college most people (most … not all) have figured out how to not be dicks when they stop dating someone so it should be a little easier to manage provided neither of you acts like a 12 year old. On the flip side, keep it professional when you’re at practice and make sure you’re not avoiding calling them out on stuff in the boat if they need to make a technical change or won’t shut up because they’re talking to their pair partner or whatever.

Balancing crew, school, and a social life is one of those fun “here are three things, pick two” situations that everybody deals with at some point or another. The best piece of advice I can offer is that the sooner you start to feel overwhelmed by school or crew, speak up and talk to your professors, advisers, and coaches. Most of the time they’ll be willing to work with you but you can’t wait until the last minute to say something or avoid saying anything at all because you’re afraid you’ll look bad, weak, etc. Yea, some people are assholes and they’ll say “too bad, deal with it” (which truthfully, despite learning this the hard way, isn’t the worst thing … you do have to figure out how to handle things when life is throwing everything it has at you) but the sooner you acknowledge things are starting to go downhill the better prepared you’ll be to handle it. Make sure you’re familiar with the available resources on campus too – mental health services, tutoring (either through the athletic department or the relevant academic department), etc.

Social life-wise, if your school has frats/sororities and you’re into that, consider rushing. Greek life is HUGE here at MIT (I think all but one or two of our guys are in one) and it’s a good way to get involved with something and meet people outside of crew. Also look into low-key, non-academic clubs/groups that relate to other hobbies/interests you have since that’s a built in way to meet people and do something fun. If you like singing, join an acapella group or if you think you’re the next Amy Schumer, see if there are any comedy clubs on campus or in the city that you can join. You can also do something as simple as getting a few teammates together to watch and analyze the Bachlorette … religiously … every week … which some of our team may or may not have been doing the last few months.

The point is, don’t put all your eggs in one basket and make sure you schedule some down time that has nothing to do with school or rowing. Even during days or weeks when you’re completely swamped with work, you’ve still gotta give yourself an hour or so each day to unwind otherwise you’ll go crazy and burn out hard and fast.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi Kayleigh! So the pressure today in my boat was pretty off – 2 seat got sick so another guy had to come in for him. The bow seat was noticeably stronger than 2 seat and I didn’t really notice until I started turning (we were doing side by side pieces – if it were just us it probably wouldn’t have been as big of a deal but since it was a straight shot it was). I obviously made an effort to adapt for it but I was really having trouble holding a point because of it and one coach was getting frustrated by that. After practice the other coach who was out with us came up to me and said that he noticed it and I need to let the coaches know when stuff like that happens. So, I get that I have to let them know but can I really say that without making it seem like a big deal? I feel like it makes it seem as if I don’t know what I’m doing (I’m new to the boys team so I’m also trying to earn my spot). Thanks!

It isn’t a big deal. There’s a big difference between coxswains who straight up steer like they just came to the boathouse after last call and coxswains who are having trouble holding a point because there’s a pressure disparity between port and starboard. From the launch I can usually tell which is which because if there’s a pressure issue then you’re always gonna pull towards the same side whereas if you’re just not good at steering you’re gonna be all over the place.

You’ve (meaning coxswains in general) gotta get over thinking that speaking up and saying that something is off reflects poorly on your abilities. This has nothing to do with you – it’s a lineup issue that could (potentially) be easily be addressed by pulling the boats together and making a quick switch. At the very least the coaches can make note of it so that when they look at the results of the pieces (especially if they’re trying to compare rowers and do unofficial seat races) they’ll know at least one reason why you were behind or not as far ahead as you should have been.

When I’m coxing I’m not about to have my skills scrutinized because one rower/side is getting out-pulled by the other. That’s not my fault since, in case no one else noticed, I’m the only one in the boat without an oar and it’s rarely something you can compensate for with your steering without it having a noticeable effect on the boat’s set and speed (since being on the rudder creates drag and slows you down). It’s a lot easier for you and less irritating for the rowers and coaches if you just say “the ports have consistently been out-pulling the starboards which is why whenever we’re rowing at pressure we pull towards starboard” than for you to stay quiet because you want to protect your ego.

If there’s a difference in pressure between sides or certain rowers then I’ll just tell them “starboards, you guys are getting pulled around by the ports, let’s make sure we’re all at 3/4 pressure here so the boat stays set and I don’t have to constantly be on the rudder”. If their egos are so fragile that they can’t handle being told they need to pull harder then that’s their issue to deal with, not mine. It’s always a lot more obvious when there’s a difference between individuals when it’s with bow pair so I’ll tell them that they’re gonna have a much bigger impact on my point than anyone else in the boat so they’ve gotta match up with each other. I usually start by telling the stronger guy (let’s assume he’s bow seat) to back off and then after having said that, if he’s still pulling 2-seat around then I’ll tell 2-seat they need to pick it up a little. I tend to notice stuff like this pretty quickly so I’ll try to sort it out during the warmup but if it carries over into the actual workout (specifically if we’re doing straight shot pieces) then I won’t wait more than a piece or two before saying something to the coach(es). If it’s noticeably bad then I’ll tell them as soon as we’re done with the first one (because they probably noticed it too) but if it’s just a mild annoyance for me as far as steering goes I’ll wait until the next piece is over to give the rowers a chance to work it out after I say something about it.

My point with all of this is that it isn’t a big deal and it’s your responsibility as the coxswain to speak up when stuff happens that can impact the effectiveness and/or results of a piece. If you don’t that’s at best frustrating for the coaches who are trying to make sense of the results and at worst not fair to the rowers for all the other obvious reasons.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi – we were doing 6×5′ race pieces today at 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, open. Obviously the coaches were being sticklers on the rate but my cox box was not giving me the right stroke rate – it said I was at a 22 the entire time when I knew that we weren’t and the boat really likes to know what rate they’re at. When I felt the rate coming up I would call to bring it down but the coaches kept saying “you’re above rate, bring it down! It’s your responsibility!” I know that it’s my responsibility but how do you deal with these kinds of situations? We don’t have speed coaches to use either. Thanks!

I really, truly, genuinely hope that I’m not the only one who thinks that the most obvious (and only legitimate) solution here is to just tell your coaches that your cox box isn’t giving you the correct rates. It is your responsibility and part of that responsibility includes communicating with the coaches when an issue that could impact the workout arises. You literally have no excuse to not speak up in situations like this. It’s not that hard to say “hey, my cox box keeps showing that we’re at a 22 even though we should be at a 28…”, to which the coaches will respond (maybe slightly annoyed but whatever, they’ll survive) “ok, we’ll keep the rate from the launch and let you know where you’re at”. Every coach has a stroke watch (which is how they knew you were above rate) but they’re not gonna know that you need them to tell you what they’re getting if you don’t speak up.

The other thing you need to do is put the boat in slings after practice and have the coach or your boatman look at the sensor under the stroke seat since that’s probably where the problem lies.

High School Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’m currently an sophomore high school girls coxswain and this question doesn’t really have to do with coxing or rowing, but I hope you can help me out. Both the junior and senior classes of my crew are very small, two people each. However, the sophomore class is quite big, around 15. Now that the spring season is starting only about 5 novices have joined so our coach, who was a rower back when the varsity team had 90 girls total, is mad at us and constantly pressing us to go out and recruit. Our school has about 600 people per grade so it shouldn’t seem too hard but I am not very good at talking to new people so I have a hard time going up to people to recruit. I am wondering if you have any tips on how to recruit and things to say to the person to get them interested in the sport.

Check out the post linked below. It’s mainly geared towards recruiting coxswains to your team (and what not to do) but there’s some stuff in there that’s applicable to recruiting in general.

Related: How to recruit coxswains

Instead of talking to individual people (which will never not be awkward) try reaching out to groups instead, like National Honor Society (pretty sure 3/4 of my team was in NHS), Model UN, Key Club, Student Council, etc. If your school has a marching band (particularly a competitive one), that’d be another good group to talk to. I think during my freshman and sophomore year at least half of us (which was like, 50ish people) were on the crew team too since it was a good way to stay in shape between when we finished in November and started again in July.

That’s obviously not a comprehensive list but it’s a good starting point if you think about the type of people that rowing typically attracts – driven, competitive, dedicated, etc. See if you can make a quick 5 minute pitch at the start of their next meeting and say that the team is looking for people who’d be interested in joining, this is when/where practice is, follow us on social media to get an idea for what the team is like, and if you have any questions talk to [the team captain(s), the seniors, or whoever else you designate]. You don’t have to give a ton of details right off the bat so just give them the pertinent information and then you can answer the more specific questions later. Another thing is to see if you can occupy a small part of the chalkboard in some of the classrooms. We did this my senior year and asked our AP/Honors teachers if they’d mind us writing something and leaving it there for a week or so and they were all pretty cool with it. I don’t remember what we wrote but it was probably something really simple (“WANNA ROW? 3PM. LIBRARY. SNACKS.”) written in a delightfully artsy design that only a bunch of 17 year old girls given colored chalk and free reign over the chalkboard could design.

Another great way to get new people is to talk to fall/winter athletes who aren’t doing a spring sport. We had a lot of swimmers, basketball players, volleyball players, cross-country runners, and soccer players on our team, in addition to several football players – wide receivers, running backs, safeties, and kickers specifically. These were always some of the best people on the team (physically and mentally) because they already had that competitive mindset that can be really hard to teach new athletes. If you’re trying to get walk-ons in the fall you can also have your coach talk to the coaches of the other fall teams and see if they can get a list of the kids that were cut that might have the potential (aka athletic ability) to excel at another sport. Just because they didn’t make the soccer team doesn’t mean they wouldn’t make a good rower!

Coxing Ergs Q&A

Question of the Day

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What roles does a cox have at erg sprints?

Eh, pretty much the same role you do when your team is testing at your own boathouse – if people want to be coxed, cox them, and if times need to be taken down, do it, otherwise just hang in the background and watch. At CRASH-Bs there are “floor coxswains” who write down times and cox people if they’re asked to (although most people that want to be coxed bring their own so this doesn’t happen often) but the majority of the time is spent just standing there not doing much. (Of the three volunteer roles I’ve had at CRASH-Bs this one was by far the least exciting.)