Author: readyallrow

College Coxing High School Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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Hi there! So long story short I’ve been rowing for my high school team for the past 3 years (I’m a junior this year) and my novice year we needed a coxswain for one of the novice boats, so I both rowed and coxed that year. My coach that year told me I was a natural coxswain and I was really passionate about it. Unfortunately, I’m a little on the tall side for a coxswain (I’m 5’5″) so when I got to varsity under a new coach she found other coxswains that were smaller and so I just became a rower full time. Fast forward to today and unfortunately my erging times have not gotten as fast as I would like them to be :(. However, I really want to row/cox in college and it’s looking unlikely that I could row for any of the schools I want to go to. I would be interested in coxing again for either men or women in college though. My current coach just doesn’t see me as a coxswain for some reason, and won’t let me start coxing again even though I’m one of the slowest rowers on varsity and our men’s team is in need of a cox. Last year, one of our rowers on the girls team got injured and became a cox for the guys, so I just don’t see why I couldn’t at least try coxing again. Anyways, do you have any suggestions on how I could convince her to let me cox? Also, would it be too weird for me to email college coaches from schools I’m interested in and tell them I’m interested in coxing for them even though I haven’t coxed very much since freshman year?

I would say that if the guys are in need of a cox then you should talk to their coach and see what you can work out. Explain to him that you’re interested in rowing in college but with your times and being on the shorter side (for a rower), you feel like you’d be a bigger asset to the team as a coxswain. You don’t need your current coach’s permission in this case (at least in my opinion you don’t…) and if she’s already said she’s not going to let you cox, it’s probably not worth it on your end to try forcing the issue.

I don’t think it’d be weird. You have rowing experience so you’re not inexperienced with the sport itself, just the coxing aspect of it. I wouldn’t try to be recruited though. Walking on is your best option in this case. I’d say what I said above in regards to talking to the men’s coach of your current team. Start by saying that you’ve been involved with crew for three years, started out as a coxswain before transitioning to a rower, and now that you’re looking at colleges you’re interested in coxing again. You don’t have to say anything about your height, erg scores, etc. since that’s all fairly irrelevant at this point. Plus, you don’t want to bring up something “negative” when you’re trying to highlight your positives, if that makes sense.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Thoughts on stroke seats yelling at coxswains and telling them to do things during pieces?

I’ve got a few.

Novice coxswain + novice stroke

Unnecessary because it’s pretty likely that the stroke is just as clueless as the coxswain and is just trying to be a badass because they Googled “personalities in an eight” and read that strokes have big egos. When they’re both equally inexperienced novices, there’s very little reason for the stroke to be telling the coxswain how to do anything.

Novice coxswain + experienced stroke

I’m OK with this as long as the stroke understands the coxswain is a novice and doesn’t know very much yet. Yelling isn’t cool but “guiding” them through what they could/should say or do is fine. The coxswain should interpret this as the stroke helping them learn and should make sure that they’re actually paying attention to what they’re saying so that they can make the calls on their own next time. If the coxswain gets pissed in this situation, I’d say they’re the ones that need to check their egos.

Experienced coxswain + novice stroke

Lol, no.

Experienced coxswain + experienced stroke

At this point when both people know what’s going on, the stroke telling the coxswain what to do can be looked at in one of two ways. One, as simple communication because they can feel things we can’t and their feedback is kind of important for certain calls or two, as overstepping their role. I don’t have a problem if during a piece my stroke says “ratio” or “let’s take a 10” or whatever because sometimes I’m focused on something else and can’t/don’t see or feel that the ratio might be off, so them saying that helps me focus on it for a second and make the appropriate call. If they say to take a 10 or something and I think it’s a good time to take one, I will. Almost every time this has happened to me I’ve been about two strokes away from calling a ten anyways, so it speaks more to how synced my stroke and I were than anything else. Other times I’ll either ignore them or say “not yet”. If you have a good relationship with your stroke, none of this should be an issue.

If, on the other hand, they start telling you how to do every little thing or start yelling at you to do what they want and what they think is right, that’s a problem. You’ll know the difference between communicating and overstepping if/when you experience it. It might be difficult to explain on paper but it’s not hard to tell the difference in the boat.

Ultimately, the coxswain is the one who decides what to say and what to call during pieces. If the rowers don’t like it, deal with it, it’s our job. Communicating with the stroke is important but when the stroke starts telling the coxswain every move they should make, that’s when the coxswain needs to regain control of the boat and tell the stroke to back off. There are exceptions to every rule but that’s how I feel about the majority of these scenarios.

Erg Playlists

Music to erg to, pt. 22

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ID camps start next week! Remember, if you’re a coxswain you still have to go to an ID camp and you have to go to your own sex’s camp, meaning women, even if you cox men during the regular season, have to attend the women’s camps. Also, if you plan on going through the ID camp process, read this. It is clearly – CLEARLY – stated on the JNT website what their expectations of you are regarding your weight. It is your responsibility to be on top of that if you plan on trying out.

https://play.spotify.com/user/1241641027/playlist/3BINEKNmpuvQZSzsc9qzx2

Coxswain recordings, pt. 16

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 16

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Sacramento State Start Lake Natoma Invite

This is a short clip that gives a good example of how to call a start. I’m not a huge advocate of counting down the strokes unless it’s two or three strokes leading into a move or stride (i.e. “let’s shift in three … in two …  in one, now…”) but that’s beside the point in this particular recording. The takeaway here is her tone and how she delivers her calls – sharp, quick, and concise.

Bucknell Men’s Novice 8+ Grand Final ECAC New England Championships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=d14Y4JzmsRM

Overall this is a good recording for a freshman/novice race. He starts off the first 500 by spending a lot of time noting their position on the other crews, which on one hand is good that he’s giving his boat that information but there’s definitely a better way to present it. You don’t want to put all your energy into talking about the rest of the field because that takes the focus away from your boat, which is the number one priority. You want to make sure you’re throwing down a clear, established rhythm right as you settle to your base pace and then once you’ve got the boat running and swinging well, that’s when you can start shifting your focus to how the race is evolving around you.

At 1:25 when he’s building into their upcoming move, it feels super frantic when he yells “get the bow ball ahead”. I get what he’s going for but I think this could have been executed a little cleaner. The subsequent calls though are good.

As the race goes on, he’s doing a great job of telling the crew where they’re at on the rest of the field … which I know is contrary to what I said earlier but the difference is that now is actually the appropriate time to be making all those calls. You hear him talk about how close they are to Michigan and Ithaca right before and right after they cross the thousand – that would have been the opportunity to shut them down with a move. When you’ve got crews that are half a seat or one seat off of you, you’ve gotta shift your priorities from whatever you’re currently doing to putting them in your rearview mirror for good. You don’t want to be on the losing end of that seat race once the other crew finally decides they’re sick of you guys sitting on each other.

Last thing to point out – look at the courses of each of the coxswains as they’re coming down the course. Trinity was swerving a bit in the last 250m or so, which probably/definitely cost them a seat or two. You can see Bucknell and BC doing the same around 5:00 and in the last 10-15 strokes, respectively.

Other calls I liked:

“Our race to win…”

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

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi! I’m 5’4″ and about 120-123 pounds. I’ve coxed for eight years now and am fully aware that my talent is more than my weight, but I met with a trainer today and told him about what I do and he told me that I was “big” for a coxswain, since all the other coxswains he’d heard of apparently were like under 5 feet tall. It stung a little bit, and I’m already trying to get to like 115 for spring… is that too light?

Hi! I’m assuming your trainer isn’t a collegiate strength coach (I assume you’re in college?) or very knowledgeable about crew because that’s a pretty ignorant thing to say. If he is then shame on him. Out of all the coxswains I’ve known since I started crew, I’m the only one that was ever under 5’0″. The majority were in the 5’1″ to 5’5″ish range (although I’m betting there are coxswains who read this who fall outside that range) and about half of them were in the 100-115lbs range naturally. The other half consistently lost weight for racing season (which, for a few, caused its own set of issues) or said “screw that” and coxed for the men’s teams.

If you subscribe to the BMI theory then you’re in a healthy range regardless of whether you’re 115 or 123. I wouldn’t let one person’s comments bother or pressure you that much. Personally I don’t think 115lbs is too light. At the same time though it’s important to consider how your body might react to it.  Even though that’s only a difference of 5-8lbs, if you find you’re having a hard time losing it it’s probably because your body just doesn’t want to be that weight. I’m sure you know about the weight minimums and how it’s generally suggested that you be as close to them as possible, or as I like to say “in a common sense range”, so I won’t get into that. Plus, like you said, one’s talent is more than their weight.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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What was the best coxing/rowing advice you’ve ever gotten? And the best lesson you’ve learned?

Hmm, best advice I’ve gotten … it’s been a long time since someone’s given me good rowing-related advice. I think the one thing I’ve consistently heard from all the coaches I’ve had and worked with in the twenty years I’ve been playing sports is to never doubt yourself or your abilities. It’s cliche, I know, but the coaches who really mean it wouldn’t keep saying it if it weren’t true. It’s easy to let something insignificant crush your self-esteem and once you’re in that hole it takes way longer to get out than it did to get in. If you’re just starting out, it’s going to take time to learn how to do everything proficiently so you’ve got to trust the process and have the courage to be persistent. Once you’ve been at it for awhile you’ve got to remain confident in knowing that if you weren’t skilled, talented, etc. you wouldn’t have made it as far as you have. That’s the most basic fact there is when it comes to being an athlete.

The best lesson I’ve learned probably has to do with looking for coaching jobs (which I know doesn’t really apply to many people that read this). Without going into too many details, I’ve learned that if I have doubts about something, don’t say yes to it because I will end up bored and/or hating it. I’m definitely one of those people that needs to always be on the go and have active responsibilities or be in charge of something. For some reason people think I’m like, joking, when I say to pile on the work. The more work I have to do (that isn’t stupid trivial stuff), the better. I’m a very hands-on learner/worker so just sitting around watching stuff happen doesn’t work for me. I get bored very easily and once I get bored, I lose interest, regardless of how hard I try to stay engaged. It’s incredibly frustrating (indescribably so) when you’re given the impression that you’re going to get to do or be doing all of the things and then you end up doing none of the things. Consistently asking if there’s something I can do gets pretty old after awhile too.

Think of it like going to school where you expect to always be doing work, learning new concepts, etc. and instead you end up sitting in a quiet, empty room staring at the chalkboard day in and day out. Every so often the teacher will give you menial busy work to do but that takes ten minutes to complete and then you’re right back where you started. Going forwards, as more than one person has told me in the last several months, I need to just not be afraid to speak up and say exactly what I want and if that job can’t give it to me or I have doubts about whether or not it will, I have to pass it up because I know exactly how it’s going to turn out (even if that means turning down a really good opportunity or a paycheck).

Rowing Technique Training & Nutrition Video of the Week

Video of the Week: “The Neuroscience of Rowing and a Simple Explanation of the Formation of Muscle Memory”

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This is why I loved studying exercise science in college. I could listen to people talk about stuff like this all day. It’s unlikely that most rowers will ever think about the actual process of muscle memory on a cellular level like this but once you break it down, you realize how much of a process learning the stroke really is. I think that if you understand the science behind it, in a way it makes things less frustrating because you know that all these things have to happen in order for you to gain proficiency with your stroke and those things can’t/don’t just happen overnight.

One of the biggest things that I think everyone should take away from this is how important it is for you to consciously be thinking about the changes you’re making or trying to make. (That applies to coxswains too, not just rowers!)

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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I’m a sophomore in high school and this is my second year coxing. When I was a novice, my coaches would give me an outline of a race plan they wanted me to follow. Now that I’m varsity, I have a pretty good idea of how to make one on my own. But I want to make sure I have a really good race plan before the season starts. So I was wondering if you had a good race plan for a 2,000 meter race?

I wouldn’t spend too much time thinking about your race plan just yet because a) it’s only January and b) you most likely don’t know what boat you’re gonna have yet. Until you know your crew, their tendencies (what part of the race is their strong spot and where in the race they start to fall off), strengths, and weaknesses, you can’t really make one. Whatever you come up with now would more than likely change completely by the time April rolls around.

Related: Training: 2k test strategy

For me, my race plans were always skeletons until the day before the race. I always had the basic premise figured out well ahead of time but I wouldn’t fill in the details until the last minute because the specifics were usually based on whatever my boat and I had been working on during practice that week, as well as race(s) from the previous weekend. Typically it looked something like what’s below. Since I was part of a scholastic team and not a club team we primarily raced 1500m so that’s what this is based off of.

Start: High 20 @ 38-40spm, settle 10 to 34-35spm

500m: 10 for X

750m: 5 to sit up, refocus before the mid-race move

1000m (give or take 100m): High 20 to move on or away from a crew or the field

1250m: 5 to build into the sprint at 36-38spm

 1400m: Take the rate up again if necessary and charge the line

Once I had an idea of who we were racing, what we needed to focus on, etc. I’d fill in the details and give myself an idea of where I wanted to call each technical 10 (if my coach and I thought it was necessary to have them – if we didn’t, I wouldn’t include one unless something I saw during the race that warranted it). Regarding bursts to take seats, I’d call them as I needed to since you can’t really plan that kind of thing. The rule of thumb that I always try to abide by is that you should stick to the plan until it has to change. The “plan” is more of a loose guideline than anything else anyways. Races are very fluid and you’ve got to be adaptable to that. There’s nothing more frustrating than a coxswain who goes into the race and is hell bent on rigidly following his/her race plan to the tee, regardless of what’s going on, and forgetting to actually observe everything that’s happening outside of the 3ft x 1.5ft seat they’re sitting in.

Related: Hi, I am a exchange student and I joined our crew team. Since I am pretty small I am a coxswain. I am now moved up into our first boat but I never know what to say during a race. The problem is I am not a native speaker and so I have even more problems to make good/clear calls. Do you have any tips for Nationals (YES we qualified) and Stotesbury?

This is one of the reasons why I don’t think you should be formulating one 3.5 months before the season begins. It gives you tunnel vision that’s hard to break and you become less likely to absorb the things you’re hearing and seeing during practice. Wait a few months, spend some time on the water with your boat, and then put one together. Don’t forget to get input from your crew and coaches too.