Author: readyallrow
Music to erg to, pt. 112
Got back from Florida tonight so I’ll be working through the backlog of emails, questions, etc. this weekend. I also realized that Wednesday’s “Top 20 Terms” post didn’t go up (…because I scheduled it for 2015 instead of 2016) so that’ll retroactively go up sometime this weekend as well.
Also, if you have any questions about what we do during our training trips or about the Sparks coxswain camp, feel free to send them to me this weekend and I’ll try to do a post on that as well.
Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Washing Out
Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle || Pick drill || Suspension || Skying the blade || Quarter feather || Pin || Run || Lunge
What part of the stroke/stroke cycle does it refer to
The finish.
What does it mean/refer to
Washing out happens when instead of drawing through horizontally at the finish, you instead pull/feather down into the lap (which in itself can also be a result of a loss of suspension). This results in the blade popping out of the water as you finish the stroke with the arms.
Related: Top 20 terms coxswains should know: Suspension
Relevant calls
A lot of these are fresh in my head because when I was coxing in Cocoa Beach, I found myself making a lot of calls for holding the blades in (which we’d been working on), supporting your side, etc. We did some short pieces and there were occasionally stretches where the set was pretty awful but as soon as I’d make one (or several) of these calls, the boat would balance right up and we’d start getting some good run again. About 90% of the time we were down to port so the first call I’d always make would be for the ports to lift the hands and then if that didn’t change anything I’d call for starboards to lower theirs. From there I’d get more specific based on what I was seeing/feeling.
“Support your side…”
“Engage the lats, draw the handle through to your target…”
“Suspend through…”
“Hold the finishes…”
“Elbows up at the finish…”, “Consistency with the hands…”
“Hook, squeeze…” The relevant part of this call is the “squeeze”, which is supposed to remind the rowers to accelerate the blade and keep it buried all the way through to the finish.
Understanding suspension so you can communicate the relationship between a loss of suspension and washing out is also important. The key to speed in any boat is hanging on the handle and maintaining that suspension all the way through to the end of the stroke. The blade stays locked into the water until suspension is no longer being maintained and that moment when pressure is cut off is when the handle is able to come down and away smoothly. Every part of the stroke has to flow dynamically into the next without letting the body weight settle on to the seat. When making calls for washing out, make sure you’re not just reminding the rowers to pull into their targets but to also hang off the handle and stay light on the seats.
What to look for
If you notice this happening early on in practice or when you’re doing long-and-low steady state, start by telling the rowers to look out at their blades and follow its path through the water to ensure it’s staying buried all the way through the finish. Have them do this for 3-5 strokes and then call them back to eyes forward. It’s easy to get transfixed by the blade and start going through the motions so let them watch them for a few strokes before getting the crew refocused.
White water at the finish is a tell-tale sign of someone washing out. As a result of the blade coming out feathered or at an angle rather than fully squared, the extra effort being exerted during the draw through throws water backwards (towards the coxswain) rather than propelling the boat forward (towards bow) and creates that distinctive “whoosh”-ing sound.
From the coxswain’s seat it can be tough to see this but if you’re in the launch, look at the elbow and wrist position at the finish. The outside elbow should be up and out and the outside wrist should be flat, essentially acting as an extension of the oar handle. If the lats are engaged and you’re drawing straight through to your low ribs then this positioning of the arms should happen naturally. Having the elbows too close to the body, feathering down into your lap, elbows pointed down towards the back of your seat, etc. will all result in washing out.
Effect(s) on the boat
The most obvious effect is that it causes problems with the set. If you’re on port then the boat is going to fall towards your side on the drive and then dump to starboard on the recovery (which, to say the least, is super annoying). The lack of connection and suspension that leads to washing out also leads to a loss of power, thus making each stroke less efficient and the boat to experience less run per stroke.
Related posts/questions
To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.
Video of the Week: Katelin Snyder’s presentation at “Rowing Talks”
I relate to this so hard. Both as a coxswain and a coach, everything she said is pretty much exactly how I’ve felt at each stage of the game over the last thirteen years. If you’re looking for something to do in the hotel on your training trip (which is what I did) or at the boathouse while your team is erging, I’d definitely recommend watching this with the other coxswains on your team.
Related: Katelin Snyder + winter training
Once you’re done with this one, another video you can watch that features Katelin is the one linked above, which is one row2k did on her experiences with winter training over the years. There’s some overlap when it comes to what coxswains could/should do but this one’s only 10 minutes long so it’s worth watching all the way through and picking up some new ideas.
Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Lunge
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
To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.
College Recruiting Teammates & Coaches
College Recruiting: (More) Questions to Ask Coaches
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
Ergs Training & Nutrition Video of the Week
Video of the Week: Hard strokes on the erg
I love everything about this video. I love the sounds of the ergs, the immediate pickup on the first stroke of the hard 10, the perfectly in-sync timing, and I most especially love that the last 10 in the video looks just as good as the first 10.
Music to erg to, pt. 111
Merry Christmas everyone!! The next two weeks I’ll be in Florida so I might be slow to get back to you if you email me between now and January 9th. If you’ll be in Tampa at the coxswain camp, I’ll see you on Sunday
https://play.spotify.com/user/1241641027/playlist/318Lo7SD17BFwx9M9uwzJW