Author: readyallrow

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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I chose not to go through the recruiting process but I am interested in walking on to a team next fall. I am still deciding between a couple schools and I was wondering if it would it be worth it to email the coaches about walking on? Thanks for everything you do!

It’s always worth it to email the coaches ahead of time but don’t feel like you have to if you’ve got a lot going on right now and don’t have time. The teams almost always have a table at the student activities fair at the beginning of the year where they sign people up who are interested in walking on so if you just want to wait until you get to campus, that’s an option too.

College Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hey, thanks for answering everyone’s questions on your blog! It is a really nice thing to do for the younger generation of rowers. Anyway, I’m a varsity coxswain on a student-run college club team and I’m getting to be fairly concerned about my 7-seat, who is the Team President. He handles almost all the administrative work for both the men’s and women’s side and in addition, he has to liaison with the university’s Rec Sports department, organize all the outside workouts, make the regatta travel plans, et cetera, et cetera. He spends hours and hours on the team every day, and this is on top of a really tough biology major too.

Although he puts on a brave face in public I feel like he’s starting to crack under the pressure. He’s a really nice person but his patience is just becoming shorter, he seems exhausted, and apparently his classes aren’t going well – he’s already to the point where he’s sure he’s failed one and is going to have to retake it next semester. I’m just a freshman, new to the team, and he’s a senior so I don’t want to step out of line. At the same time, however, I don’t want to watch a teammate become overwhelmed as a result of rowing and not do anything. If I talk to the coaches or directly confront him about delegating some of the workload I feel like it might be embarrassing or come off like I’m questioning his leadership. I don’t want to start any drama this early in my college rowing career but I don’t really see any other options to help the situation. What should I do?

I’d probably talk with him one-on-one and say that you really want to start taking a more vested interest in the behind the scenes stuff that goes along with running the team and wanted to know what little things you could take off his plate. In theory it should be the other board members that should be helping him out with this stuff so I wouldn’t try to take on any of the major responsibilities but little things that are email, paperwork, etc. related could be helpful.

I don’t think offering to help is out of line or anything but if he’s already stressed then I can definitely see how it might come off like you think he’s failing at his responsibilities or something. If he says no thanks or is weird about it then just say “OK no problem but if you do need help with stuff in the future, just let me know and I’m happy to do whatever”. Sometimes just making it known that you’re there if they need something can be beneficial, particularly for people that don’t like asking for help in the first place. I’m like that and I would much rather people just say they’re there if I need something, feel free to reach out, etc. rather than butting in and offering help when I haven’t asked for it or trying to solve the problem for me.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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This can be super quick, but there’s a girl on my team who is starting to try to bully other girls off the team. I’m one of the captains, and there’s a girl who’s a sophomore who is very dedicated to the team and the sport but recently has had a lot of other obligations. She still makes it to practice when she can and works her butt off when she does. This second girl thinks that since the sophomore isn’t coming to practice as often as she is, that she “doesn’t deserve to be on the team and might as well never come back because I don’t want to see you at practice again.” This is obviously not OK. I’m worried to approach the girl because I’m sure she’ll twist my words and go back to the coach. I’m worried to approach the coach, because I think she’ll probably tell me that it’s my responsibility to make sure the sophomore is at practice. Am I making way too big of a deal over this? I haven’t been captain for very long, and I’m obviously new to this whole “team responsibility” thing.

Take one of the other captains with you and approach this girl together. This protects whichever one of you does the talking because the other one can corroborate what’s being said in case the rower does go back to the coach and try to twist things (just make sure you don’t gang up on her or anything like that). Make it clear to her that she needs to chill and recognize the fact that she’s negating whatever work she’s doing at practice by having such a shitty attitude. Unless she knows something that no one else does about why the other girl is missing practice (i.e. something that puts her or someone else in danger, reflects poorly on the team, etc.) then why she isn’t there is really none of her business and it’s not her place to be making the comments she’s made.

If your coach’s kneejerk reaction is to tell you to get on someone about their attendance instead of addressing the bullying issue then his/her priorities are way off base. Obviously you want attendance to be high all year round but it’s not like it’s any major secret that if you absolutely have to miss practice for other commitments then winter is the time to do it. Half the people I rowed with in high school swam or played basketball and typically missed that entire “season” or people would take some time off to study for the SAT/ACT if they registered for the Dec/Jan/Feb tests. It’s not the end of the world if someone has other obligations from November to March.

At the very least I would say something to give them a heads up that you’re planning on talking to that girl just in case she comes to them afterwards and says something. If you’re worried you might inadvertently throw the sophomore under the bus if you say the real reason for all this then just say that you’ve been approached about [whatshername] making some bullying-like comments towards some of the other rowers and you and [the other captain] are planning to talk with her about it but you wanted to let them know what was going on beforehand in case something gets back to them later. If they ask what the “bullying-like comments” are just say you don’t know the specifics but are planning to find out before you talk to her.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I’m living with one of my captains and we’re having issues. Even though she works hard and her erg scores are consistently top 8 she’s in the 3V and our coach won’t tell her why. She was reasonably upset and she had every right to be and I was there for her. This was around mid to late September. A little while later, she started seeming annoyed, I tried being nice, and I tried giving her space, either way she’s been very snippy. More recently we went away for a race and only our 1V and 2V went. When I got back I tried to be quiet about it and not bring the trip up. I talked about these issues a couple times with another girl I’ve been rowing with since high school who also lived with her last year. She gave me some advice and I was planning on following it.

That night though she had another breakdown because she was so frustrated and upset because she didn’t even go as an alternate. I felt really bad and knew if I was in her position I would feel the same way, why do I work so hard if I’m not getting anywhere, but it also feels like she wants me to say that she deserves to be in the 1V over all 8 of us. She also has been making me feel really shitty about myself, the other day for example we were given a workout to do on our own because our coach could tell we were tired and was giving us the chance to sleep in and do a steady state work out. I decided the night before I was going to go at 7 but when my alarm went off I realized exactly how tired I was and decided to go after class. When she got back from doing the workout I went to ask a question but she got really sassy saying “So much for going at 7”. I tried to explain but she shut the door on my face before I could say anything. I only have a little over a semester left with her but I feel like I’m walking on egg shells around her and don’t know how much more I can take.

Yeaaa, situations like this are when rooming/living with friends really come back to bite you in the ass.

Here’s the thing. Your eight best aren’t always the best eight. She might have one of the top eight times but that doesn’t mean she has what it takes to be in the 1V, at least by your coach’s standards. Obviously your coach should be a little more transparent with her so that she at least knows what areas she could improve in but at the end of the day, all of that has nothing to do with you. I totally get wanting to be the supportive friend and being sensitive to the fact that this is bothering her but you shouldn’t have to tip toe around just to avoid setting her off. If she’s really a friend (forget the whole captain thing for a second) she shouldn’t be making snide remarks about when you do an on-your-own workout or be trying to get you to validate her by saying meaningless shit like “of COURSE you should be in the 1V“. I can get asking that in a “tell me I’m not being crazy here” kind of way where actual feedback/constructive criticism would be accepted and appreciated but given the context I feel like it’s coming off in a more “I deserve this over all you bitches” kind of way because of either seniority, being a captain, or whatever else.

I could really go on and on about what she should be doing but you probably know all of that already and again, it would just be reiterating the point that none of this has anything to do with you. It’s not fair that you’ve somehow gotten pulled into it but I think the best thing you can do in this situation the next time something comes up is to say that as her friend you want to be there for her but as her teammate things have gotten to the point where your relationship outside of practice is being negatively affected (elaborate as necessary) and that if she really thinks she deserves that spot she needs to stop talking/making passive aggressive comments to you about it and go discuss it with your coach. After that, be done with it. She’s either going to take the hint or keep being rude about it and if she goes with the latter, well, that’s her issue to deal with. You and the other eight people in that boat all earned your spots so don’t let someone, regardless of whether they’re a friend or not, make you feel bad about being there.

Coxing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Coxswains you should know and admire

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So, this week’s VOTW is a little different. I’m all for looking up to people with gold medals and whatever else but I also think it’s important (more so, even) to have role models within our sport who aren’t known simply for their athletic achievements because as much as we’d like to think that rowing is the end all be all to life, it’s not. The majority of you that are reading this right now probably won’t continue with crew in college, even fewer will do it all four years, and even fewer will make a run at the elite level. A couple of you might eventually try your hand at coaching but pretty much all of you will do something else entirely. That’s just the way it is which is why it’s important to think about “what’s next”.

I got to know Eden earlier this year and she’s an amazingly talented person, not to mention a kick-ass coxswain as well. She walked on to Princeton’s lightweight women’s team her freshman year, coxed the Canadian national team’s women’s development eight to a win at Henley and at Holland-Beker in 2012 (two years after she started coxing – TWO YEARS), and coxed Princeton’s varsity eight to a 5th place finish at IRAs this year. Oh, and she dropped out of college following her sophomore year after being awarded $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation.

The reason I’m posting this even though it has little to do with actual rowing is because I wanted to highlight someone awesome within our sport that has accomplished a lot outside of rowing while using many of the applicable-to-real-life skills she learned as a coxswain along the way. It’s important that throughout your time as a coxswain or a rower that you develop those skills so that when it comes time to apply for college, go on job interviews, pitch your ideas to potential investors, etc. you can actually put them to use and demonstrate how being a coxswain/rower taught you XYZ and be able to offer some legitimate, non-cliche examples of how you’ve used those skills off the water.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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How does one handle a coach that is too aggressive? My coach is too intense and I can’t read him at all. What can I do to have him ease up on the team? I’m not the only one feeling this.

I’ve had coaches/professors like that and most of the time it’s just their personality and they don’t realize how intense they come off or that they’re coming off too intense for the current audience. I mean, don’t get me wrong, sometimes they’re actually just jerks but usually saying something wakes them up to the fact that their approach is coming off, as you said, too aggressive. I’d talk to your assistant coach (or head coach if the coach you’re talking about is the assistant), explain the situation to them, and see if they can say something. In my experience coaches tend to take stuff like this more seriously when it comes from one of their peers vs. from someone who could be their son or daughter. If you know other people on the team feel the same way then I’d go as a group (three people max is sufficient) to talk with your assistant coach just so they can better understand the depth of the issue.

Erg Playlists

Music to erg to, pt. 63

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I love the post-DST fall season, winter, the snow, the cold, etc. but man am I getting excited for this winter training trip. Part of my preparations for that are getting two weeks worth of posts lined up so I don’t have to spend our downtime working on blog stuff so if anyone has ideas, things they want to see, stuff you want me to cover, etc. shoot me an email. I’m open to pretty much anything and am always happy to push back my own stuff to post what you guys want so any ideas you have, feel free to send them my way.

College High School Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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What are some good team bonding exercises to do at practice? Our novices are moving up to varsity and we are looking for ways to bring the two groups together. Thanks! Love your blog!

Check out the two posts linked below. They all touch on “team bonding” in one way or another so there might be some ideas in there that you can use. The “secret motivator” one was a ton of fun for everyone so I definitely recommend that one as you get farther into the season.

Related: Hi, we have states in two weeks and we have boat gifts – is this a sport-wide tradition? If so, what are good gifts to buy/make? Thanks a bunch.

When I coached at Marietta in the spring I was still trying to learn everyone’s names after about a week of being there and I noticed that a lot of the freshmen didn’t know any of the varsity girls names either so one day while they were warming up I had everyone get in a circle and go around one by one and say their name and grade. The catch was that you had to also say the names and grades of the people that went before you, which got progressively more amusing the farther around the circle we got. It was a good way to introduce everyone and break the ice, in addition to being a sneaky way for me to learn the names/grades of the people I didn’t know yet.

Related: I feel like I can’t really relate to any of the other girls on my team. I know that crew itself is really close-knit, but I can’t help but feel like there’s a huge separation from me and the rest of the rest of the team where I don’t really know how to associate with them and they don’t really know how to associate with me just because I’m friends with an entirely different group of people than they are. Any advice?

From there the “bonding” kind of happened on its own. Carpooling, boat dinners, traveling, silly activities like the name/grade thing, etc. all facilitated some of it but I’ve always been of the opinion that you can’t really force stuff like that, you’ve just kinda gotta let it happen naturally. If people are friendly and make an active effort to get to know one another then the two groups will merge into one pretty quickly.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi Kayleigh, my team has demoed a couple types of boat makers this fall and I was wondering which boats you think are the best?

I’m not an expert on boats by any means but the ones I think are best are the ones that…

…have the most comfortable coxswain’s seat, meaning that I can comfortably fit in them (length and width-wise, because if I can’t fit no one can…) and am not sitting at weird heights or angles. I’m extremely picky about this because it’s where I spend all my time so the way rowers are with oar handles and stuff like that is how I am with coxswain seats … times ten. I could get super detailed about what I look for in that whole area but the bottom line is that you should take into consideration what the coxswain thinks because if he/she is physically uncomfortable, has a hard time seeing the cox box from wherever its positioned, etc. then that’s probably not a shell you wanna go with. You know the saying “happy wife, happy life”? Same thing goes for coxswains and practices/races. Happy coxswain –> smooth practice. Unhappy coxswain with a really sore back because the coxswain seat is really low in the boat and angles backwards to the stern (not naming names or anything but it rhymes with Shmesolute), amongst other things –> shitty practice.

…have the smoothest/least annoying steering because there are few things worse than a shell that doesn’t respond to anything other than “no pressure starboards” to go around a simple gradual turn that I should be able to do with minimal taps on the rudder.

…don’t make me feel like I’m sitting in a bathtub or a canoe fashioned from a hollowed out tree trunk. If I feel like I’m in a fiberglass version of something that Lewis and Clark would have traveled down the river in then there’s a good chance that the rowers are gonna say something about not liking the shell (usually because of how excessively heavy it feels, outside of general rigging adjustments) before I get a chance to.

So far the only two that I’ve really liked are Vespoli and Hudson (despite being notoriously tricky to set up). I’m not a fan of Pococks at all. We had them at Syracuse and they were the worst. Resolutes are OK – half of the ones I’ve been in had poor steering and were absolute bathtubs but the others weren’t so bad so I’m pretty neutral on them.

At the end of the day you’ve gotta look at the needs of your program, take into account the opinions of the people who will actually be using the equipment (this season and in the future), and make a decision from there. Definitely ask around to other programs and find out what their likes/dislikes are with the brands you’ve narrowed it down to but keep in mind that boats in general are a rather tempestuous topic of conversation. Some coaches have very strong, nitpicky, and occasionally downright snobby opinions on why one brand is better than the other and others don’t really care and just want whichever one is the right price. I’d consider myself to be part of the latter camp. I have strong opinions on the shells from the perspective of a coxswain but outside of that, I really couldn’t care less what boat I use. I’m not gonna sit around and debate the effectiveness of one type of rigger over another or how the fluid dynamics of a certain shell is going to effect our chances at IRAs in the spring (both of those are actual conversations I’ve witnessed). If the coxswain likes it, the rowers like it, and the price is reasonable … what’s the point in overthinking everything else?

One piece of advice that I’ll give you though with regards to price and product is to think long term, not just in the immediate future. That was an issue that my high school team had when I was a junior and they’re sort of paying the price for it right now. Our coaches wanted to upgrade our varsity boats to ones that would last the team for a good number of years but the executive board decided to put the money towards a cheaper shell that the coaches weren’t totally on board with because they didn’t think they would get more than 8-10 years out of it, if even. Well, here we are 10 years later and it’s well beyond being on its last leg. If you aren’t a super wealthy program that can afford to get new boats every couple of years then this is something to consider. It’s worth spending the money on a shell that’s going to last you a long time if you need it to (with the proper maintenance and care, obviously) rather than one that you’re only going to get a couple years out of before you have to do this all over again.