Author: readyallrow

Coxing How To Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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How do you suggest becoming comfortable making calls? I was recently moved for the women’s V4+ to our men’s V8+ and I don’t really feel my place in the boat yet. I want to make meaningful calls, not unnecessary ones, and I don’t want to be silent. Today during pieces the guys asked for motivation but I felt like I sounded like a redundant cheerleader. My old girls obviously want different stuff than the guys and I’m having trouble being the mean, assertive cox the guys have asked me to be.

When you switch boats like that there’s definitely going to be an in-between period while you learn their personalities and get comfortable working with a different group of people. That period lasts a little longer when you go from coxing women to men because, like you said, both groups want/need different things and you’ll probably have to adjust your style a bit. At most though this should be like, a week and a half to two week long thing … not something that lasts for months on end. What’s going to help you get more comfortable is to make a serious and genuine effort to get to know the people you’re coxing and talking to them outside of practice to find out what they like to hear, what things their previous coxswain(s) did that they liked or responded well to, etc. and then finding ways to incorporate all of that into your own coxing.

You have to be assertive about it otherwise this probably isn’t going to be much fun for you … and coxing guys is a lot of fun if you approach it with the right attitude. If you think it’s going to be awkward, you’re intimidated by them, or you think they’re gonna think you’re weird or incompetent for asking then you’re only making things more difficult for yourself. Just approach them, speak up, and say “Hey, so obviously I’m the new person in the boat and I need your help getting up to speed. *whips out pen + paper* Tell me some things that you guys have been working on, what calls you like, etc. so I can start tailoring my calls to the boat” [and then write them down because if you don’t you will forget and that’ll put you right back at square one].

Related: TED talks, body language, and … coxing?

Also, check out the post linked above. It’s long but so worth reading and watching the video when you have time. It has nothing to do with making calls or anything like that but the whole premise of the talk might help with you becoming more confident in general which will translate into being more comfortable coxing your new boat.

Coxing Q&A

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Hi there! Just a quick question: I’m a coxswain and I can’t do winter training due to a prior commitment. Is there anything I should be doing over the winter to prepare for the spring independently?

If you haven’t yet, I’d have a quick 10-15 minute with your coach just to go over the fall season, discuss your progress, your goals for the spring, etc. and get his/her input on what they’d like to see you work on so you’re ready to go full throttle when spring season rolls around. If you didn’t do fall crew (or your team doesn’t have a fall program) then I’d spend some time thinking about your last spring season, how you did, what you improved on/want to keep working on, the goals you have for this year, etc. and use that to help you prepare for the upcoming season.

Outside of listening to recordings if/when you have some free time, one thing that I’d really recommend doing is spending some time creating a hard copy of all your calls (an Excel sheet or Google spreadsheet would work best for this), particularly if you find that you have trouble coming up with things to say, being repetitive, or knowing what to say in response to certain situations. I’m doing something similar with one of our lightweight coxswains right now and to keep things simple we’re starting out with trying to get 5-7 calls each for the catch, drive, finish, and recovery. I would do something like that (I’d add maybe two calls or so for every year of experience you have – if you’ve been doing this for four years you should easily be able to come up with roughly 10 calls for each category), especially as you listen to recordings and hear things from other coxswains that you like.

The goal is to have a good mix of both tried-and-true calls and new ones that you want to test out once you’re back on the water. Not only will this give you a good variety to work with but it’ll also let you actually see where you tend to become repetitive (less calls = more repetition of those calls) and where you should try to develop more things to say. Outside of that, if you have trouble with understanding certain drills or want to know what drills would be good to do in response to XYZ happening in the boat, doing some basic research on those kinds of things would also be a good way to spend the winter months.

Don’t be afraid to take some time off too and don’t feel obligated to do a ton of stuff just to say “oh hey, look how busy I was during winter training”. I’m definitely a big proponent of coxswains using their time wisely during the winter months but I don’t think they should super-aggressively try to do a ton of things just to be busy for busy’s sake, if that makes sense. If you can spend a couple hours (1-2ish) a week (…a week, not a day…) doing something specifically coxswain-related then you’ll be fine in the spring.

And to be honest, if you do nothing specifically coxswain-related the entire winter season you’ll still be fine in the spring … you just won’t have the leg up that the people who did will have. It’s all about priorities and goals. If you’re just doing crew to participate in something, have a good time, aren’t part of a super competitive team (and you’re OK with that), etc. then obviously you can take a more relaxed approach. If you’re part of a good program with high expectations and/or you have plans to try out for elite summer programs, are planning to cox in college, etc. then yea … you should be putting in a bit of work over the winter.

Coxing Q&A Technique

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

Definitely not a dumb question. I didn’t know what this was for the longest time in high school.

“Cha” is just one of the words we use to help set or re-establish the rhythm in the boat. Some coxswains actually say “cha” or “ja” and really enunciate the “ch/j” sound whereas others say “ssshhhh-uh” and really build into the final “uh” syllable. If you’re trying to actually say that, you don’t say “shh” then “uh” like they’re two separate words, rather you say it as one word with a really sharp, aggressive kick at the end when you get to the “uh” part.

All in all though it’s exactly the same as saying “kick send“, “jump together“, “legs squeeze“, etc. I’m not a huge fan of using it myself (I’m more of a “ssshhhh-uh” person than a “cha” person anyways) but on the rare occasion when I do incorporate it (usually during hard pieces or long steady state rows) I’ll say something like “legs [at the catch], ssshhhh-uh [through the arms + finish]”, which usually gets blended together and comes out as “leeegssssshhhh-uh“, or if I’m calling a five or ten then I’ll say “1 ssshhhh-uh, 2 ssshhhh-uh, 3 ssshhhh-uh…” if I really want them to think about the rhythm. I also use it if I need something to say but don’t know what to say, can’t think of anything, and/or want to break things up if I feel like I’m starting to get repetitive.

Related: Race skills: All about Power 10s

I’ll also use it if I’m trying to focus on the bladework to figure out if I need to make a technical call but don’t want to put too much effort/brainpower into making actual calls while I’m trying to focus on/analyze something else. Normally when I use this though I never call it for more than three strokes in a row at most (unless I’m only calling a five, like I talked about in the post linked above), which is pretty standard for me with the majority of my calls.

Q&A Rowing Technique

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The other day our coach had all of us move our foot stretchers all the way forward on the tracks. I was wondering what the benefit of doing this is?

Trying not to overthink this too much but my guess is that your coach is just trying to have everyone get a sharper catch angle since adjusting the stretchers has a much greater effect on the catch than it does the finish. The closer to the stern your feet are the closer to parallel the oar will be at the catch and the more shallow of a release angle you’ll have (it’ll be nearly perfectly perpendicular to the boat compared to being at a 20 degree angle or so otherwise).

Just going off what I’ve picked up from coaches and boatmen in the past, I think he’s probably just trying to avoid rigging seats individually (be that out of laziness or because of some other reason, I don’t know). If a longer catch angle is what he’s going for though, I’m not sure if this is necessarily the best way to approach it, although I guess if you’re all novices (and/or short…) then it could be a temporary thing as you work on developing better flexibility and mobility throughout the fall/winter. Still, if he’s trying to go for uniformity with one aspect of the stroke the catch isn’t what he should be going for, it should be the finish since you don’t have to contend as much with individual flexibility issues, amongst other things.

Coxing High School Novice Q&A Racing

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Hi. So this is my first year being a coxswain and I’m pretty young (not going to specify). We have just started the season for regattas and I was wondering if you have any advice on what to call during a race with a novice crew? When we are just practicing I don’t really call much because our coaches like to come out on speed boats and help. Also what kind of weights do you take in the boat with you because at the last regatta we have had some problems with weights changing before and after the races which meant we got disqualified.

If you’re not talking a lot during practice because the coaches are working with the boat then the (usually unsaid) expectation is that you’re listening to what the coaches are saying to the individuals and boat as a whole so that you can incorporate the things they’re saying once you start coxing the boat more. So ideally, if you’ve been paying attention and not zoning out, you should already have a solid list of things that you could say to your crew.

Related: Hey! I’ve been rowing for a few years but now I’m a coxswain but I’ve only been doing it for a few months and I’m soon entering my first race as a cox. Any tips on how much to shout/what to shout to the crew?

As far as weights changing, I’m not sure I know what you mean. That would only matter if you’re coxing a lightweight boat but novice lightweight crews are fairly rare. Weight changing after the race doesn’t matter either, the important thing is that you’re at weight when you weigh in a few hours beforehand. After that you can pretty much do whatever you want. Most places will give you a wrist band or a stamp on your hand or something that indicates you’ve made weight too.

Related: Hey! I’m a novice coxswain and yesterday we had our first race which we lost by a lot. I struggled with trying to motivate my boat when we really didn’t have a chance of coming back. I could tell everyone felt pretty defeated and I didn’t know what to say to keep them working hard. Do you have any advice on what sort of calls I can make if this happens again? (Fingers crossed it doesn’t)

The only weight that should go in the boat is if you are below the minimum of 110lbs for women’s crews and 120lbs for men’s crews and you have to bring a sandbag or weight plates out with you to make up the difference (i.e. I weigh 95lbs so I’d have to carry 15lbs if I was coxing women or 25lbs if I was coxing men). Unless you’re going to actual USRowing sanctioned events though it is highly unlikely you’ll ever weigh in. I think I only did maybe three times my entire high school career. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful with this part of your question though. Feel free to clarify in the comments or shoot me an email if what I said up above totally missed the mark.

Related: Hi. This is my first year being a coxswain ever and also my first year rowing for my college team. Our first race is this weekend on the Willamette. Any words of advice for someone who’s never done this before?

Check out the posts linked above – they all kind of touch on first races with novice boats, things you can say, etc. Some might be for spring races but nearly everything is applicable regardless of whether you’re doing a head race or a sprint race. There are also links within those posts that might help you out as well.

Coxing Ergs Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hello! I’m a huge fan of your blog and was wondering if you had any tips on this: my coach (who is also a coxswain) forces us to cox rowers during their erg pieces. She said that even if they say “don’t cox me” we should ignore them and keep coxing them. I’d ignore this except she watches us to make sure we do it. She told us (me and the other coxswains) that whether or not we cox the ergs will help determine what boat we’re put in. I really want to stay in the first eight (the boat I have currently) but I also feel bad when rowers tell me not to cox them and I have to. I’ve had multiple rower friends tell me they hate that they’re coxed for erg pieces. Thank you!!

I don’t normally say this so bluntly (or ever, really) but your coach is kind of awful. That’s unbelievable (to me, at least) that a coach who’s also a coxswain would say that. The number one rule of coxing rowers on the erg is respect those who don’t want you to cox them (and if that’s not the number one rule, it is now…) so to stand guard to make sure you do it under threat of potentially not being in the boat you deserve irritates me on a borderline irrational level.

I genuinely just don’t understand the thought process there. I guess if I tried really hard then maybe I could explain it as her wanting to see how you cox the rowers in high-pressure situations but that seems like it might be stretching it. Have you ever asked her one-on-one why she says to ignore the rowers and cox them anyways, even after they’ve said to you that they don’t like it, or asked her what she thinks is gained by doing it (either by you or the rowers)? If you haven’t I would do that, at the very least to see what her answer is. Maybe have one of the rowers go with you so she an hear their side as well.

If I was in your position, this is one of those situations where I’d choose my relationship with my friends/teammates over a spot in a boat. If I had the first eight you’re damn right I’d want to keep it but not at the expense of losing the respect of the people in that boat. I think in your case they probably understand the difficult position you all are in (or I would at least hope they do) but if I was one of the rowers I would want to see you stick up for us rather than make a decision based on personal gain … if that makes sense.

Basically I’m saying that as the coxswains and, presumably, some of the leaders on the team as well, the rowers want to know that you’re gonna stick up for them and have their backs and this is one of those situations where I think it’s important to stick up for the people saying “don’t cox me” even if that means you might get taken out of the boat you want to be in. It’s a trust thing if you want to give it a label. They want to know you’re not going to throw them under the bus just to get the boat you want. If that isn’t something that your coach can understand then … that’s pretty unfortunate.