Author: readyallrow

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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I was looking at the NCAA rules for recruiting and I was confused by one of them and was hoping you could explain it to me. I am a rising senior so it is now acceptable for the coaches to call me, but I was reading the rules and it said that they could only call you once a week. I had a coach call me but I didn’t have my phone so he left a message. Does that count as the one call for the week? (BTW I tried calling back but he didn’t answer so I left a message.)

So I spent awhile Googling this and, unsurprisingly, found very little useful information. I even went through the NCAA D1 manual (a 432 page convoluted monstrosity…) and couldn’t find anything. The one thing I did find though is from an article posted on AthleticScholarships.net back in 2013 about phone call violations reported to the NCAA by Iowa State. Here’s the full article if you want to read it but the part most relevant to your situation says “calls where you do not reach a recruit, which could be a voicemail or someone else picking up the phone, do not count against the numerical limits on phone calls”. Also “The NCAA requires that voicemails, failures to reach the recruit, and dropped calls be supported with “contemporaneous documentation.” That means that in the moment or shortly thereafter, the coach must record why the call should not count.

The thing you’ve gotta realize about the NCAA is that they’ve got coaches on very, very short leashes. I’m pretty sure if they could hand out three year post-season bans simply for not sending them a Christmas card, they would. So while leaving a voicemail might not count against the “one call per week” limit, some coaches might not want to risk it and would instead just wait until the following week to call you again. This is usually why they schedule a specific day/time to talk with you so you can be sure to have your phone nearby. If I understand the rules correctly though, since he couldn’t reach you the first time he called and you called back and left a voicemail, technically he can return that call within the same week since the original call he made doesn’t count. (…hopefully that makes sense.)

My suggestion would be to ask him the next time you talk for clarification on all of this just so that you know what’s permissible and what isn’t. Before coaches can contact prospective student-athletes they’re required by the NCAA to take a recruiting certification exam that tests their knowledge on all the rules, so assuming that he’s done that he would definitely be able to fill you in on how things work. Knowing the rules, even though they don’t necessarily apply to you, could also come in handy should something come up in the future.

You could also call the compliance department (located within the athletic department, for those that didn’t know that…) and ask them for clarification since there’s not really anything explicitly stated online (at least not anywhere that is endorsed by the NCAA) what the protocol is here. Their sole job is to make sure the athletes (and coaches) understand the rules and comply with them so if there’s anyone besides the coach who would know the answer to your question, it’d be these guys.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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So… I’m 5’6 and I weigh 132. I really like coxing and I suppose I could lose weight, but right now I only feel comfortable going down to about 125 (because of my shape and where my weight is distributed). I don’t really like rowing, but that may be because I can’t keep up with some of the girls on my team that I get paired with, I don’t like sweeping (but I LOVE sculling), I’m embarrassed by my painfully, horribly slow 2k, etc. etc. Basically what I’m saying is I’m in a huge rut because I’m too big to cox but too small to row well, but I’ve fallen in love with everything about the sport. What do you think I should do?

I’ve known people in similar situations, be it between rowing and coxing or rowing lightweight and heavyweight, and I’d guess that roughly half of them made it work and the other half took it as a sign that they’d gone as far as they could with their rowing career. I’d say you have two options. Option one, try coxing men. Their weight minimum is 125lbs so that tends to work in the favor of girls who aren’t comfortable going down to 110lbs or just have a natural body weight closer to that than to the women’s minimum.

Related: Hi. I’ve been rowing on my high school team for four years now and I’ve been considering continuing crew in college. However, my times aren’t good enough to be recruited and I’ve always wanted to cox. People have told me I would be good at coxing but my coach wants me to row for him. But my weight is an issue. I’m 5’3″ and weigh around 140. I don’t know if I can healthily get down to a weight to cox, so is it possible for me to cox men? Thanks!

If you’ve got experience coxing (actual experience is always preferable to “I coxed learn-to-row twice a year and a half ago!”) then I’d consider looking into this. Option two is to hang up your rowing hat and enjoy the magical concept known as “free time” which you will find that you suddenly have an abundance of. Regardless of whether you’re a rower or a coxswain though, height and weight are important components of being competitive in this sport (no matter how much people would like to pretend they’re not) so it’s up to you to decide whether or not losing a few pounds is something you’re willing to do and/or would be comfortable doing.

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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I am very shy and talking to college coaches is super intimidating to me. I really want the chance to row in college and I don’t want my shyness to get in the way.

I don’t think it will. Not everybody is super outgoing or comfortable making conversation – there’s nothing wrong with that. As long as you’re not completely aloof when you meet/talk with them, there’s pretty much no way that being shy can work against you. I answered a similar question a couple weeks ago (linked below) about talking on the phone with coaches and I think a lot of what I said in that post would also apply to your situation, particularly the part about acting confident even if you don’t feel like it.

Related: Hey! This isn’t exactly about rowing but I was hoping you could help. So I have been emailing with a college coach a little bit and I am supposed to call him this week. The only thing is I get really nervous when I talk on the phone so I am really nervous about calling him. Do you have any advice about talking to college coaches on the phone? Thanks!

You already know that part of rowing in college entails meeting with coaches so there’s really no getting out of doing that. You essentially have to just take a deep breath, say “suck it up, this is part of the process”, and go in there ready to tell confidently tell them why you’d make a great addition to the team. Most coaches are pretty chill people too and very, very few of them are actually intimidating people.

College Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

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I am going to be a senior and I have been looking at this one school that I could potentially row for. I have spoken with the coaches via email and I really love the school. The head coach seems to be interested in me but the thing is, I am not the tallest or strongest rower on my team and I am worried that I won’t be able to live up to the expectations of the college coach or college rowing in general.

Very rarely are people’s expectations as high as you think they are. Trust me…

Here’s the thing you’ve gotta understand about pretty much every rower competing at a high level right now, be it in college or on their country’s national team – very, very few of them were the tallest or strongest on their junior teams, let alone on the teams they’re on now. If coaches only took the tallest and strongest you’d have very few teams, very little competition, and very little to motivate you to get better. You can’t change your height so whatever – forget about that. You can improve your strength and fitness though so if that’s an area where you feel like you have some room to get better, start a lifting program, do some circuit training, etc.

This is going to sound horribly cliche but I’ve heard it straight from the mouths of too many coaches to think of it as anything but a cliche – character trumps height, strength, etc. any day of the week. Obviously there’s got to be a base level of ability in place, which you’ve clearly got, but you can make up for a lot of things simply by being a solid person. It’s all about work ethic and whether or not you’re willing to put the work in to improve upon the strengths you already have. A 5’9″ woman with a 7:35 2k who is constantly finding ways to get better, buys into the team’s philosophy and goals, and is willing to do the not-so-fun stuff with a consistently positive attitude is ultimately going to be a more valuable asset to the coach (and team) than a 6’1″ woman with a 7:22 2k who does just enough to be good but won’t put in that extra effort to do what’s necessary to be great.

Going back to the expectations thing, I would first find out what the expectations are before assuming you can’t, don’t, or won’t meet them. It’s as simple as saying something like “As an incoming freshman, what range of erg scores do you typically look for?”. From there you can compare your times to the range you’re given, determine what’s realistically possible for you to achieve by next August, and then put together a plan to make it happen. Doing that and keeping the coach(es) up to date with your progress (i.e. new PRs) goes a long way in showing what you’re capable of, how hard you go after something you want, and just the overall kind of person/athlete you are. I would also caution against assuming on your own what the expectations are or might be just based on what you see or read online. Yes it’s hard work and yes it’s time consuming but isn’t that true of most things that we find worth pursuing?

If you assume right now that you won’t be able to live up to the expectations, you’re right – you won’t. The expectations at most college programs are pretty high and that’s a good thing – you should want to be part of a team that has high standards and lofty goals like that but you sure as hell shouldn’t let that intimidate you. Do you honestly think that this coach would be talking to you in the first place if he/she didn’t think you had the capabilities to meet and exceed the expectations they have for the athletes they coach? Come on. They don’t have that kind of time to waste.

The upcoming year, or at least the fall semester, is probably going to be pretty stressful as you go through all the necessary preparations to get ready for college. Don’t make things even harder for yourself by worrying about stuff like this. It’s not worth it. Like I said, try to start doing some kind of lifting this summer to start working on your overall strength and the next time you talk with the coach ask them to name 3-4 of their basic expectations for incoming freshman in terms of erg scores, team contributions, etc. Graduating and going to college is essentially like leveling up in a game – what happens next really isn’t anything out of the ordinary, there just happens to be subtle differences in a couple areas that present new challenges that are usually small and easily achievable with the right about of dedication and persistence. I think you’ll find that rowing in college compared to your current program is the same way, as will be the expectations of your new coach(es).

Erg Playlists

Music to erg to, pt. 44

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I got a great question earlier this week about if it was important for coxswains to have time rowing on the water and I’m curious to know what you guys think. As I said in that post, I’ve briefly touched on that topic in the past but I don’t think I’ve ever explained my thought process in that much detail before. This is just another thing that, in an ideal world, I’d love to see coaches start implementing into their programs as a way to help coxswains get up to speed. Then again, I’d also like people to stop asking me if I’m the short kid that yells “stroke, stroke, stroke”…

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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At Masters’ Regionals this weekend we were having a discussion on if it is important for coxswains to have time rowing. Not just on the erg, but on the water as well. What do you think?

I’ve touched on this a couple times before but yes, I do think it’s important for them to get on the water/erg but how I think it should be approached is typically very different than how rowers and other coaches think it should be. I think it’s pointless to make coxswains row competitively for a season or two or train them as if they’re rowers because … they’re not. If you look at the average person who’s targeted to be a coxswain when they’re in high school, they’re usually very small kids. We’re seriously like the runts of our age group. Putting us in boats with “normal” sized kids and trying to teach us to row rarely accomplishes anything because the size and strength just isn’t there. I’ve talked to a few coxswains about this and I agree with what they’ve said about how psychologically it can be pretty damaging for them, mainly because of how obvious it is that they’re “weaker” in comparison to the other kids. It can be (and usually is) very intimidating for them. It’s also really hard to go from being portrayed as the weak kid, even if it’s not done intentionally, to suddenly being the kid with all this responsibility and who’s expected to step up and be a leader. Trust me, I’ve had to do it before and it’s rough. Some kids have an easier time with it than others but if you want to know a great way to kill a kid’s confidence right off the bat, that’s how you do it.

Like I said, I do think that coxswains should have the opportunity to get on the water to row but I think it should be done separately from the team’s regular practice. The further into the season you get the less important it is (in my opinion) so I would try to get them on the water (or in the tanks) during March-April before the competitive season begins. (Before that I’d spend time with them on the ergs doing stuff similar to what I’d do on the water.) Ideally I would like to get them out at least once every week or two for 30-45 minutes after practice, preferably in fours if we can. Initially the goal would be to teach them what the stroke feels like with an actual oar and how it’s different from being on the erg and then as we progress I’d want them to focus more on consciously feeling what their body is doing as they go through the recovery, catch, drive, and finish. I think teaching them to feel what all that (the body, the boat, etc.) feels like at various points during the stroke, both when they’re doing something correctly and when they’re not, helps teach them the boat feel that they need to have as a coxswain, in addition to helping them communicate more effectively with the boat when they’re trying to elicit a change.

Even if you’re not entirely sure what the issue is you can still say something like “I was having a similar problem getting the blade out cleanly at the finish the other day but what worked for me was making sure I stayed tall throughout the drive instead of sinking down into my hips as I got closer to finish. This gave me a little more room to tap down so the blade wouldn’t get caught in the water. Next time think about keeping your core tight and the low back muscles engaged so that you stay upright as you press back. [Etc. etc. etc.]” That’s a pretty basic call to make and it’s very likely that most coxswains would know to say something like that whether they’d rowed or not but having the personal experience to back it up adds credibility to the call and lets your crew know that you’re making extra efforts outside of your usual responsibilities to learn more about what they’re doing so you can communicate with them better while you’re at practice (and ultimately be a better coxswain).

Once I think they’ve got a good handle on what the stroke should look like, feel like, etc. then I’d start taking them through some of the drills we do and getting them to understand that this is the purpose of the drill, this is how it’s done, this is what we’re looking for when it’s done correctly, etc. Basically anything I’d want them to know about the drill I’d go over with them while they’ve got an oar in their hands. Similarly to what I said up above, I think this just helps them better communicate with the rowers what they want to see happen, what change needs to be made, etc. The knowledge and understanding they gain by doing it themselves is ultimately what the coach should be after (vs. trying to perfect their technique and make them row like actual rowers). For me personally, I’m a really hands on learner. I can grasp concepts pretty easily if you explain them to me but if you show me and let me go through the trial-and-error process of getting it right on my own, that’s what really solidifies it for me. That’s how I learned a lot about the drills we used to do – I’d get on the erg with my coach for 5-10 minutes and go through it with him so I knew what it should look like, what I should be looking for, etc. when we were on the water.

Rowers talk a lot (incessantly would probably be more accurate…sorry guys) about wanting coxswains to understand what it feels like to row but what they usually mean is they want them to know what it feels like to row when lactic acid is wreaking havoc on your muscles. I can appreciate that but at the end of the day I think it’s more effective to teach the coxswains one-on-one(ish) about the stroke, the drills, and the general technique things that they should be looking for, pointing out, and correcting when necessary. Putting them in a boat, giving them an oar, and saying “here, now row with these people that are six inches taller and twenty-five pounds heavier than you” is about as helpful as saying “steer straight and don’t hit anything”. Rowers and coxswains are two separate entities so you’ve got to coach them as such. When coxswains are in a boat trying to row I’m not so much trying to coach their bodies as I’m trying to coach their brains, if that makes sense. With rowers it’s all about the bodies because their role in the boat is physical. A coxswain’s job is mental, thus that’s what you’ve got to coach.

“Weigh enough” vs. “Let it run”

Coxing

“Weigh enough” vs. “Let it run”

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If I had to make a list of the things coxswains do that really grind my gears, misusing these two calls would easily be in the top three.

Weigh enough

This, as we all know, is the most basic call in your arsenal – it means “stop”. Anytime you want to stop rowing (or walking, if you’re on land), this is what you say. In a game of “Red Light, Green Light”, this is the red light.

Let it run

In “Red Light, Green Light”, this is the yellow light. It’s pretty much the “rolling stop” of rowing. “Let it run” also means stop but it does not mean “stop now” like weigh enough does. They are not the same call and they should not be used interchangeably. “Let it run” is what you use when you want the boat to purposely run out after you’ve finished rowing. When you make this call you’d say “let it run in two … one, two…” and the rowers would stop in the finish position with their hands away (exactly like a hands away pause) and the blades up off the water.

This isn’t a call you should make if you’re paddling or not rowing very hard either because you’re unlikely to get the run out of it that would necessitate making this call in the first place. If you’re doing steady state or starts, those two instances are the only two that come to mind when “let it run” could be a good alternative to “weigh enough”.

The video below shows what it should look like after you make the call for the boat to let it run. This was from our first day of training for nationals – the girls did a 1/2 pressure start then let it run out for a few seconds before the coxswain called for “blades down”.

Let it run is also a great “drill” to practice your balance with. The better your balance and more stable your handle heights are, the more run you’re going to be able to get. Another fun thing to do is take 10 or so really hard strokes and then let it run to see how much run the boat can get. I love doing this, especially with other crews just to see who can keep it set the longest and who can get the most run.

The most inappropriate time to use this call is when you’re on land and telling your crew to stop walking. From now on I think I’m going to take our coxswain’s suggestion from when we were at nationals and start telling the crews I coach that they should just start jogging away or something whenever the coxswain says “let it run” on land. One of the refs down by the docks overheard us talking about it and said that he’d told a couple of them that that wasn’t the correct terminology so hopefully after having someone point it out fewer people will make that mistake.

If you want to make a really simple, effortless correction this summer, start using “let it run” in the appropriate situations and stop using it when you should be using “weigh enough” instead. They are two different calls with two different purposes!

Related: I was wondering what the difference is between checking it and holding water. I think checking it is just once side and everybody holds water? But I’m not sure. and then also what do you think is the easiest way to turn around? I usually have my stern or bow four row with ports backing. Is that pretty standard would you say? Thank you again so so so so so much.

Two other calls that often come up in similar conversations is “hold water” and “check it down”, which I talked about in the post linked above from waaay back in October 2012. Although they both mean essentially the same thing and can be used interchangeably if you want, I tend to treat them as separate calls to be used in one of two different situations (both of which you can read about in that post).

Image via // @rowingcelebration