Category: College

College Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 11, 2013

Our novice team has been shrinking by the weeks! There’s only 7 of us left. All but one rower and me are bent on quitting before trying to make varsity. One of the rowers who has high school experience was saying that our coaches don’t really know how to properly prep the varsity team for spring even though we’re a D1 team. 2x6k test today sounds more like a fall test strategy to me, but being a novice cox I’m not about to diss our coaches, you know? Help?

Has your coach not noticed or said anything about the drastic drop in numbers? What have been the other rower’s reasons for quitting? Why do the girls still on the team want to quit? If you know that your goal is to try and make varsity, don’t let the decisions of the other girls, no matter how legitimate they are, affect your decision. It sucks that your team is dwindling like it is but there’s really nothing you can do about it.

I wouldn’t say a 2x6k is entirely abnormal for winter training. If they’re still having you do 2x6ks after spring break, yea, that might be a little out of the norm. As far as not knowing how to prep the team for the spring, as a D1 team that sounds … odd. Has your coach been with your team for very long or is he/she new to coaching? I feel like winter training is pretty straightforward so there shouldn’t be any confusion surrounding how to go about setting up a training program. I get what you mean about not wanting to question them, but there are ways of going about it without sounding like your interrogating them. You could just ask out of curiosity, since you are a novice, and inquire as to what the benefits of long steady state pieces like this are and how they prep you for spring. Assuming your coach didn’t just pull a 2x6k out of his ass, he’ll be able to give you his reasoning. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with questioning your coaches as long as you’re respectful and conversational about it.

Like I said, if you’re intent on coxing the varsity, stick to your guns unless you have a good reason not too. Everyone else quitting isn’t a good reason … although I would offer up the argument that it is a reason, assuming they all had a legitimate team or coach-related reason for quitting. I would see if you could sit down and talk with your coaches or even with some of the varsity coxswains and get an idea of what the spring season is going to look like and what role you will play in it. Getting a grasp on the bigger picture can sometimes help make sense of how things are now. As far as everyone else that’s quit … it does suck, but you have to let it go and focus on the people who are still on the team.

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 4

By readyallrow January 3, 2013

University of Delaware Coxswain Practice POV

The part I specifically want to point out in this recording is from 1:44-2:05. She’s concise, to the point, intense, and consistent with her calls – she doesn’t stop talking but she’s not rushing to get her words out either. Her calls in between each stroke are spot on and you know what she means even though she’s not saying a lot of words.

Also, after the starts when they’re doing the rate shifts, she does a good job demonstrating what I mean about drawing your voice out at 2:11 and 2:27.

Victoria City Rowing Club U17 Canadian Henley 2012

This is a recording where I question if the coxswain made them row better of if they would have rowed the same without her. This is a classic example of “cheerleader coxswain” who doesn’t sound sure at all of what she’s saying. It’s not bad coxing by any means … there’s just a lot of unnecessary cheerleading going on that could have been replaced by more effective calls.

The one thing that I liked that she said that I think we all tend to forget is “it will hurt to back down and it will hurt to keep pushing, so we’re going to keep pushing”. That’s a great call to make at the end of the race when you need to get that extra push from the crew.

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

College Coxing How To Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 3, 2013

I have been told by my rowers that I need to call them out directly more, rather than general corrections to the boat as a whole. I cox collegiate men but I’m not afraid to push them around. My problem is that I am having trouble actually seeing what the problem is. I can tell that catches are off, someone is rushing, but I can’t always tell exactly who it is. Any suggestions for improving this skill?

That’s good that your rowers want you to call them out more individually – don’t take it as a bad thing! There’s a couple things you can do to help yourself get more acquainted with the tendencies of the individual rowers.

When you’re inside on the ergs, watch the rowers for a few minutes each. Have a notebook handy and write down what you see about their stroke – get REALLY analytical about it. Look at the catch, drive, finish, hands, bodies, slides, where their chin is, etc. This will give you an idea of each rower’s “style” and from there you can make the appropriate calls, both as positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.

When you’re out on the water, ask your coach if you can spend a day just focusing on the rowing. Maybe do a long steady state piece or something where you don’t have to talk very much and can focus on the bladework. For us as coxswains, it’s very hard to see the individual rowers since we’ve got a 6’5″ mammoth sitting directly in front of us blocking our view of the rest of the rowers. Go through the boat pair by pair, then by fours, then all eight and see what you notice about the blades with each group. Breaking it down and looking at the boat in small chunks is sometimes easier than trying to process the whole eight at once. Another thing you can do to focus your brain on the blades is too stare directly at your stroke’s sternum. It sounds weird but looking directly ahead like that allows your peripheral vision to take over, which can help you see which seat is early or late. Have a recorder with you when you do this that way you can just say what you see instead of jostling around with your pen and paper.

Ask your coach if he can record the crew when you’re on the water, preferably one day when you’re doing drills and one day when you’re doing steady state. Get side views of the entire eight (both on starboard and port) as well as 30-45 second long zoomed-in shots of the individuals, preferably shot from the side they row. A flip cam works great, but if you’re brave you can use an iPhone too. The quality on both is pretty good. If your coach has the time, ask him/her if they’d mind watching it with you and pointing out what they notice with each rower, things that they would like to see improved or have noticed about their rowing in general. See if you can spot anyone rushing, diving at the catch, being early or late to the catch, etc. Make note of what you see.

Talk to your rowers. If they’re asking you to call them out individually, they probably already have something in mind that they want you to say to them. Six-seat might know that he rushes the slide but not be aware of when he does it. Three-seat knows that his catches need to be sharper but tends to forget to just unweight the handle during harder pieces. Communicating with them and then repeating to them in the boat what they’ve told you is a GREAT way to earn respect and trust from your crew.

When you talk to the “whole boat” and tell them to fix something, internally with each rower it usually becomes “well, I know I’m not doing this so I assume that the person who IS doing it will get their shit together and fix it” … generally the rower that thinks this is the rower who you’re actually directing your call towards but they don’t know it because you didn’t say their name or seat. As you become more familiar with their individual tendencies, that’ll happen less.

When you do talk to the whole boat though, make sure you give them specifics of what you want them to do – for example, setting the boat. We tend to get lazy and say “set the boat”, assuming that everyone can feel what side the boat is dipping to and what change needs to be made. More often times than not, that isn’t the case. Instead say “let’s set the boat, starboards let’s raise the hands a 1/4 inch at the finish, ports let’s bring ’em down just a little”. The specifics make the rowers on each side think about their hands and where they are in relation to what you just told them to do, so EVERYONE can make an adjustment. Talking to the boat without giving specifics makes the rowers complacent – giving them a specific instruction, even when you’re talking to the whole crew, reels their minds back into the boat.

Calling them out individually doesn’t strictly mean one-by-one either. You can talk to them by pairs (or sometimes fours) too if you notice that something that both rowers are doing.

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 1, 2013

As a coxswain are you treated differently as a recruit to a D1 college as opposed to a varsity cox who walks on the team? Or is it rare to have someone walk on a crew team who coxed through high school?

I don’t think it’s rare to have a 3 or 4-year coxswain walk on to the team. If they’re not 100% positive that they want to cox in college, they might forgo the recruiting process and go to walk-on tryouts to get a sense of what the team is like, what the commitment is like, and whether or not it’s something they really want to pursue. I think as a recruit you might be given slightly more “responsibility”, for lack of a better word, because the coach already has a sense of your abilities whereas with walk-ons, depending on where the need for coxswains is, you might be lumped in with the rest of the recruits or you might start off with the walk-on rowers as they learn how to row. Every team approaches it a little differently.

This is also why I always recommend that coxswains email the coaches if they’re thinking of walking on, that way they can at least introduce themselves and give them an idea of their background, skill level, etc.

College Ergs High School Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

How to Survive Winter Training: Solidarity

By readyallrow January 1, 2013

Previously: Rowers || Coxswains || Music + TV || The light at the end of the tunnel

Winter training undeniably has its downsides, especially for those of us in the Northeast or Midwest where the cold, snow, ice, etc. can keep us inside for 4-5 months but it’s … comforting, I guess? … to know that we’re not the only ones.

Some of us might experience better weather or milder winters than others but regardless, something to keep in mind is that no one is doing anything different than you are right now. We’re all doing the same erg workouts, we’re all spending time in in the weight room, we’re all biding our time until we can escape to warm weather for a week … bottom line is we’re all putting in the work. The only difference is the quality of that work.

Below are some winter training videos from various crews that show how they spend the winter months. If you’re starting to feel burned out, watch these for some motivation and remember that we’re all in the same boat (…pun maybe intended?).

Image via // @washingtonrowing

College Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 31, 2012

How hard is it to just start rowing in college, especially at a D1 or Ivy League school?

It’s hard but the degree to which it’s hard is largely determined by you. The biggest adjustments don’t come from learning a new sport, because regardless of what sport you try to pick up, it’s always going to be tough at first. The hard part is adjusting to waking up early several days a week, having practice six days a week (sometimes twice a day), and just learning how to manage your time better. Even if you’re a rock star at time management and self-discipline, joining the team will seriously test those skills.

If you have a demanding course load, it can be tough finding a good balance, especially if you fall behind earlier and have to spend a few weeks/months playing catch up. Once you find the balance though, it gets easier. You learn where your time needs to go and personally, I think, makes you a better overall student. If you have a hard time managing your time and/or you’re not very disciplined when it comes to getting things done, rowing probably isn’t the sport for you.

A lot of rowers pick the sport up in college – just look at the number of people on the national team that were walk-ons as college freshmen. It can be done but like I said, how tough it is is going to be determined by you and how disciplined you are at managing everything else in addition to crew.

College Coxing Novice Q&A Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 30, 2012

I’m 5’2 and weigh 153lbs. I can pull 1:58/500 m for a 30 minute test. I’ve been trying to lose weight but the nutritionist has essentially told me that my only option is to lose muscle (because of weight) or actually get bone removed through surgery (which I think is against NCAA rules). I was a walk-on to the crew team and want to row or cox but I have no idea what to do. My coach has told me I would make an excellent cox but I don’t know how to lose weight/approach this situation. Thank you!

One of your two “only” options is to have bone removed? That’s your nutritionist’s weight loss suggestion? Um…

The only way you would lose muscle is if you started starving yourself, which obviously no sane person recommends. You’re a good height to be a coxswain but maybe too short to row depending on how competitive your team is. The minimum for coxswains is 110lbs if you’re coxing women and 120lbs if your coxing men. You typically want to be as close to the minimum as possible (while still being healthy) to avoid adding unnecessary weight and drag to the boat. Coaches will typically give you some leeway though as to how far you can be over before they start nagging you about your weight (and nag they will). The best way to lose weight is pretty simple – diet and exercise. Substituting unhealthy foods for healthier options, eating several small meals a day, and adding in at least 30-45 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week is a good way to get started.

Just something to keep in mind too … 153lbs is a pretty high starting point if you want to cox. If you’re at a competitive program that expects their coxswains to be right at or very close to racing weight, you’re looking at having to lose 25lbs at least. Not that that’s not possible but just be realistic with what you decide to do.

I would search the “weight loss” or “weight” tags on here because I know I’ve answered similar questions from both rowers and coxswains that will probably help you out.

College High School How To Q&A Recruiting Rowing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 29, 2012

What’s a good way to get the attention of college coaches? Everyone keeps telling me that with my times and progress “the offers will roll in”. I really just want to be proactive in my college search to be sure that I’m choosing the right school. Is it as simple as shooting coaches an email saying that I’m interested or is there some secret step that I’ve been missing?

Rowing isn’t like football and basketball … the offers don’t just “roll in”.

First thing I’d suggest is checking out and making a beRecruited profile. This will allow coaches to get a general idea of who you are as a rower and what you’ve accomplished so far. Second, attend camps at universities you’re considering and get to know the coaches. This can be a good initial way to figure out if this is a coach you might be interested in rowing for.

Third, fill out the recruiting forms on the athletic websites of the schools you’re looking at. Coaches are gonna ask you to do this anyways so you might as well ski the step of them asking you to do it and just get it done on your own. Fourth, go to CRASH-Bs (and do well) or ID camps if you can. They look great on your rowing resume and let coaches know that you have the potential to be an asset to their program. Fifth, visit the schools and see if you can meet up with the coach to tour the boathouse and learn a little bit about the team.

Check out the recruiting tag as well as the “contacting coaches” tag too. There’s lots of questions and information in there that might help you out.

College Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 28, 2012

Are there any summer programs you’d recommend for collegiate coxswains?

Check out places like Vesper, Penn AC, Riverside, etc. They all have summer U23/high performance programs that race at the big summer regattas. I’d also talk with your coach and see if they know of anything. Sometimes they have the inside track on that kind of stuff and it can come in pretty handy when they can make a call on your behalf. If all else fails, start coaching. I can’t tell you how much more heightened my coxing senses have become since I started coaching. Email high school coaches or clubs in the area you’ll be in over the summer and ask if they could use a hand.

College Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 27, 2012

I guess this is more a social life outside of rowing kind of question, but I’m in university rowing and there are a lot of socials which a lot of people attend. But, being in the UK, it’s all about getting drunk and partying etc, and I don’t particularly enjoy that so most of the time I feel left out and only go to the bigger ones (like Christmas ball) and have one glass. But I’m also a novice and want to meet people/seniors which is hard if you just go to practice. Do you have any advice?

When you go to the socials, try not to focus so much on the fact that you feel left out – instead, try and join in on some conversations if you see any happening, as well as look for anyone else who looks equally bored. There’s almost always someone else who is uncomfortable or feeling left out too that you can strike a conversation with.

If parties aren’t your thing, that’s OK! Take the initiative to try and organize something more low-key – maybe a team dinner at one of the senior’s apartments at the start of the year/season to get to know the new team members or a team activity to raise money for charity (an ergathon, triathlon, etc.). You’d be surprised how well you can get to know someone when you have to be on an organizing committee with them. You could also have once-a-month team get togethers … ideas for that could be each boat brings their favorite board/card game to play and you spend the night playing games, going on a restaurant crawl (drinks at one restaurant, appetizers at another, entree at another, desserts at another), etc. You could also look on Groupon or similar deal-sites to see if they have any good deals on stuff like rock climbing, laser tag, spa days & massages, etc. that you and some teammates can do.

Don’t be afraid to admit that parties aren’t your thing. If there is an upperclassman that you know fairly well, ask them for their advice … just say that parties aren’t your thing but you don’t want to seem anti-social or like you don’t want to get to know people, because you do. They might have some ideas for you too!