Category: Coxing

Video of the Week: Allen Rosenberg on Coaching (and coxing)

By readyallrow July 14, 2014

If you don’t know who Allen Rosenberg is, he was a coxswain-turned-coach who coached numerous successful crews throughout his career, including the 1964 Men’s 8+ that won gold in Tokyo (the last time the United States won before the 2004 crew did in Athens). He was also particularly innovative when it came to rowing technique and even has a “style” named after him. (Did you know there were/are different types of rowing styles? Four, in fact…)

Anyways, I came across this video back in December after he passed away. What I really like about his interview is that he reiterates that the only difference between coxing and coaching is years of experience (and in some cases, a paycheck). Pay particular attention to the traits he lists of successful coaches – all three of those things are exactly what it takes to be a successful coxswain.

College Coxing

Female coxswain weight minimums

By readyallrow July 5, 2014

If you follow me on Instagram then you’ll know that I’ve been going through about 40 years worth of rowing magazines over the last month. I was going through my latest stack this evening and came across this letter to the editor from the July/August 1991 issue of American Rowing that I thought was worth sharing.

What I appreciated about this letter was that it was coming from a coach (and a very successful one at that) who actually appears to understand how difficult the process of making weight can be for a coxswain.

I’ll be honest, I really don’t see that same kind of concern from many coaches these days and that’s pretty upsetting. The number of emails I’ve gotten from both male and female coxswains describing the things their coaches have told them to do to lose weight or the nasty offhand remarks they make about their size disgust me. I’ve witnessed it in person too and it’s taken a lot of restraint to not say anything (although in retrospect I always feel like I should have).

Saying “oh, just do what you have to do” and/or looking the other way when you know that one of your athletes is taking drastic measures like this is really offensive. I mean really, all it does is perpetuate the idea that coxswains aren’t real athletes so why does it matter if they’re doing stuff like this to their bodies? It does matter and for the exact reasons that were stated in the letter – there are serious physical and psychological effects to depriving your body of energy and nutrients and those effects will be felt on race day.

I’m mainly sharing this because I thought it was interesting but if you take anything away from it, I hope it’s that resorting to extremes like not eating, making yourself throw up, taking laxatives, etc. are all dangerous behaviors that will have a serious impact on your ability to perform your duties at the level you need to. Be realistic about your weight and don’t try to force your body down to a number that it’s not capable of being at. Also keep in mind that your skills on the water are worth far more to your crew than whatever the number on the scale says.

Image via // @tsarel

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 2, 2014

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.

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.

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 25, 2014

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.

Coxing

“Weigh enough” vs. “Let it run”

By readyallrow June 24, 2014

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!

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

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 21

By readyallrow June 19, 2014

Western Washington University 2014 WIRA Women’s Varsity 4+ Heat

This is probably one of very few examples where a coxswain is abnormally quiet and yet still coxing pretty well. The intensity comes across even if the typical coxswain-volume isn’t there. There are a few times where it gets a little to yoga-instructor-trying-to-get-you-to-meditate but for the most part, this is pretty good.

There’s a lot of great individual calls made throughout the piece that do a great job of conveying what needs to happen without making it seem like it has to happen now now now. I also like the calls to the various pairs to accomplish different things. An important point to remember though is to not forget the “how” part of the calls. At 1:43 she says “let’s get a little more run” but doesn’t say how she wants the crew to actually execute that (long(er) on both ends, holding in the finishes, big acceleration on the drive, etc.). Not doing that runs the risk of everyone doing their own thing to accomplish that task instead of executing a unified approach (that you give them).

The last 250m (last 60 seconds or so) is called well. That “coxswain volume” starts to come out, the intensity’s been bumped up, and you can just sense the confidence behind the calls. Overall this was a great coxing job and like I said at the beginning, probably one of very few examples of good coxing where the coxswain is very quiet and almost too calm for the majority of the race.

Last thing: “I see the finish line…”. Don’t say that. They can see the finish line too from the starting platform if they turn around and look for it.

Other calls I liked:

“Right with your pair partner…” I like this as an alternative to saying “right with stern pair”, “right with [stroke]”, “all together”, etc.

“That’s it, you’re right on your rhythm…”

Drexel Women’s Freshman 8+ Scrimmage vs. Bucknell

Just a couple quick notes on this recording. I love pretty much everything about it except for one thing … one pretty major, super obvious thing. Her aggression and tone at the start and throughout the entire race is spot on (this really is a great example of what you want to sound like) but holy shit, the counting is beyond ridiculous. The rowers know how to count – they don’t need you to count out every single stroke of the 2000m race.

At 2:19 she says “body swing in five”, which is fine (ignoring the whole counting thing in this particular instance) but make sure you say over 5, not in 5. That’s an important distinction that you don’t want to mess up. “In 5” means that after five strokes, X will happen. “Over 5” means that over the course of five strokes, X is happening.

Related: “In” vs. “Over” vs. “On”

I really wouldn’t change anything about this other than the excessive amount of counting. Ignoring that though and thinking about the overall piece, I’d say this is a solid example of what a collegiate coxswain should sound like.

Other calls I liked:

“They’re gonna kick it up, we’re gonna kick harder…”

“Hold the open water and take it away…”

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

Coxing Rowing

“In” vs. “On” vs. “Over”

By readyallrow June 12, 2014

Even though I know I’ve mentioned this in passing, I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually explained the concept of “in” vs. “on” vs. “over”. It’s an important one to know and understand because executing one over the other can have an impact on what you’re crew is doing (and not always positively either).

IN

This is probably one of the top three most common calls we use. “In two” is used to tell the rowers when to do pretty much everything from add in to power 10 to weigh enough.

Related: All about power tens

When you say “in two”, what you’re really saying is “two strokes from now, do whatever it is I’m telling you to do“.

In the context of coxing, the stroke begins at the catch (whereas in terms of technique it begins on the recovery) so that’s where you want to call the two strokes that signal when the rowers should do whatever you’re telling them to do, that way everyone does it at the same time. For example, if I’m coxing a crew and I want to add a pair in, here’s what would happen:

“OK let’s add bow pair in in two…” I would start this call when they’re at the catch and finish it just as the hands start to come away (aka over the full length of the drive) or when they’ve just about got their hands fully extended. I’m not rushing the words out but I’m not saying them slow as molasses either.

“That’s one…” ‘That’s’ is said just as they start to square the blades up over the last three inches of the recovery and ‘one’, obviously, is said right at the catch.

“And two, on this one…” ‘And two…’ is said during the same part of the stroke as ‘That’s one’ and ‘on this one’ is said over the last 3/4 of the drive. As I’m saying ‘on this one’, that’s when bow pair should be preparing to come in. Prior to all this when I make the initial call, they should sit back at the finish so that as I finish saying ‘and two’ they can start coming up the slide with everyone else in preparation for the next stroke.

This next part is where people get tripped up. When I say “in two” I’ll count out two full strokes and then when I would say “three” if I were still counting, that is where bow pair’s blades enter the water. Occasionally I’ll see rowers try to come in right as the coxswain says two and it ends up throwing everyone off. Wait two full strokes THEN come in.

The main purpose of “in two” is to act as a preparation call – you’re telling the rowers they’ve got two full strokes to get ready to do something before they actually have to do it and then right on that third stroke, that’s when the magic happens.

ON

This is the simplest one. “On” is typically called as “on this one”, meaning the catch immediately following this call.

It’s typically used for one of two reasons – you’re with an experienced enough crew that the prep time that comes with “in two” isn’t necessary or you’re in a situation where you don’t have time to spare and whatever needs to happen needs to happen right now because “in two” would be two additional strokes too many.

When I make this call I usually say something like “let’s go on this one“, where ‘let’s go’ is said as the handle is coming into the finish, ‘on this one’ is said on the recovery, and the “this one” I’m referring to is the catch immediately after that recovery.

What you’re doing is eliminating the two strokes of prep time that “in two” gives you, although you’re not eliminating it completely. The latter half of the recovery coming into the catch serves as the prep time in this case, which is why it’s important that you don’t rush out your instructions as “getreadytogoonthisone” because all you’re doing is catching everyone off guard and ensuring that you’re only gonna get 7 or so good strokes out of the 10 you just called for.

The only time I’d say this call wouldn’t be advised is when you’re trying to go up/down on the rate by more than 2-3 beats. You can easily get that in one stroke but if you’re trying to go from your start to a settle or your base pace to a sprint the rowers, particularly the stroke, is gonna need more time than that. During a race if you see a crew walking right through you, “in two” isn’t an appropriate call because that’s two strokes you’re giving up where you could otherwise be trying to counter their move. Same goes for pretty much anything that happens within the last 250m of the race – it’s all gotta happen on this one.

OVER

This is is the Gretchen Wieners of coxswain calls – totally misunderstood, undervalued and always trying to make something happen that is never gonna happen (unless executed properly, of course). The thing with this call is that one of two things usually happens: coxswains don’t know it’s an option so they don’t use it at all or they call for it but treat it the same way they do “in two”.

“Over” is what I like to call a progressive call – when you call for it, what you’re saying is “There should be small incremental adjustments happening on each stroke of the X number of strokes I called for. When all the strokes are completed we should have achieved whatever the initial call was asking for.”

Another way to say that is that you want to see something happen over the course of a couple strokes instead of on one specific stroke. If that still doesn’t make sense, look at it in terms of wave summation (not the actual physiology behind it, just the picture) – with each stimulus there’s a gradually greater response. That is what you’re looking for when you call for something to happen “over” a certain number of strokes.

When you use this one, you’re using it in conjunction with “on”, not “in”. Calling for something to happen over X strokes in two is wrong. I use this call primarily to bring the rate up or down and for miscellaneous technique things. If we’re rowing at a 28 and I want to take the rate to a 34, this is how it’d sound:

“OK we’re at a 28, let’s go to a 34 over three … on this one…” This call usually takes me about a stroke and a half to say if I say it exactly like that, which I normally do. I’ll say ‘OK we’re at a 28′ on the drive and ‘let’s go to a 34 over three’ on the recovery of the first stroke, followed by ‘on’ throughout the drive (I’ll draw it out to sound like “onnnn“) and ‘this one’ as the hands come around the turn at the finish.

“That’s one…” ‘That’s’ is said on the last three inches or so of the recovery (about the time when they start to square up) and ‘one’ is said right as they catch. When you’re bringing the rate up it happens on the drive, not the recovery so you should feel a difference on this first catch and drive. The next catch and drive you should feel a little more oomph and then a little more on strokes 2 and 3.

If you’re starting at a 28 and you’re shooting for a 34, ideally the rate would come up like this: [stroke 1] 29, [stroke 2] 31.5, [stroke 3] 34. Give or take half a beat or so that’s about where you wanna be when you’re bringing the rate up six SPM. In order to get the rate where you want it to be, you’ve got to communicate with your stroke seat and tell them the rates so they know how much more to bring it up in the X number of strokes they have left. Since I’m calling the stroke number at the catch, I’ll call the stroke rate at the finish so it sounds like “That’s one 29, two 31.5, and three 34, that’s it…”.

All of the above would also apply to bringing the rate down. During a race, if I see that the rate has jumped a couple beats then I’ll call for them to “lengthen it out over two on this one” while making leg calls on the drive and relaxation calls on the recovery.

The reason I get so specific is because “bring it down” says and does nothing. The biggest problem that arises from that call is some people will do it, some won’t, and whoever does do it won’t do it at the same time. By saying “over two” that tells them they’ve got two strokes to adjust the rate and “on this one” tells them when I want everyone to start making the adjustment. It’s also important to say the stroke rates here too so the stroke knows where he’s at and where you want him to be.

With technique, I’m usually calling for something related to posture. In particular, if I notice the rowers are starting to get tired, the strokes are a little sloppy, the boat feels heavy, etc. then I’ll say “OK over the next three let’s sit up on the seats and sharpen the catches … ready, now.” Following that I’ll make any relevant calls (“light on the seats”, “pop make it light“, etc.) and then after the three strokes are done I’ll say something like “yea, that’s it” to let them know that I feel the changes they made and to maintain that going forward.

The problem with “over”, as I mentioned in the beginning, is when coxswains call for it and then treat it like an “in two” call. This typically has to do with the rowers not understanding the difference in terminology, which is why it’s important that you explain to them what your calls mean. The most common thing I see is coxswains calling for the rate to come up over three or five and nothing changing until stroke two or four. Remember, it’s incremental. Each stroke should be a little bit more than the other. What the “more” is depends on what you’re asking for.

Now that that’s all been explained, I recommend finding a video that shows a straight on view of the boat so you can see everyone’s catches and practice making these calls. This one would be a great one to use – just mute the audio so you’re just focused on the blades.

Another thing you can do is get on an erg and go through all these motions yourself at varying speeds so you can get used to calling them at different rates. Practicing during the winter if you’re calling a practice is also a good time to work on this. Even if you’re not calling something, you can still watch the rowers and go through the calls yourself in your head.

Don’t get frustrated if you end up confusing yourself a few times either – I definitely did. I think it’s good to actually sit down and think about this stuff though so that you’re actually aware of how you’re calling it and when your making each individual call. I know it might seem silly and/or pointless but it is worthwhile in the long run because it helps you develop consistency in the timing of your calls (which translates to better timing and efficiency within the boat) and comes in handy when you have to explain to novices how to do this. If you know every. single. detail. and actually understand why you do things the way you do them, not only will you be able to explain it better but you’ll also set a good example for the other coxswains.

Image via // @stephenjones_

College Coxing Q&A Recruiting Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 10, 2014

Hi! I’m finishing my junior year in high school and I know it’s quite late for me, but after my past spring season I’ve decided that I want to cox in college. I’m uncertain about a couple things in the process though. First off, I emailed the head coach for my top choice college, and he emailed back that he would share the email with his recruitment coordinator, his assistant coach, to answer all my questions. So when I email coaches from now on, should I just always email the assistant coach? For another college, they don’t have an assistant coach listed, but they have a novice coach. Should I email them over the head coach? And lastly, what are some good things for a coxswain to include in those emails?

These are great questions!

So, for your first question, I think a good thing to do is email whoever is listed as the recruiting coordinator/freshmen coach and then CC the head coach, that way both of them get it but it’s directed at the person who you’ll mainly be corresponding with. After the initial email where you introduce yourself and such you can probably just stick to emailing the assistant coach. You can always ask though – “should I CC [head coach] on the emails going forward” – and they’ll let you know what works best for them.

For your second question, yes, email the novice coach and do what I said up above. Some coaches aren’t listed as “assistants” and instead are just titled “freshmen coach” or “freshmen/novice coach” on the athletic department websites even though they are assistants to the head coach in the grand scheme of things.

Regarding emails, check out the post linked above. There are a couple other links in there that might help you out but in addition to that I’d recommend checking out the “recruiting” tag and reading some of the questions that other rowers and coxswains have asked. You might find an answer to a question you didn’t know you had yet.

Coxing High School Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 8, 2014

Hi there!! So I am a junior school (Under 14′s) cox and we have moved into using bow loader quads, instead of the usual stern loaders we used to use. We have been racing in an oct for awhile so I am a bit out of practice with the quads. Anyways, in the bow loader, I obviously have a very restricted field of vision, so I was wondering if you had any tips on “reading” or “feeling” the boat, to pick up on faults e.t.c ? Also I sometimes feel like I stay quiet for too long, during steady state if there are no obvious technical calls, rate calls, or rhythm calls. Is there anything that I can say to make it a bit less silent and awkward for the rowers?

Don’t underestimate the power of not talking. I think there are plenty of rowers who will agree with me in saying that if you don’t have anything constructive to say, especially during steady state, it’s best to just not say anything. When we’re doing long pieces I’ll actually tell the rowers that for the next 2, 3, 5, etc. minutes, I’m not gonna talk and that they should focus on X, Y, and Z. During that time I focus first on steering and second on feeling the boat. If I’m weak in any area as a coxswain, it’s definitely steering. I mean, I’m pretty proficient at it but if I had to grade myself I’d definitely give myself a lower grade there compared to my other skills. When I get the chance to go off auto-pilot and actually focus on the adjustments I’m making, I take the opportunity. You can read about all that and the technique “game” I play during steady state pieces in a bit more detail in the post linked below.

When it comes to feeling the boat, the best thing you can do for yourself is listen painfully hard when the coach is going though a technical practice with the crew. I hate technical practices because they’re boring as hell and there’s hardly ever anything for coxswains to actually do but I appreciate them to an extent because it helps me continue developing my sense of boat feel, regardless of whether I’m coxing an eight or a four. What you want to do is focus on how the boat feels while the rowers are doing the drill and how it feels after the coach gives them an instruction or feedback (i.e.”pull in higher”, “good adjustment with the hands”, etc.). For the most part, I gauge the “feel” of the boat by averaging the last three strokes. How did the last three strokes feel as a whole after an adjustment was made vs. pre-adjustment?

You can’t judge how the boat’s moving or what the rowers are doing if you look at it stroke by stroke – or at least, I don’t think you can. You’ve gotta base it off of what’s consistently happening. If the boat is set for ten strokes, dips to starboard for one, and then goes back to being set for several strokes, do you really need to say something about handle heights? On the flip side, when you would say something is if it’s down to one side for several strokes then setting up for one before going back to being offset because then you know that someone (or multiple someones) is consistently doing something that’s affecting the set (whereas before it might have been one person trying to readjust themselves on the seat or something).

Anyways, the point is is that if you use your time wisely during technical practices then when you’re doing steady state you can test yourself regarding technique and how that makes the boat feel. If the boat is doing this then you know either X or Y must be happening. X is caused by this, Y is caused by that. The factors causing X aren’t something your crew typically has an issue with but you know that factors B and C (that cause problem Y) are two things that your 3-seat has been working on a lot lately. Keeping that in mind, whenever you start talking again you can make a call for that or when you stop you can say to your coach “It felt like Y was happening and I know Dan has been working on B and C lately but I couldn’t tell if that was what was actually causing the problem. Did you see anything?” and then go from there.

Coxing Ergs

Winter training tips for coxswains

By readyallrow June 3, 2014

…because we all know there’s no worse time to be a coxswain than during the winter.

The winter months are a great time for coxswains to work on two main skills: your ability to spot and diagnose technical proficiencies/deficiencies and polish up some of your calls. One of the best things you can do for yourself is talk to your coach and ask them to let you run a practice (or multiple practices) under their supervision. As thrilling as taking the rowers through a body circuit is, doing that for 3+ months is not going to make you a better coxswain.

One of my coaches overheard a friend and I whining about taking our respective eights through circuits our sophomore year (pretty sure the gist of our conversation was “this is so stupid, I’m so bored, I could be doing my homework right now (lol), etc.”) so the next practice he had us stay upstairs and alternate taking the rowers through warmups and different drills. It was good for us because at that point after a year of experience we knew how things should be called, we just needed to fine-tune how we did it.

When it comes to working on your technical calls, you should limit this to two occasions: warmups/drills and group workouts where everyone is rowing at the same pace (rate pyramids are an ideal workout for this). Basically anytime the rowers are all doing the same thing, go for it, otherwise, be a silent observer. In cases like this, you’re not really focusing on the individual so the rowers who don’t like being coxed on the erg won’t have much to complain about. This is more for you than it is for them anyways.

One of the main things you should focus on is how you call the transitions between rates, pressure, starts and settles, etc. Remember that just because you’re not on the water doesn’t mean you can start monologue-ing with your calls. Everything should still be simple and concise. I’ve used this analogy before but for those who haven’t heard it, if you can’t tweet whatever call you’re trying to make (aka it’s longer than the length of one tweet, which is 140 characters), it’s too long. Take out the unnecessary words so only the really important ones (the ones that are critical in conveying your message) remain. This would also be a good opportunity to practice the difference between “over” and “on” in terms of when to do something.

If the workout is going to have a technical focus, particularly if you’re in the tanks, determine what the focus is ahead of time (catches, finishes, sequencing, etc.) so you can create a “word bank” comprised of 10-12 calls that you can then incorporate into your vocabulary while you’re coxing. The more you practice them off the water the more natural they’ll sound on the water (and the less effort you’ll have to go through trying to come up with something to say). If you’re an experienced coxswain, don’t fall back on the same general calls that you’re used to using. Get creative and come up with some new ones by listening to recordings, talking with the rowers, etc. This is your time to figure out what works and what doesn’t before you get on the water so don’t waste the opportunity by being lazy.

When incorporating these technical filler calls, also make sure that your tone matches the overall intensity of the piece. The goal in coxing these pieces on land is to mimic how you would do it on the water during practice or in some cases, like you would on race day. (Side note, I think practicing race-day warmups, starts and settles, etc. are all GREAT to do on the ergs, especially if you give yourself a time limit to have it all done by.) If the rowers are doing low-rate steady state pieces with a focus on controlled and in-sync leg drives, don’t cox them like they’re bow ball to bow ball with Brown and Harvard in the grand final at IRAs and you’re trying to nose your boat out in front with a five for legs.

The second thing that you should do when not working on your calls is sharpening up your “technical eye”. Being on land gives you the opportunity to look at the rowers in a way that you don’t normally get to – from the side. This should be your “go to” thing to do if/when you aren’t given anything else to do. I personally don’t like calling drills or whatever while trying to observe the rowers because then my focus is split between the two and I end up not being wholly focused on either. One consistently distracts from the other and if I’m not losing track of what stroke we’re on, how much time is left, etc. then I just end up looking at the rowers without really seeing anything.

Related: The coxswain in winter

When observing the rowers, you should have a picture in your head of what the “ideal” rower’s form looks like. I used to always pick the best rower on our team and compare everyone’s form to her. This is after actually confirming with our coach that she had the best form on the team and would be a good example for others to follow. From there you can compare what you’re seeing in front of you to what you’re visualizing in your head and note what’s different between the two. The details aren’t what’s important here, rather you should be looking at the building-block kind of things – mainly leg drive, the transitions through the body sequence (legs → back → arms and back up), posture, etc.

From there, you can either make the correction directly to the rower or make a note of it in your notebook (which you should absolutely have on you) to address at another time. Something that I’d recommend doing is writing down what the issue was and what correction you made so that you can reference it later (as in days, weeks, or months later). Additionally, if something looks off but you aren’t sure what specifically the problem is, ask an experienced coxswain or your coach if they could look at the rower and explain what they’re seeing, what the correction needs to be, why that specific correction is needed, and what a good on-the-water call for that would be.

I also do a lot of walking when I’m observing the rowers on the ergs. Very rarely do I stand in the same place for more than a minute or two, unless I’m standing at the front of the room and observing everyone as a group. I like to stand in front of each individual for three to five strokes and look at them like I would in the boat. From there I try to figure out what’s good/bad about their form and what they might look like with an oar in their hands. As I mentioned in the post linked above, it’s a game I play with myself. It involves a lot of educated guesswork but ultimately it’s a great way to teach yourself about technique and form in general. And, as I’ve said thousands of times before, if you learn the tendencies of the rowers and what calls to make to address them while you’re still on land then you’ll be one step ahead of the game once you get out on the water.