Coxing Racing Recordings Video of the Week
By readyallrow
This video/recording is of Marcus McElhenney (coxswain of the mens 8+ that won silver in Beijing) coxing former national team rowers in a race against Cal at the Crew Classic. There’s not a lot of audio out there from elite level coxswains so it’s great to get to hear his style of coxing, the calls he makes, etc.
Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
By readyallrow
I consider my crew to be very lucky. We possibly have one of the best coxswains around. She can steer like a BOSS and has the patience and the nature of a saint. However I think we pushed her to her limits at one point and I don’t think I have ever seen her that angry. I often read this blog and I always read tips on what makes a great coxswain, how to deal with your rowers, and things not to do however I would like to hear from a coxie’s point of view is what are the things that rowers do that really sets you off edge and how we can avoid those things. I know coxies are all different (…and I have had some interesting ones at times) but it would really help if you could give some pointers from a coxswain. As rowers our biceps are sometimes bigger than our brains so it would help if you could give us some insight. Thanks…oh, and great blog!
This is the best question ever. It’s great that you recognize how lucky you are to have a such a skillful, knowledgeable, and personable coxswain. Out of curiosity, how did you push her to her limits? Were there any repercussions? How did you apologize? (You did apologize, right?)
Things that rower’s do that irritate coxswains:
This drives me nuts. There’s a time and a place for it and 99% of the time, while you’re on the water is not it. The reason it annoys me is not because I think that the boat should be some kind of rigid, military-like atmosphere while we’re out but because if I’m trying to get you to do something and you’re not doing it because you’re talking or screwing around with someone else, time is being wasted. If we say “bow six, row” we mean bow six, not bow, 2, and 5. Me telling you to take two strokes so I can get my point should not be something I have to repeat three times, especially when my already-loud voice is amplified through a microphone. Plus, my number one job is to maintain the safety of the crew. If I see something that could potentially be or is a dangerous situation, it’s my responsibility to get us away from it as quickly as possible. I can’t do that if no one is paying attention.
To avoid pissing off your coxswain in situations like this, don’t start a conversation with the four people around you as soon as you’re told to weigh enough, always be listening for your coxswain’s instructions (especially if you’re in bow pair), and in general, use your common sense. If the conversation can be had off the water, don’t have it on the water. Also, regarding safety, If we’re rowing and you start yelling things out, please know that I have no clue what you’re saying and I’m basically going to assume that a shark just jumped into the boat and ate your face off or we’re about to hit someone or something. I will stop the boat, ask you what you said, and then get royally pissed at you when you say you were saying something stupid like “set the boat”, “pull harder”, or whatever. Do. Not. Do. This.
If you can see that your coxswain’s hands, basket, etc. is full or looking particularly heavy, don’t walk over and toss your full water bottle in it just as she’s about to pick it up. Stick your water bottle in your spandex and carry it yourself.
To quote the person that sent this, “”Will I be rowing today? Will today be hard? What erg piece is he going to make us do next? Will I be in the boat this weekend? What are his plans for ‘X’ boat? Who’s he considering?” While some of these things are stuff coxswains SHOULD know, there is a lack communication, and/or coaches can change their minds in a heart beat if the need be.” Feel free to ask your coxswain these questions but know more often times than not that they are just as clueless as you.
If your coach tells you to make an adjustment or points out something you’re doing, it’s our job to remind you to do it and then reinforce it as we row. Don’t assume that you’re not doing something that two people are making an effort to point out to you that you are and please don’t actually say out loud to us that you aren’t doing it. We’re looking directly at your blades so if we say that you’re skying, digging it in, late to the catch, washing out at the finish, etc. you can bet that you’re doing it.
Don’t be that guy in the boat that has such an ego that he refuses to make any changes either. If we say your name or seat number or “bow 4” or “stern 4” or “starboards” or whatever part of the boat you’re a part of, make. an. effort. to make the change we’re calling for. We can see and feel when people make those changes and as you get more experienced you can tell who specifically did and didn’t do it. I haven’t had this happen too often to me when I’ve coxed but the few times it has it’s made me feel a little disrespected and like you don’t think I actually know what I’m talking about. I understand “getting in the zone” and tuning other things out but your coxswain should not be one of those things.
There are only two reasons that I can think of (as a coach and coxswain) of why it would be acceptable for a rower to take control of the boat. One is if the the coxswain is legitimately unable to cox (99.9% of the time due to a medical reason – I’ve seen this happen once) and the other is if they’re a novice and genuinely don’t know the right things to say and/or are inadvertently putting the crew in a dangerous situation. At that point the only person in the boat who should be saying anything is the stroke.
If you are shouting at your coxswain or the rest of the crew to do something, you’re undermining the coxswain’s authority. If they’re a novice, this can really hurt them in terms of trying to gain the respect of the crew. If they’re experienced it can actually make the rowers lose respect for them because it comes off as them not knowing what to do or what’s going on or more importantly, not being strong-willed enough to stand up to the rowers (who, by the power vested in them by the coach, they are technically in charge of while on the water).
Sometimes coxswains do things that piss the rowers off and you are well within your right to call them out on that. Waiting until you’re off the water and the boat and oars are put away to lose your shit on them though accomplishes absolutely nothing and only makes you look like an ass. Instead of screaming at them about whatever happened, ask them when you get off the water if you can talk to them after practice and then go down on the dock away from the rest of the team and have a conversation with them. I’m not saying the conversation has to be friendly or anything because emotions happen and I get that, but at the very least it does have to be civil. Explain what the issue is, why it’s an issue, and what you’d hope they could do differently in the future.
If the issue is really serious, talk to your coach and let them do the yelling. That’s their job. (Well, not really but you know what I mean.) If you’re more experienced than your coxswain (i.e. varsity vs. novice), you have a responsibility and a duty to help teach them and yelling is not how you go about doing that, even if at times that seems to be the quick, go-to, natural reaction. Don’t shatter their confidence before they’ve had a chance to even build any.
That shit isn’t funny. I promise you – promise you – with absolute certainty that coxswains take these things way harder than any rower. For me, I feel a personal sense of responsibility whenever something goes wrong because it’s my boat. I’m in charge. Regardless of whether whatever made it bad was my/our fault or something completely out of our control, it eats at me and takes a while to move past, even if it seems like I’ve gotten over it pretty quickly. If we’re in a similar situation or about to do another piece or racing the same crews, I guarantee that I was already thinking about that “last time” 20 minutes before the thought even crossed your mind. I’m going over everything that happened previously so I can make sure we/I do things better this time. I don’t need you putting on your “snarky rower” hat and saying “don’t fuck up!” because I’ve been saying that to myself since I first got in the boat.
I hate when coaches switch lineups and who’s coxing who each week because it causes issues for everyone. What makes things especially awkward though is when you get in a boat with a new coxswain and ask them to do everything the exact same as another coxswain on the team. The person who sent me this said that asking a coxswain to call, say, or do things the same way as another coxswain feels disrespectful and like you’re just putting up with them being in the boat because the coach put them there and not because you actually want them to be there.
I’m a big proponent of collaborative coxing while still maintaining your own individual style and way of doing things. If you had a coxswain that had this one call that you really responded to, by all means, absolutely talk to your new coxswain about it and ask if he/she would mind trying to incorporate it into their calls. Explain why so they can get a bit of background on why it works and why you like it. If they’re smart though they’ll have already talked with the previous coxswain of their new boat to see what works and what doesn’t when coxing them, what they respond to, what they like, etc.
I hope that helps. Coxswains, feel free to leave a comment and elaborate on something I’ve said or add something I didn’t mention.
By readyallrow
How do you keep your wrenches and pliers from going all rusty? My team goes out on the water year round, rain or shine, in a salt water marina. My tools tend to rust within a season, if not sooner which is quite inconvenient because then I’m constantly purchasing new tools.
Well, first suggestion is an obvious one – don’t get them wet. Definitely consider getting a waterproof bag (like this one) to put your tools in so they don’t get wet if you plan on carrying them on the water with you. If they do get wet, wash them off with regular water when you get back on land and make sure they’re dry before you put them away.
Coxing Novice Q&A Racing Teammates & Coaches
By readyallrow
Today my coach posted the line ups for our race this weekend. I am racing in the 2V8+. It is a pretty good boat, but we have a novice coxswain. She has coxed for us before, but she often crashes into other boats and in the last race she called a power 10 for the muffins at the food tent! We have tried to give her suggestions for what we want to hear, but she just doesn’t listen. Is there any respectful way to ask my coach if we can have another coxswain?
When you’ve given her suggestions in the past on things to say, how have you done it? Have you just kind of thrown out a bunch of ideas all at once or did you write them down and give her the piece of paper? Speaking from personal experience, I know it’s hard to remember what eight different people want you to say when they just word-vomit the ideas out at you. When I realized I wasn’t going to remember anything they said, I went around to each person and had them write down one or two calls that they want/needed to hear and then I’d take the paper out with me and try to incorporate them into practice. If that’s the reason it seems like she’s not listening, I’d try writing stuff down and giving it to her, then seeing where it goes. If she’s not listening just because she doesn’t want to or doesn’t care, that is an issue that you should talk to your coach about.
Being that your race is in two days, I think that, unfortunately, it’s probably too late for your coach to put another coxswain in the boat. I’m not sure how big the regatta is that you’re going to but most require lineups to be submitted a few days ahead of time and to change the lineup the day of requires a lot of work that no one really wants to waste time on. It’s also possible that your coach is putting her in the boat with you so that she can get experience with a crew that actually knows how to row, if that makes sense. Sometimes novice coxswains pick things up faster when they don’t have to also worry about coxing eight people who have no idea what end of the oar goes in the water.
That’s not to say that you still shouldn’t talk to him/her though and explain that when you’ve had her in the past, this is what’s happened, and it makes the boat feel uncomfortable when she’s coxing. Ask if today and tomorrow he can spend some time on and off the water working with her on whatever you/the boat thinks she needs help with. She is a novice, remember, so there are still going to be kinks that need to be worked out but hopefully your coach can get through to her the importance of steering straight, making good and effective calls, etc. I would also grab one of the varsity coxswains and ask them to work with her and give her some pointers.
Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches
By readyallrow
IDK if you can help with this but I’m a novice coxswain and there is another rower/coxswain on varsity who keeps giving me a lot of crap for things that are out of my control. Like, if I tell my boat to be back at a certain time and they are a little late or if another coxswain makes a mistake and takes my boat’s oars – I get blamed. Like it is my fault that other people messed up. It really just shakes me up and stresses me out before we race. Any advice to get her to stop?
People like this are the kind of people you just have to learn to ignore. I know it can be intimidating as a novice to have a varsity teammate always on your ass like this but the best way to deal with it is to either ignore it or just say “OK thanks, I’ll take care of it” and then walk away. There’s no reason to let it stress you out. At one point or another I think we’ve all had teammates or people we’ve worked on group projects with that are like this. It’s like they’re bored or something and just looking for something to complain about to make it seem like they’re doing or contributing something. I just roll my eyes at them and ignore it because that’s really all the consideration I tend to give to whatever they’re saying.
Something you could do is make an appeal to your boat or the other coxswain who took your oars. Tell your boat that when you say to be back at a certain time, they really need to be back by that time so you can then do whatever you’re going to do – go out on the water, your erg tests, etc. You don’t have a lot of practice time so the time you do have can’t be wasted. When they say (and they will say this, trust me) “we were like, two minutes late, what’s the big deal…”, tell them that you know that and while it might not seem like a big deal to them, things still get said to you about how your boat was late and it gives the impression that they don’t listen to you when they frequently aren’t at the boathouse when you ask them to be there. You don’t have to be mad or angry when you tell them this – just have a conversation and let them know that as their coxswain, teammate, etc. you’d appreciate if they could make an effort going forward to please be at the boathouse when you ask them to be there.
As far as other coxswains taking your oars go, make sure it’s clear before you take the boats out who is supposed to take which oars and which oars go with which boats. If someone accidentally took the set that your boat was supposed to use, whatever, but don’t be afraid to say “hey, I think yesterday you might have grabbed our oars on accident – we’re taking the one with blue tape…” and then leave it at that.
If the varsity rower/coxswain who is giving you problems continues and doesn’t let up, talk to your coach or team captain. Explain the situation, tell them that you’ve talked to your boat about being on time and the other coxswains about making sure you’re all taking out the correct oars, and then get their input and go from there.
Don’t let it stress you out or piss you off. Is it annoying? Yea, absolutely but the less you fuel the fire by responding to what they say or getting upset about it, the less they’ll bother you.
College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
By readyallrow
In high school my coach was a former coxswain and put a big emphasis on teaching the coxes. I spent 4 years learning how to cox from him, my fellow coxswains, countless recordings, clinics, etc. I am very much of the opinion that there is a right way to cox, and one of the things I learned from my high school coach that’s really stuck with me is to avoid the use of “filler”, i.e. meaningless encouragements, general yelling, and just general talking for the sake of talking.
Now that I am in college, I am working with a different group of rowers who haven’t ever known this philosophy of coxing. For the most part, their high school programs were less serious, and they learned to row in a “coxswains are cheerleaders” environment. When my coach has them fill out feedback forms, I get comments like “You are very organized and I always trust you at races,” “You make great technique calls,” “Great steering,” etc. Always followed by the “but you’re not aggressive enough during pieces.” When I’ve asked what they’re looking for, they pretty much define filler. They want me to yell stupid things about the crews next to us to get them fired up and essentially just scream from start to finish. At a small and inconsequential race in the fall, I decided to try it. I finished thinking that that was some of the worst coxing I had ever done. There was no coherent race plan, no useful information about the course, no technical focuses. However, the feedback I got was “That’s some of the best coxing you’ve ever done.” All I did was yell nonsense for 5k!
This spring, my unwillingness to compromise my coxing lost me the boat. (Granted, this was not a coaching decision, but a simple vote from the top 8). I am absolutely willing to work with the girls on specific calls that work for them and get them fired up within the scope of our race plan, but not at the expense of everything else I do well. How do you think I should deal with this? I learned how to cox around rowers who were taught the same things I was about coxswains, but now I’m stuck coxing in a “coxswains are cheerleaders” environment.
A few things to start:
Have you ever explained your style of coxing to your crew(s) and why it works, not only for you but for the boats you’ve coxed previously?
I’m a firm believer in not compromising what you know works and what you do well just to satisfy other people. I’ve been asked to do it before under threat of losing a boat and I willingly gave up that boat because I didn’t want to stop doing the things that I knew made me a good coxswain. I agree with and absolutely support you because I’ve been there and I know what it’s like. You definitely have to be flexible and willing to try new things but the line’s gotta be drawn somewhere.
Have you ever considered or tried coxing men? Your style, which I will now affectionately call “sugar and bullshit free coxing”, sounds like something they would really respond to.
I’d start by having a conversation with your coach(es). Explain to them that this was how you were taught to cox from the very beginning, this is why it worked for you, and this is why it’s a strategy you believe in (and it absolutely is a strategy). Help them to understand how the type of rowers you’re coxing now are different than the ones you’re used to coxing (and then further explain the cheerleader-coxing conundrum) and why it’s hard for you to adjust something that you know works to something that makes you feel like … not a bad coxswain, but an inefficient one. Just like how you and your crew have to “buy in” to your coach’s philosophy and the rowers have to “buy in” to your style of coxing, you also have to buy into your style. The rowers might buy in to your (fake) cheerleader style but if you can’t get on board with it, how good is your coxing really going to be? You’re not going to be passionate about it, which means that on some level there’s going to be a lack of intensity and aggression.
From there, have a conversation with the rowers and tell them the same thing. Try to avoid the “my coxing style is inherently better than your previous coxswain’s style” just because there’s the potential for a lot of issues to arise there. Tell them what you just said too about working with them on specific calls and being willing to compromise in that aspect but at the same time don’t be afraid to tell them that you can’t change your entire style because it’s something you’ve worked hard to develop and, if you were a recruit, most likely a very large part of why you’re part of the program you’re coxing for. Stick up for yourself and don’t feel like you have to cave to their requests/demands just because there are eight of them and only one of you.
I’d really encourage you to consider seeing if you can cox the guys for a practice or two just to see what it’s like. Talk to their coach about it and see if you could set something up. If you can’t get anything figured out before the end of the year, try coxing for a master’s program over the summer. The guys are older obviously, but they’re still guys. I actually heard a men’s masters crew last week telling this girl that was, I assume, filling in for their usual coxswain “We don’t care what your style is, just don’t do any of that cheerleader bullshit”. If coxing for the men isn’t an option at all, do the best you can to make it work with the women. If it means not coxing the top 8+ and instead coxing the 2nd 8+, embrace it. Explain to them right off the bat that this is your style, this is how you cox, you’re willing to work with them and throw in some calls they’d like to hear but on the whole, this is the kind of coxswain you are. Commit to making this boat fast by being the best coxswain you can be for your crew while still staying true to your style.
By readyallrow
One of my rowers get so much layback she looks as if she’s about to completely lay down! It’s affecting her timing with stroke seat, what would you suggest?
Tell her to stop. I know that’s the blunt and obvious answer but it really is what I say to rowers who layback like that. When they keep doing it after I’ve told them to stop I start telling them about all the ways they’re screwing up their low back (and abs, to an extent) and eventually that’s what gets them to quit. Have you talked with her outside the boat regarding her timing issues? Does she know that her timing isn’t with the rest of the boat’s? I’d tell her off the water and explain to her how her layback is playing a large part in that and ask her to work on it the next time you go out.
Her layback isn’t going to be something you’ll be able to see but you will be able to see what her timing is like. After practice talk with your coach and ask him how it looked today. Keep reminding her of both the timing and the layback. Say something to her about timing only when you notice it’s an issue but throw in a few “Jenny, sit up tall, support the stroke with the core…” calls just as a general reminder to her. This will get her thinking about it for a stroke or two and she’ll either remember to not layback too far or realize she is laying back too far and fix it by sitting up taller and only going back as far as she needs to.
By readyallrow
What’s a good split for an average coxswain to have for 2k?
It’s been quite awhile since I last erged but I could probably hold a solid 2:15-2:20, so for a girl of around my height and weight (4’11”, 95lbs) with reasonable athletic ability I’d say anywhere from 2:10-2:30 would be good. If I pull my ass off I can go 1:55-2:00 for about 300m, so I tend to save that for the end. For a guy, that’s a little harder for me to guess for obvious reasons, but I’d say 1:40-2:00 would probably be reasonable.
Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
By readyallrow
We have a coxswain and all she does in our races is call pieces and count the strokes. It is ridiculous. Like she will call a piece of 30 and then about halfway through that she will call a piece of 20 then count out the strokes and it isn’t helpful at all and just frustrates the rowers. How can we approach asking her to change what she’s saying without sounding bitchy and like we know what she’s doing better than her?
You should never feel like you can’t ask your coxswain to do something differently. Sometimes the way we call things just doesn’t work and you have to have enough respect for your crew to understand that you need to do something different, not only for the benefit of the boat but also so your rowers continue to respond to you. If you’re unapproachable about stuff like this all that’s going to do is bring the boat down.
The issue where it comes off like the rowers know more than the coxswain is when you start telling them how to steer, how to call drills, how to take the boat out, etc. Anything regarding calls relies on communication between both parties because the coxswain needs to make good calls that the rowers will respond to and if the rowers find that those calls aren’t working for them, they need to let the coxswain know so they can figure out a way to call it differently. As long as you’re not straight up attacking her and saying that her coxing sucks or something, there really shouldn’t be an issue.
Before your next practice I’d have your stroke and maybe one other person talk to her (privately to avoid the “ganging up” feeling) and ask if she’d mind calling a few things different during practice and your races. Tell her that the power pieces are helpful but you think the boat would respond better if they were spread out more and used strategically rather than sporadically.
For now, just ask her to work on that. You don’t want to overwhelm her with a ton of requests and you also don’t want to piss her off. After practice, assuming she listened to your request and tried to do things differently, tell her thank you for making the effort and then give her any feedback you have. If she didn’t listen to your request and doesn’t want to do things differently, talk to your coach and explain the situation. Tell him/her that you asked her to try something different and that, for whatever reason, she didn’t do it. From there, hopefully your coach can have a talk with her and explain why communication back and forth is critical to having a cohesive boat.
If things went alright though, like I said, tell her thanks and then maybe in a few days or so talk to her about what you guys want to hear as far as additional calls for motivation, technique, etc. Maybe have each person in your boat write down one motivational and technical call each and then give her that list. I only say wait a few days because you don’t want to throw all of this on her too quickly because it is overwhelming having your rowers say they want to hear a million different things and trying to remember everything and figure out the best places to work those calls in is a little daunting at first. Give her a day to get used to calling the bursts differently and then talk to her again.
By readyallrow
I’m a coxswain but since I’m the only available freshman they’re having me row this Sunday. I’m replacing a girl who’s going to a family party. Anyway, I feel like I can’t push as hard and I’m letting the rowers down! I’m so stressed out that I’ll catch a crab or something!
Whether anyone has told you this or not, no one expects you to go out and pull as hard as the girl you’re switching in for. What they do expect is for you to go out, try your best, and row as hard as you can. You know what to do since you’ve been telling the rowers how to do it while you’re coxing…now’s your chance to do it yourself. Use it as a learning experience. Even though you’re going to be focused on the rowing, take mental notes on your rowing – what seems harder than you expected, what is your technique like, etc. and then remember all of that the next time you go on the water and cox. Use what you learned to help you cox the girls in your boat.
Don’t worry about catching a crab. If it happens, whatever, it’s not the end of the world. Recover as quickly as possible and get right back into it. Watch your timing, make sure the blade is completely square at the catch and finish, and only bury the oar as deep as you need to in order to cover the blade. Don’t stress out either! That takes all the fun out of racing.
