Category: Coxing

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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In regards to steering during a sprint race, do you recommend using the tiller to steer or having the ports/starboards row with more pressure for a stroke or two in order to maintain a straight point?

If you have to steer, always use your rudder. The rowers will be too hyped on adrenaline at that point to be able to coherently give you the pressure adjustment you need and more importantly, it takes their focus off of what they should be doing.

Related: Hi! Since the spring races all start boats at the same time, do you have any tips on steering straight? I can tell when I’m veering off my lane, but for some reason, I can’t/don’t know how to fix it! I remember you saying it’s all about the small adjustments, then straightening out, but I can’t seem to get it. [Ex today: all 3 boats lined up, me on the outside, I end up too far out away from the other 2]. Tips? Thanks!

Plus it all goes back to steering being your responsibility so you have to get a good point before the race starts. Even when it’s really windy out, you’ve got to be on top of your steering to make sure you’re not drifting into another coxswain’s lane. I think my steering improved the most when I was forced to steer in bad conditions. Regardless though, unless you are in the process of getting a point before the start when you’re using bow pair, you shouldn’t be using the rowers at all to maintain your steering.

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’m a novice coxswain for a men’s collegiate team. We have 3 8+’s and 4 coxswains so one person always has to sit out. During one of our races, the other novice coxswain got to cox 2 races while I had one. I don’t understand why the coaches picked her over me. She shows up to practice hungover, misses at least one practice a week, and has crashed the boat 5 times. The coaches keep commenting on how impressed they are with me but she always gets the better positions. Do I confront her? My coaches? Or should I shut my mouth and deal with it?

I wouldn’t confront her directly about it but I wouldn’t stay quiet about it either. If all those things have really happened your coaches have to at least have an idea about it – there’s no way they can’t tell when she’s showing up hungover or haven’t seen/heard about her crashing the boat.

Related: What’s your opinion on rowers smoking/drinking? Do you think there can ever be a balance or should athletes just avoid it?

This is a tricky situation because it’s hard to confront your coaches about a decision they made regarding a teammate without sounding petty. I would find time to sit down with them just to talk about your progress so far. What have they seen you doing well, what would they like you to keep working on, what have you been working on, what your goals are for the season, etc. Talk about your race and casually ask them what went into the decisions on who was boated where or why some coxswains got to race more than once. It’s vague enough that you aren’t saying “why was she in that boat?” but it’ll also give you the opportunity to hear their rationale for why which coxswains were in which lineups. You can also ask if the coxswains will rotate in the future between who does two races and who done one should a situation like this arise again.

If they ask you why you’re asking, you can bring up that when you look at yourself vs. the other coxswains and take into account what the coaches are telling you about your performance, you’re confused because the boats/races you’re being put in don’t seem to measure up to the feedback you’re getting. Hopefully this will initiate a conversation and give them a chance to tell you why you are where you are.

I have to imagine that they’d want to know about this other coxswain showing up hungover, crashing boats, etc. if they somehow don’t already because it’s a safety issue at the very least. The issue is finding the right time to bring it up, which there hardly ever is one until it’s too late and then it comes to “well, if you knew, why didn’t you say something?”.

Do the varsity coxswains know about these issues? One thing you could do is talk to them first and then they can talk to her from an upperclassmen/team leader/fellow-but-more-experienced coxswain standpoint. If they feel it’s necessary to go to the coach, you can go with them or you can have them come with you, whichever makes you comfortable. That way you can say that you weren’t sure how to handle it because you know it’s not your place to do so so you wanted to talk to someone with higher standing first but they thought it’d be best to go  directly to the you, the head coach. From there you can let them deal with it.

Coxing Q&A Recordings

Question of the Day

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What would you want to hear in a coxswain recording? Is there something that really makes a good recording?

A short list of things include…

Know the difference between intensity, assertiveness, etc. and just being loud

Actively give feedback to the crew (this includes technical feedback during practices or if you’re racing, where you are on the course, what’s happening around you, etc.)

Execute the practice/race plan

There’s obviously a ton more things that make up a good recording but these are the three primary ones. I also don’t want this to become a checklist that coxswains try to “tick off” when they’re on the water so that’s why I’m just leaving it at three. I think that would just lead to them focusing too much on making sure they hit every point rather than actually doing their job.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Is it ideal to sound like a “scary coxswain”?

That depends on your definition of “scary”. Some coxswains are considered scary because of their intensity and the fact that they’re intimidating as hell. Others are scary because they sound like they’re going through an exorcism. I don’t like when coxswains are told they need to sound angry or scary because it gives them the wrong impression, which is a problem I often find with novices because they’re told they have to yell and be angry so they do, and then they end up sounding ridiculous, they aren’t effective, and/or they lose their voice. You can tell them to get angry, but they should never sound angry in the sense that they’re screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs for no reason.

Related: I know a coxswain’s number one job is to steer straight but one of my fellow rowers decided that sounding aggressive and making good calls is what MAKES a cox. There’s a girl who she says “just sounds like a cox” but hasn’t perfected steering/navigating yet. The view is that you can teach a cox to go straight/proper channels with time but you can’t teach them to sound passionate, aggressive, motivating, etc. What do you think?

It all goes back to language and tone of voice for me. Like I said, I don’t like when coxswains are told to sound angry, scary, etc. – instead, they should be told to put some intensity and purpose behind their calls and then the definition of “intense” should be discussed. What does it mean to you and what does it mean to your crew? If you go through the recordings I’ve posted so far you’ll see where I’ve written about coxswains with good (and great) levels of intensity in their voices (and others with not so much). You’ll notice that most of the time they aren’t yelling or forcing anything either. It’s all very natural and conversational but still in your face, focused, and demanding at the same time.

So, I guess my answer to your question is both yes and no but it all depends on what you define as “scary”.

How to protect your voice

Coxing How To Novice

How to protect your voice

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Previously: Steer an eight/four || Call a pick drill and reverse pick drill ||  Avoid getting sick || Make improvement as a novice

We’re getting closer and closer to racing season so you want to make sure you’re taking the necessary steps now to ensure your voice is in working order on race day. Similar to other athletes, you can do everything right and still injure yourself – in the case of a coxswain, you can still lose your voice regardless of the preventative measures you take. I’ve learned that many times. Most people don’t realize that it’s about prevention first and not just dealing with the after effects. It’s different for everyone so no guarantees but here are some of my tried and true ways to protect your voice when you’re out on the water.

Stay hydrated

Drink lots of water throughout practice (and before and after too). I’m guilty of not doing this and there are definitely times when I regret it, most often when it’s cold outside. I end up feeling like I’m swallowing needles, which is not pleasant. You know when you go to sleep in the winter and you wake up with your nose and/or mouth really dry because there’s no humidity in the air? Take that feeling, get in a boat, and talk at a loud volume for two hours … you can imagine the damage you’re doing to your throat. Your vocal cords essentially become two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. Water acts as a lubrication to keep things sliding off each other the way they’re supposed to, so when you remind the rowers to get a drink make sure you do too.

If you have allergies or a sore throat and are taking any kind of medicine, make sure you’re drinking lots of water to counteract the decongestants. I had to take a lot of allergy meds in high school because I was allergic to the pollen, mold, etc. that was down by the boathouse and my doctor, who knew I was a coxswain, told me to drink a lot because when the tissues in your throat dry out it reverts back to the whole sandpaper feeling.

Stay relaxed

The more tense I was, both mentally and physically (with my upper body), the scratchier my throat got when I was doing intense pieces. Make sure you’re breathing correctly when you’re calling races and talking a lot. You should be breathing from your core, not your shoulders. Breathing from your shoulders creates tension which eventually leads to your vocal cords cramping up. If this happens too often you can get nodules which will really suck because they’re essentially blisters on your vocal cords. These are our version of the blisters rowers get on their hands. If they’re bad enough they might require surgery to fix.

Take it easy

If you have a cold or sore throat, switch with another coxswain for the day and ride in the launch or ask your coach if you can stick to drills and stuff that don’t involve the usual loudness during practice.Your coach and boat can survive without you for a day if it means you’ll be 100% on race day. A sore throat alone is not a reason to skip practice though. If you have a cold, the flu, etc. duh, stay home but if you just have a sore throat but are otherwise fine, ride in the launch and take video of your crew or something.

The type of injuries coxswains suffer are different than rowers which tends to lead everyone to think they aren’t “real” or as serious because they see rowers with shoulder injuries, back injuries, etc. Our overuse injuries are internal where they can’t be see so it’s up to you to be your own advocate and speak up when there’s an issue. Personally, I think that if you’ve got a sore throat and you continually go to practice and don’t do anything about the issue, your coach and boat have every reason to be pissed at you when you can’t cox on race day. Just like with the rowers, it’s irresponsible to not take time off when it’s needed because in addition to yourself, there are now four or eight other people affected by your choices.

Minimize how much you’re coughing

This sounds hard to do but when your throat is dry and you’ve got that scratchy tickle in there, but get something to drink instead of trying to hack up a lung. Dry coughs are the worst because not only can they hurt like hell and give you a killer headache (been there, done that more times than I can count), but they can also damage your vocal cords. Coughing regularly isn’t so much a problem, it’s when it becomes a repetitive habit that you can start to get the overuse damage to your throat. Before inducing a coughing fit to get the tickle out of your throat, try to drink something to lubricate the tissues.

Limit the amount of pop you drink

Before you go out and after you come in, try not to have a lot of caffeinated drinks. The caffeine in pop dehydrates you in general but it can also irritate your throat, especially if it’s already sore. When I was in high school I played the clarinet and we were always told to not drink any pop before playing because the caffeine swells your tongue (it’s not usually visibly noticeable) and makes it harder to enunciate the music, especially at a fast tempo. I did it anyways but … do as I say, not as I do. If you’re drinking a lot of pop and getting that swelling in your tongue, it actually can have an effect on your speech and your ability to rattle things off during a race. If you’re thirsty, try to always drink water.

To follow up on that last point, while I’m on the vein of what not to drink, if you’re one of those hot water-honey-and-lemon people, eliminate the lemon. The acidity from the citric acid combined with already dry, potentially damaged tissues can just irritate them more. Lemon is really only beneficial for sore throats when you have a lot of mucous and stuff because the acidity cuts through it and helps eliminate any lingering bacteria.

A good alternative to water or water and honey is chocolate milk. It’s a little denser than regular milk so it coats and soothes your throat. I have a constant tickle in my throat so I am always clearing it and I know up front that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate something coating it because it’d just make me cough more. If you’re like that, stick to the regular remedies but if you can stand it definitely try the chocolate milk.

Related: I’ve only been coxing for three years but I feel like it has changed my voice…do you feel like that? Like, I feel like I cant hit as many high notes when I sing in the car (haha) or is there something I’m doing wrong?? I lose my voice easily in races now, especially during the spring when we have like 3 races in a day. What can I do about this? Should I change the way I cox?

The best, most foolproof way to prevent losing your voice is to just be smart. Coxswains are typically talkative and social people so it can be hard to “rest” your voice when you’re always around other people but it’s a small sacrifice to make. Resting doesn’t necessarily mean taking a vow of silence either. Resting by just lowering your usual talking volume can be a good thing. For naturally loud people this can be tough but I promise you, it’s an effort worth making.

Image via // @fergybill
Coxswain recordings, pt. 6

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 6

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Purdue university men’s Lightweight 8+ 2012 Milwaukee River Challenge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=KbhgdqCq12M

There’s a lot going on here with the rowing that is pretty … bad … so I’m going to skip over talking about a lot of that and focus on just the coxing. This is also a long recording so I’m cherrypicking what I think is the most important parts rather than pointing out every single thing. Ultimately I think this audio was solidly average. There were a lot of missed opportunities but the stroke seemed happy with it so take what I say with a grain of salt. If your rowers like what you’re doing by all means, keep it up, but at the same time, recognize where improvements can/should be made too.

While they’re sitting there waiting to start, see how 7-seat is moving his oar back and forth a lot? This would have driven me nuts because it messes up your point, not to mention is really irritating (especially up in the stern) since it jerks the boat a little. That’s probably part of the reason why he has to tell 2-seat to tap it a couple times.

At 3:11 he says “we’re in the cute”, which is a good thing to let your crew know, especially in bigger head races like HOCR where the entire starting area is a humongous clusterfuck.

At 4:45, notice how he calls the 10 really sharp and concise (albeit a little forced) but returns to his normal voice in between counts? That’s a good way to maintain the intensity and keep the crew relaxed.

Between 4:56 and 5:07 is a good example of how to communicate with your stroke during a piece or race. They’re not having a conversation or anything, rather the stroke says what he’s feeling in one quick breath and the coxswain translates it to the rest of the crew. In that same vein though, as the race went on this started to annoy me because even though stroke-coxswain communication is important, I wanted this coxswain to be saying all the stuff the stroke was saying before the stroke said it. Everything he said, with the exception of a couple things at the beginning, the coxswain should have already seen and made a call for. The coxswain should not be coxed by the stroke, if that makes more sense.

When he says “we gotta pull something out” … *long pause* … “alright, we’re going for it” at 11:36, I was pretty convinced that he didn’t actually have a plan or know what he needed to do in the upcoming stretch. You can’t say in a semi-aggressive tone that they’ve gotta make a move and then stop talking. You also can’t say “alright we’re going for it” like you’re debating whether or not you should actually go for it. If now is when you need to make a move, get on their asses and tell them you’re taking a fucking move. When you’ve got contact on a crew like this and you’re trying to walk through them, this is where you take a 20 to get even or put your bow ball in front. A 10 might get you to them but it’s not going to get you through them, which is what you want. If you stop your ten and you’re only half a length through them, that’s going to give their coxswain an opportunity to counter whereas if you take a 20 and can get up to their 2-seat, you’ve essentially absorbed them and it will be harder to counter.

A pro-tip for going around turns like the one at 12:43 is to tell one side to power down to 1/2 or 3/4 pressure and the other to power up. It seems counterintuitive but it’s actually a lot more effective than having one side still at 100% and trying to get the other side to out-pull them. In most cases you should be able to get around in 5-6 strokes. This is something you should practice when possible though so the crew gets used to “powering down” for a few strokes and develops that muscle memory for what it feels like (because 1/2 pressure when you’re consciously thinking about it is a lot different than 1/2 pressure in the middle of a race when you’ve got a shitload of adrenaline pumping through you).

When he says “you’re missing a ton of water” at 15:06, my immediate reaction was “…no shit/OK? How do you want them to fix it??”. You should never assume they know what to do or that something is obvious, especially since it’s your job to tell them what to do and more importantly, when. They’re missing water, you want them to not miss water, but what about their technique needs to change? Just saying “get it in” isn’t going to do much, especially if you’ve already been saying that for 10+ minutes.

Last thing – unless you’re like, 5 strokes from the line, you’re not “almost there” … and even if you are, “almost there” is not a call you should make EVER.

Other calls I liked:

“Together, we move…”

“The boat felt alive…” He said this after the race but this is a great (motivational) call to make during the race when the boat’s running well and you’ve got a good rhythm going.

OARS Lightweight 8+ 2013 Youth Nationals Petite Final

Right off the bat I love that he reminds them to “look at the flag”. This is important and definitely something I recommend coxswains do. Remember, you go on the drop of the flag, not when the announcer says GO. If the flag comes down before he says GO, you go anyways. You can’t see that so it’s important that everyone else in the boat is watching for it.

About a minute in he says ““we’re ahead of everyone” … cool but by how much? If you’re going to tell your boat you’re ahead or behind, always tell them by how many seats. If you only say you’re up or down, inevitably someone is going to look out of the boat because they want to know by how much. Usually I’ll say something like “up on the field, three seats over Lane 3, two seats over Lane 5” and tell them where we are compared to the lanes on either side of us. When everyone is still clustered together it tends to be too difficult to say specifically where you are on five other lanes so a semi-specific overview is generally sufficient.

At 6:15 he says “come on, don’t let them take it…”, which can be a good or bad call depending on your tone. You’re in the midst of a very high-energy situation and you obviously don’t want to give anything up but you also don’t want to make it sound like you’re begging because that just comes off like there’s no hope. Instead of “come on” say “show me what ya got”, “right here, lemme see it”, “stomp on the feet, lemme feel it”, etc. Instead of “don’t let them take it” say “don’t give an inch”, “don’t yield to them”, “show ’em you’re not backing down”, etc. All of this requires a bit of “planning” ahead of time but if modifying how you say something results in a more positive psychological response by your rowers, it’s worth it.

SoCo Crew 2013 Youth Nationals men’s v8+ Heat

The very first thing I noticed – not even joking, the very first thing – is where the starboard buoys are at 0:27 (a foot or two off the blade) and where they’re at at 0:43 (nearly under the rigger). Come on guys. Gotta steer straight. It’s literally your primary/only job.

When you’re counting out strokes try not to just count out the strokes and say nothing in between. I’m definitely guilty of this sometimes, usually when I’m trying to concentrate on something else that’s going on (either where we are, something with the blades, etc.), but it’s something I’m always conscious of and working on. When you’re just counting strokes, especially during a 20, it’s so monotonous. Case in point, the beginning of this race was 50 seconds of straight counting. Go sit in front of someone and count continuously for 50 seconds and see how long it takes for them to get up and walk away. Personally I’m also really anti-counting up and then counting down when calling 20s. If you’re going to count up (1, 2, 3…) on the first ten, do the same with the second ten. Don’t start counting down (10, 9, 8…) because it makes it seem like you’ve hit a peak and you can start coming down now when in actuality you’re still building into the piece. Psychology, guys. Psychology.

At 1:23 he says “we need to get under 1:40 the whole time to win this…”, which might have been something they discussed beforehand but regardless, there are definitely better ways to make this call. Knowing your splits during a race can be both a blessing and a curse and as the coxswain it’s your responsibility to know how to work that information to your advantage. You should go in with a plan – are you going to negative split the whole time or try to hold a steady average? If you go into the race wanting be under a 1:40 you’ve got to communicate and remind your crew of that in an encouraging way. “We committed ourselves to holding a 1:38, let’s see that commitment right now. Sitting at a 1:40, let’s go, big press now … drive it, find that rhythm, 1:39, press swing … 1:38. Connect, press, sssend. YES! Let’s maintain this until we make our move at the 1000m. Commit, sssend. Commit, sssend.”

“I want it bad so we gotta have it…” is a bullshit call and not something you should ever say to your crew. Stop with the separation between you and the rest of the boat. Same goes for the “this is unacceptable” call at 3:17. Yea, maybe it is, but this still is not something you say to your crew in the middle of a race.

The counting between 6:06 and 6:46, randomly calling power 10s in the middle of another power 10 … dude, no.

The biggest thing I noticed in this piece was that the coxswain sounded so irritated the whole time, like he was just pissed to be there. Yea, you’ve gotta stay on them and pay attention to what’s happening around you but saying stuff like “this is unacceptable” or “I want it bad” during a prelim would make me seriously reconsider wanting you in the boat for semis and finals. I went and looked up the heats results from Youth Nats this year and in this race it was first place to semis, next two to the reps. Does going to the reps mean you’ve gotta row another race, yea, but sometimes you’ve gotta cut your losses and know that that’s the inevitable result instead of pushing your crew to beat a team that you’re (most likely) not going to catch. Anyways, I feel like this coxswain has a lot of potential that he’s just not taking advantage of. His voice is great and his intensity (when he’s channeling it properly) is solid but the calls and overall race strategy need work.

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

Coxing Q&A Racing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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At one of the races a coxswain hit the finish buoy (just the oars though). Apparently he didn’t warn the boat or say anything after and didn’t even mention it to anyone back on land. As a coxswain what do you say when this happens to you? I mean I’m sure you’re supposed to say something but do you just apologize and move on?

You should always tell your crew if you’re about to hit something, if you bumped a buoy, or are going to be over the buoys with the oars. When they’re rowing they’re in a zone and you hitting something will throw them off, especially if they’re hitting whatever it is with their oars. Pretending like it didn’t happen is just ignorant, negligent, and annoying. If you hit one of the bigger buoys head on or with a rigger, you should mention it to your coach too (if they didn’t see it) just because you never know what’s going to damage a boat or the oars and it’s better they find out straight from you than have to ask twenty people what happened. It’s irresponsible to not say anything, both on and off the water.

When I’m close to something I’ll just tell my crew whatever it is, where it is, and to let me worry about it. I usually say “passing a log close here on the port side” or “starboard blades are gonna be over the buoy line here, no worries, I got this…” just to let them know what’s going on and that I’ve got it under control.

If you hit something, yea, you should apologize but unless it caused damage to the boat, effected your standing in the race, injured someone in your or another crew, etc. you should really just let it go. If further action needs to take place then the coach will deal with it but the rowers should accept the apology and move on. I can’t say I blame them though if they’re a little iffy about your steering skills when you go back out with them, especially if you neglect to tell them in the first place when you’re getting close to something and/or might hit whatever it is.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Yesterday a friend of mine told me “You’re definitely a men’s coxswain. That’s where I see you. That’s your coxing style.” I agree with her (good thing, because I AM a men’s coxswain!) but I’m not sure how to articulate what it is about my style that makes it more geared toward men. What do you think makes that distinction? What makes someone’s style better for men or women?

I’ve never really given much thought as to what made the distinction between men’s and women’s coxswains. Even though I coxed women all through high school and when I was in college, I always knew that I was better suited for guys just based on my personality. A lot of people have told me that too. I talked about this the other day with someone – I think the reason why I enjoy coaching and coxing guys is because the way I push people resonates better with them than it does with women. With women, as this person said, they have a natural tendency to take that and internalize it too much and ultimately end up getting offended, upset, or insecure about themselves or their rowing. I truthfully just don’t have the patience for that, not because I dislike the person or am insensitive to what they feel but because I don’t know how to react or deal with it because I’m the complete opposite. This is a huge reason why I like guys because, for the most part, they don’t do that.

Like I’ve said before, this isn’t saying that women can’t be pushed or that they are somehow weaker compared to men. That’s not it at all. My boat senior year was one of the most driven, laser focused, no-nonsense boats I’ve ever coxed and they were women. They learned quickly how I coxed and learned to accept the criticism, intensity, etc. and know that it was all coming from a good place.

Related: I’m a guy who almost exclusively coxes women at the moment. However, I rowed for an entire year up to this October and I’m pretty naturally athletic. I still run and cycle pretty quickly. When we do land training, I feel like if I got on an erg and joined in I wouldn’t be helping as I’d be faster than most of them – and your cox being quicker than you would be pretty demoralizing. The only time I’ve joined in was when we did a 5k run and I agreed to be a backmarker and make sure nobody got left behind the pack by encouraging them to keep running and not give up. Do you think I’m right that it would be demoralizing for the girls if I joined in or do you think joining in would have a “leading from the front” aspect which would be beneficial for the squad?

How women are motivated though is different and that’s where coxswains have to make that distinction themselves. Everyone I’ve known that has coxed men have all been extremely confident (borderline cocky), ferociously outgoing, brazen people who don’t take shit from anyone. I think that’s an unspoken requirement for coxing guys, especially if you’re a girl. You’ve got to be able to take their shit at times and be able to throw it right back without blinking.

Everyone I’ve known who has coxed women has been equal in skill when compared with the guys’ coxswains but their personalities are calmer and their focus is more based around praise and reassurance. Guys can take the “your rowing is shit right now” call, make a change, and then think nothing of it two strokes later, whereas girls, in my experience, internalize it and start overthinking things, which can cause their rowing to get worse instead of better. When I cox women I’ve always found myself holding back just a little bit because I know saying “are you kidding me right now with these splits?” would cause a huge problem whereas with guys, I can say that and they instantly go at it harder and keep it there.

There’s definitely a psychological thing that goes along with it too. Sometimes people are just naturally better at coxing one sex or the other and it can’t be explained. Some people know why they’re better with one than the other and can easily pinpoint why. Other times, some coxswains just aren’t comfortable coxing certain people. Girls might have a hard time coxing fellow girls but find they’re great at coxing guys or they might be uncomfortable coxing guys and prefer to stick with the girls because it’s less intimidating. It changes from person to person.

Related: Advice from a coxes perspective would be great. I’ve been lucky enough to have the same cox for 2 years & he used to be amazing. Recently, it’s felt very much like he’s lost interest. He’s just in the boat, not part of the crew. He’s going through the motions. It makes it very hard to stay motivated, given everything else that’s crappy. He’s also coxing the elite men, maybe he sees them as his chance to win & we’re just the disorganized cranky old women he coxes sometimes. Should I call him on the change?

Regardless of who you’re coxing you obviously can’t be a dick about how you’re communicating. There’s a fine line between calling the rowers out and saying “this feels like shit, we need to fix XYZ now” but doing so in a positive way that communicates a sense of urgency and focus and doing the same thing but in a negative way that just brings down the mood of the  boat. Some people will get in a boat with guys and think they have to be super macho or tough or whatever and the latter is what ends up happening. Regardless of who you’re coxing, your style, etc. your singular focus has to be on unifying the crew with whatever you’re doing.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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My friends don’t really understand coxing and think I just sit there and do nothing, or it’s a ‘wimps job’ (this girl’s not my friend) and I was just wondering if you have an eloquent way to describe the importance/difficulty of coxing and how it’s not actually an easy job?

To preface this, I’m going to tell you something that one of my coaches told me … at some point, you just have to stop defending your role on the team, forget the people who question you, and go out and do what you do.

My friend (who coxed for the guys) and I were having a heated debate with some of the guys in her boat (like, seriously??) about how coxswains actually have a role on the team and we were both really irritated because it was the same thing. We don’t do anything, we just sit there, only un-athletic people are coxswains, etc. Let’s ignore the fact that I’d played sports for at least 10ish years before I started crew and the same with my friend. Granted, our first mistake was even trying to reason with them but our second and possibly bigger mistake, as my coach later pointed out, was thinking we had to defend ourselves at all.

If you really want to spar with people and get into this conversation, first ask them why they think what they think. What led them to come to that conclusion? Do they have some kind of experience with coxing and that’s how they felt or have they never been near a boathouse before? Get their side first so you can see what you’re working with. Then, go through all the responsibilities you have … just rattle them off. Some of the ones I always say include:

Safety

You’re in charge of eight other people. Lives are actually at stake, including those of people not in your boat, if you’re not being safe on the water. You have to know traffic patterns, watch out for kayakers, be able to gauge the wind speed and how that’s going to effect your steering, etc. amongst many other things.

Equipment

In your care every day, you have responsibility for … a $40k boat (assuming it’s fairly new) + 8 oars (8 x 800 = $6400) + 8 riggers (8 x 400 = $3200) + 1 cox box ($500) + maybe a Speed Coach ($200) = $50k in equipment. What other sport can say that?

Practice

Once you’re out on the water it’s your job to manage practice and keep everyone focused and on task. You’ve gotta run them through warmups, execute drills, and communicate effectively so that they can make the technical changes necessary to help you get faster. You’ve gotta have a solid understanding of the stroke in order to do this, which means having spent time off the water reviewing video and educating yourself so you can bring that knowledge into the boat and make the appropriate calls when someone needs to make a change.

Multi-tasking

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things you do at once when you’re on the water? You’re steering, calling warmups, drills, or pieces, talking to the rowers, constantly looking around to ensure you’re not going to hit anyone or anything, listening to your coach, watching your cox box, etc. If they say “oh, that’s easy”, tell them to stand up and hop backwards on one foot, eyes closed, while patting their head, rubbing their stomach, and reciting all the Presidents, last to first, and the states they were born in. Oh, and don’t hit anything when you do it.

Mental game

Rowing isn’t a game but coxing is. It’s a game that tests your wit, strength, toughness, ability to process things, etc. This is the hardest for me to explain because only those who have experienced it can really understand what it’s like or how to do it. You’ve got to be able to see things, process them, and then spit out whatever the corresponding call is all in less than a second or two. It’s not easy. If they say that’s easy, tell them to go stand by a busy intersection and name the first eight cars they see (make, model, and color), how fast they were going, and whether or not the driver was talking on their cell phone. Oh, and don’t forget to tell them they’ve got a 20 second time limit.

Athleticism

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an un-athletic coxswain, especially when looking at coxswains who are guys. Most, if not all, of the coxswains I know lift, run, erg, and work out with their rowers, sometimes when they don’t even have to. One of the reasons why I started doing the circuits and stuff with my rowers was because I realized how much I was using my core when I coxed, especially during races. The stronger your core the easier it is to project your voice and communicate with the people in the back of the boat. Granted, sometimes there are things coxswains can’t do (for me, it’s running, for other people it might be because of other injuries they’ve suffered), but it’s certainly not an indication of being a “wimp” or whatever other word you want to use. Please, call me a wimp and then let me cox you for a 2k. I guarantee you’ll be the one crying at the end of it, not me.

The reason why I prefaced this by saying at some point you’ve got to stop defending yourself is because even after going through that whole monologue, there are still going to be people who don’t get it. Whether or not they actually don’t understand or they’re just being assholes because they enjoy seeing you get pissed (I’ve dealt with both), it doesn’t matter. No one questions a rower’s role on the team, which blows my mind because … I mean, they just sit there and move back and forth, right? How hard is that?

My coach drilled this into me and it’s one thing I’ve never forgotten – you know how important you are, the coaches (hopefully) know how important you are, and if you’re lucky, your boat knows how important you are. At least, mine did. Our coaches constantly praised us (we had to earn it obviously…) and told us how they wouldn’t be able to do what they do or how our team wouldn’t be nearly as successful if we didn’t have such high-quality coxswains leading the boats. You’ve got to take that positivity and reassurance that your contribution means something and think of it every time someone says otherwise.

Coxing High School Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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So there is one girl on our team who is tinier than the rest of the team and she doesn’t pull as hard. She is pretty committed and went to all of our winter practices and meetings but her scores are a lot lower than other members. I have heard a few of the other rowers saying, “Why doesn’t she just quit?” And I’m the coxswain so it is my job to keep morale up. I just don’t know what to do in this situation. I tried talking to the other girls but nothing has changed.

Ah, been there. I watched a similar situation go down my sophomore year. We had a girl join our team who was enthusiastic, tried hard, was well liked by everyone, etc. but she had trouble keeping up with the other girls on the ergs because she was pretty small. Her technique was good and I think that helped make up for some of the strength deficits but most people only ever looked at her erg times, which weren’t good.

I was sitting with my friend who was the senior coxswain after practice one day and we overheard some of the varsity girls say the same thing – “Why doesn’t she just quit?” and my friend stepped in and said “Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have a teammate who tries but might not be as strong as you or a teammate who goes around talking about other people behind their back?”.

That ended up causing a huge argument which our coach ended up dealing with by basically telling the girls that they can either be supportive of their teammate who shows up (on time, everyday), gives 100% whenever she’s asked, is excited to be here, and does fine on the water or they can quit, because we don’t want or need rowers (let alone varsity rowers) who are willing to take whatever opportunity they find to talk down about another rower. If they don’t think she’s rowing like they think she should be, why aren’t they helping her? Why aren’t they giving her advice, sitting on the erg with her, etc.?

I would pose those questions to your teammates. I’d rather have a smaller rower who I know I can throw in the bow of nearly any boat than have a rower who thinks it’s OK to talk like that about a teammate.