Category: Coxing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 21, 2013

Is it a good idea before our first spring race this weekend to get together at someone’s dorm and “go through” the race? Like, I’ve heard of coxswains sitting their rowers down in a dark room, eyes closed, and imagining the race while the cox does the calls.

For sure! It’s definitely always a great idea to go over the strategy with your crew before you race because then there are no surprises and they can anticipate things a little better. Make sure you go over Plan A and Plan B, that being what you’re going to do if something during the race doesn’t go as planned and you have to deviate from Plan A.

I like the idea of the rowers visualizing the race while the coxswain makes the calls. I know that’s a thing that some of the national team coxswains do and if you take it seriously and really commit to it, it could be a useful tool for you and your boat. Even if you just have them close their eyes while you walk them through each 500 and point out the highlights of your race plan, that’s another great way to help them stay calm and prepare for the race.

Coxing How To Novice

How to Make Improvements as a Novice Coxswain

By readyallrow February 21, 2013

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

How a novice coxswain improves is really the same as how any level of coxswain improves – it’s all about goal setting and purposefully reflecting on those goals throughout the season.

I’ve talked about setting goals before but in addition to outlining some objectives for your season, here are a few other tips on how to continually improve your coxing prowess.

Be a student of the sport.

The thing with sports (or any hobby) is that you first have to learn their nuances before you get good at whatever it is. With crew, the best way to learn is to become a student of the sport. Listen to your coach (intently, purposefully, and diligently), learn the techniques they’re teaching (how they’re executed, their purpose, etc.), and get on the erg and practice. One of my biggest pet peeves with rowing is coxswains who don’t know how to row and worse, won’t make the effort to learn. In my opinion, you should be one of the most technically proficient people in your boat. Why? Because if you’re telling the rowers what to do and critiquing every minuscule movement they make you should be able to replicate what you’re telling them to do and do it pretty damn well

When you’re in school, you expect to learn from the best, right? What’s the point in learning differential equations or organic chemistry from someone who can explain it but can’t solve the equations or create the reactions themselves? I’ve had professors like that and my confidence in their abilities to teach me was pretty nonexistent. I and my classmates really suffered for it too. You don’t want your rowers to feel that way about you so developing a thorough understanding of the stroke, the drills, how things should feel, what it should look like, etc. will help you get better at communicating with your crew and invoke a sense of confidence in you from them.

Improvement #1: Instead of just “showing up”, learn everything you can about the sport – the more you do outside of practice, the more you’ll benefit during practice.

How to do it: Study. Look online for examples of things you don’t understand. Talk to your coaches. Listen to them when they’re coaching. Ask questions. Practice the drills you call on the water. Figure out what makes sense, what doesn’t, and how you can explain it better.

Exude confidence.

I’ve talked about this more times than I can count – at least in 75% of the questions I get related to coxing I say something about confidence – so to avoid belaboring the point, I’ll just say this: a confident coxswain is a trustworthy coxswain. There’s a big difference between being confident and cocky though so don’t get the two confused.

In talking with numerous novice coxswains, confidence is their biggest concern. Your boat has to believe you know what you’re doing, as do you. Establishing control the moment you step in the boat allows the rowers to focus solely on rowing without having to worry about whether or not you know what you’re doing. Your only option is to step up and rise to the occasion.

Improvement #2: Be confident.

How to do it: Regardless of how good you actually are (or aren’t), go out every day and cox your boat like you’re the baddest bitch on the water. Speak up and provide input to your coach or crew on a regular basis. Accept your responsibilities. Tell yourself you can do this and then do it. Congratulate yourself on a job well done and let mistakes go (but commit to learning from them).

Open and maintain lines of communication.

Communication is one of the many things that fall under the “#1 Responsibility” category. It’s important that you develop a relationship between not only you and your crew but also with you and your coach(es) and you and the other coxswains. The more communication there is between you and each of those groups of people, the better and smoother your practices will run, which results in greater efficiency all around. It also just makes the team environment a lot more tolerable for everyone when the coaches and coxswains aren’t pissed at each other for something that could have easily been cleared up if some had just said something.

One of the most satisfying things for me as a coxswain is when I tell my boat something during a drill or piece that I know our coach would say and then the next time we stop, our coach says exactly that. It’s great for you in terms of building your confidence but it’s also great for the boat because they hear you and your coach reiterating each other’s points, which means you’re both on the same page, which means the rowers don’t ever have to “choose” who they’re going to listen to.

Improvement #3: Communicate.

How to do it: Talk to your coach every single day. Find out what they expect of you, how they want you to do things, how they do things, why they do things a certain way, etc. Also talk to the other coxswains about where you’re meeting up if you’re going out together, where your points are when you’re doing pieces, how practice went that day, etc.

Record everything.

In school, we take notes and record our lectures so that when we’re studying for exams, we can go back and refresh ourselves on everything we’ve learned up to that point. We see the mistakes we’ve made on math problems and learn how to not make those mistakes again. We read about what strategies worked and didn’t work during times of war in our history classes. We study and study and study so that when the time comes, we’ve made the necessary tweaks and prepared ourselves to execute everything perfectly.

This is why coxswains (should) record everything. You have a recorder so you can hear the calls you make and the drills you do and you’ve got a notebook so you can write down lineups, the practice plan, what worked, what didn’t, etc. Combine the two and you have everything you need to make your crew the best one on the water.

Listening to your recordings gives you the opportunity to be your own best critic. It allows you the chance to hear yourself and then go out the next day and experiment with something new while continuing to do what you know works. Experimentation with your calls is critical; if you don’t practice it, you can’t execute it, and if you can’t execute it, what’s the point? Keeping a notebook gives you space to elaborate on what your thoughts were during practice and lets you go back and study what you’ve done in the past to determine what needs to be done to fix things in the future.

Improvement #4: Get a recorder and keep a notebook.

How to do it: Go to the store and buy one. Keep them in your coxswain bag and bring them with you to every practice/race. While on the water, make quick notes of things that are or aren’t going well by talking to the recorder and then once you’re off the water, spend some time elaborating on the details in your notebook. Share your recordings and notes with your coach on a regular basis. Get their feedback on your recordings and advice on how to deal with any issues you’ve made note of in your notebooks.

At the end of the day it’s up to you to identify the areas where you can improve (either through your own objective observations or through conversations with your coach) and then actually take the steps to get better. It’s one thing to say you want to get better, it’s another to actually commit and do it. Talk the talk, walk the walk, etc.

Image via // @david_herren

Coxing Rowing

What to wear: Sunglasses

By readyallrow February 20, 2013

Previously: What to wear: Coxswains (women) || What to wear: Coxswains (men) || What to wear: Rowers

Whether you get a cheap pair or splurge on some Oakley M-frames (#freespeed), sunglasses are a worthwhile investment. A great reason to get a cheap pair of sunglasses is so that if they got knocked into the water, it’s not like you just lost a few hundred dollars.

One thing that I’ve seen a lot people, particularly coxswains, wear with their glasses are Chums or Croakies. Croakies actually have little floater things you can attach to your glasses too so that if you do somehow manage to drop them in the water, they’ll at least float until you (or your coxswain) can grab them. If you splurged on a pair of glasses that can make the extra $10 (or less, most of the time) worth it.

Regardless of what glasses you decide to get, two features you’ll want to look for are polarized and hydrophobic lenses. Polarization protects your eyes from the sun’s glare (which we all know can be downright killer on the water) and the hydrophobic feature allows water to bead up and slide off the lens instead of just sitting there and blurring your vision.

For regular rowers, I’d say these are great extras but not necessarily “must-haves” unless you really want them. For scullers and coxswains, who heavily rely on being able to see what’s in front or behind them, definitely look into getting a pair of shades that have those features. Pro tip, your steering will be a lot more effective if you can actually see where you’re going.

Image via // @row_360

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 17, 2013

Is it unusual to change from rowing to coxing? I’m nearing the end of my novice season and feel like I could be a good cox in the future. I love rowing and am getting decent results but at 5’4 (shorter than one of my coxswains) and 120lbs (female) I have to work crazy hard to keep up with all the bigger girls. I’ll be sticking with the sport either way but it just seems like such a cool component of the boat to be.

Definitely not! It’s way more unusual to go from coxing to rowing and the only people that tend to do that are high school guys who are too tall to cox after their freshman year. I would definitely propose the idea to your coach and get their input. They’ll probably be more receptive to the idea if your team is actually in need of coxswains vs. already having a surplus but it never hurts to ask. If you have a genuine interest in it and aren’t looking to switch just because you’re not willing to put the effort in to become a better rower, I doubt your coaches will have a problem with you wanting to try something new.

If you’re part of or near a rowing club that hosts learn to row camps over the summer, I’d go to those and volunteer to be a coxswain. That way you can get experience in the boat, get a feel for what it’s like, and start picking up some of the skills you’ll need (like steering) before the fall season starts. That way, if you coach needs you to, you’ll be ready to hop into the boat without being too far behind the learning curve.

Coxing Q&A Recordings Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 16, 2013

I had a (required) meeting with my coach yesterday. She suggested that I record myself and that’s what I did today. Do you think I should email her to set up another meeting where she can listen and critique? Or does that sound like I’m “sucking up?”

That’s definitely not sucking up. If a coxswain emailed me and asked me to critique their recording, I’d be thrilled. Even if I told them to record themselves, the fact that they’re asking for feedback shows that not only did they listen to my suggestion but now they want to know what they can do to improve. That’s huge in my opinion and really indicates to me that you’re someone I should be considering for my top boats.

I would email her your recording and ask her if she’d mind listening to it this weekend and then find a time next week to sit down and meet with you to discuss it. You should also listen to it this weekend and critique yourself, that way you can go into your meeting with some notes of your own. If she asks you why you made this call or decided to make that move during the piece, you’ll know exactly what she’s talking about and can explain your thought process.

Personally I wouldn’t want to be there when my coach is listening to my recording for the first time. I’m very critical of my coxing and always seem to find a million and twelve things that I’d do differently as soon as another person listens to it. I’d rather us listen to it separately, then compare notes and if necessary, listen to bits and pieces together during our meeting. If you’re comfortable being there while she listens to it, go for it. I think that giving her the weekend to listen to it though will give her more time to gather her thoughts, which means she’ll be able to give you a more thorough critique when you meet up.

Coxing Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 16, 2013

How do you call a ratio shift to control and stop the rush without lowering the SR? Is it even possible?

Well, with ratio shifts you’re not actually doing anything to the stroke rate even though it feels like the stroke rate is going down. All a ratio shift does (or is supposed to do) is shift the ratio from being something like 1:2 (recovery : drive) back to 2:1. What you have to communicate to the crew and help them understand, particularly if you’re coxing a younger crew, is that all you’re doing on a ratio shift is slowing down the recovery and powering through more on the drive.

If the boat feels rushed, what does that mean? It means that less time is being spent on the recovery than the drive and there’s no slide control, so you and the stroke need to communicate and determine if a ratio shift is necessary. If it is and it’s not something your crew has done before or they’re not used to doing them, explain that the amount of time that they’re spending on the recovery is too short so they need to lengthen out and slow the slides down with the stroke while keeping the drive solid and quick through the water. To help them understand, give them the numbers – standard ratio is either 2:1 or 3:1. If you’re rushing, the numbers will be reversed. Call for the shift “in two, that’s one … and two, on this one.” Remind them to swing out of bow together, start the wheels together, roll into the catch at the same controlled speed, and maintain a powerful push on the drive.

When I call for a shift, I use my voice to help them sense the ratio. Right after a shift to ensure the power doesn’t drop, I always tell them to make that first stroke the most powerful stroke we take so that’s usually when I’ll throw in a “BOOM” call at the catch. The “boom” reminds them not only to have a strong catch but to make the drive powerful. If the drive is powerful, the blade has to move fast through the water. In order for the boat to benefit from that powerful stroke the recovery has to be controlled, regardless of the stroke rate.

If we’re drilling or doing steady state and it feels rushed, I’ll call the shift and say “Let’s take a ratio shift in two, that’s one … and two now, catch looong.” The “catch” part stays aggressive and direct but the “long” call is drawn out to the help guide them through the recovery – basically I want them to match the length of the recoveries to the length of time that I’m holding out the call. I’ll also use my voice to enunciate what I want if I’m coxing novices and counting out the timing. “One – two – three – catch, push. Controlllll – two – three – catch. Move together and send. Let’s keep this run – hook through, smoooth now on the slides.” Recovery calls are drawn out, catch calls are short and staccato, and drive calls are aggressive.

The experience of your crew will also play a factor into how little the stroke rate changes when you call for a shift. The majority of the crews I’ve coxed in the last several years have been experienced enough that when I call a ratio shift, regardless of whether we’re at an 18 or a 30, the stroke rate hardly ever changes. It’s something that comes with concentration, experience, and practice.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 15, 2013

Best advice you have for a novice cox seat racing aiming for a varsity boat?

Focus. Be determined. Keep your nerves in check. Make your calls strong and your actions aggressive. Be smart. Be safe. Do what you’ve practiced and what you know how to do. ACT like how you think a varsity coxswain should act. Conduct yourself accordingly on the water. Be a good sport, win or lose. Give feedback and accept it in return. Be confident in your decisions and commit to executing them.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 15, 2013

Part of coxswain selections are how safe you are and if you can keep the boat safe in different situations. How would coaches determine your safety-ness?

In no particular order, I’d look at:

Whether or not you follow the traffic patterns (and before that, if you know what the traffic patterns are)

What your steering is like (are you a straight shooter or a drunk driver?)

How you handle high-volume days on the water when there’s a lot of traffic (i.e. on any given day you’ll encounter numerous other crews, launches, sailboats, tour boats, duck boats, kayakers, SUP-ers, etc.)

Are you calm in stressful situations or do you easily lose your composure

Do you follow instructions (this is huge)

Are you trustworthy (can I send you off by yourself for a few minutes without supervision and trust that you’ll execute practice accordingly, keep the crew safe, etc.)

Are you careful with the equipment

How well you handle inclement weather situations

Whether or not you used basic common sense

The last one is big for me personally and is probably the number one thing I would like at if I were evaluating how safe a coxswain is. Being aware of potentially dangerous, unsafe, or atypical situations and doing everything you can to avoid putting your crew in harm’s way is one of, if not the most, important responsibility of a coxswain. Common sense can and will keep you and your crew safe 98% of the time but being able to master everything I listed above will be of great use to you. Better safe than sorry, every time, all the time.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 15, 2013

What do you mean by “calling things with a purpose?” I took it to mean call things you know will be effective to the speed of the boat. Is that what you meant? I’m still confused about what to say during race calls.

Basically what I mean is that everything you say to your crew should be said with the goal of achieving some kind of result in return. You shouldn’t be talking just to talk because you assume that’s what a coxswain’s job is. You want to make calls that are going to get something out of your crew.

Think about when you’re writing a paper. There’s two ways to write it. The first is when you know nothing about the topic or it’s something that you’re completely uninterested in but you’ve got to find some way to meet that five page minimum. What do you end up doing? Rambling, dragging things out, and sounding like you have no clue what is even coming out of your mouth. The second way is when you understand the topic you’re writing about. Your sentences are clear and concise, your arguments are well thought out, and the delivery is confident and assertive. You sound like you know what you’re talking about. That’s how coxing should be.

Everyone can interpret it how they want but in essence you’re correct in that part of making purposeful calls is to say things that will help the boat move. “10 to walk two seats…” has more meaning that “power 10” because you’re attaching a specific, tangible goal to it. “I want to see us move on that crew” means absolutely nothing if you don’t tell them how you want to see them move. “Set the boat” is another one. Set the boat … how? Why is it unset? Where is it unset? What side is it leaning to? Who needs to do what? The bottom line is this: the more vague you are, the less you’re helping your crew. The more specific you are with what you want, the more of an asset you are to them.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 14, 2013

Hey I’m a novice coxswain but I have learned very fast and all the guys on varsity want me to be a varsity coxswain and I’m a really good motivator. But the varsity coxswain right now is a girl who has been coxing the same amount of time as me and who isn’t really good at all and it’s only cause she is a senior. How can I really prove myself to my coach? I am a junior. I’ve already showed him my recording and he said just to work on more technical stuff. What’s your opinion?

I think if you have a good grasp on everything else, I’d take his advice and start honing your technical skills. Ask him specifically what you need to work on – is it technical stuff like steering or is it being able to spot issues with the bladework and give technical feedback to the rowers? Take note of what he says and then make a concerted effort to work on those things. When you go out, tell your rowers that you’re trying to work on this or that or whatever and then get feedback from them after practice on how you did. With stuff like steering you can’t really do that but in terms of making technical calls, you can improve a lot by talking to your rowers and finding out what calls worked or didn’t work. If your coach sees you making the effort to improve and at the same time sees your crew getting better as a result of that, that’ll be a huge notch in the win column for you.

Another thing you could do is propose the idea of coxswain evaluations. This will allow the rowers to evaluate both coxswains and provide some useful information to your coach, potentially stuff he wasn’t aware of beforehand. It can also help him make decisions on who gets what boat since he’ll have more tangible info in front of him other than seniority and what he’s observed on the water. It’s also good stuff for the coxswains too, obviously.

You have to assume though she did get the varsity boat for a reason other than the fact that she’s a senior. A great way to ensure you never get the boat you want though is to accuse your coach, no matter how innocently you put it, of doing something like this and then saying “well, I’m the better coxswain and they like me more anyways, so I should have that boat.” Instead, find out what her skills are. What is she good at? Ask her for advice. If she’s really good at steering, ask her how she navigates a tricky turn in the river or how she always manages to dock perfectly on the first try. Learn from each other. As a coach, I’d be much more willing to consider someone for a varsity spot if I saw them working with all of their teammates and not just ignoring the ones they didn’t think were very good or deserving of their spots.