Category: High School

Coxing High School Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 7, 2013

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.

High School Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 3, 2013

Hi, I have a problem and I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Ok so, I am a sophomore in high school and I have been rowing for my local boathouse in the juniors programs but there aren’t any spring programs. Every school district that lines the Hudson River in my county has a crew program besides mine. I have talked to my school’s athletic director and my coaches for winter training about rowing for another school and they all have said it’s impossible. I will be able to row again in the summer and the fall, but do you have any thoughts or suggestions on how I could go about this? PS you have an awesome blog!

If they don’t have a program, I don’t see why it’s a big deal for you to join another team. I never understood that when I was in school either. Unfortunately though, if that’s the rule you’ll more than likely have to follow it. I know here in Boston a lot of kids whose schools don’t have teams go to CRI and make up one big club team, so I don’t know if that’s a possibility for you if there’s a team like that on the river or if your coaches will still say it’s against the rules. Couldn’t hurt to check it out though. If there is, you might be able to work something out with your school but it could mean that you’d have to row for that other club year-round instead of rowing for your regular program in the fall.

One thing you could do though if none of those things are an option is offer to help out one of the other teams on the river in exchange for using their ergs, weight rooms, etc. That way you could keep training and keep getting experience, even if your chances to get in a boat are limited. Offer to come in the launch a few times a week and take video for the coach or something like that. Coaches love volunteers and almost always have something that needs to be done that they don’t have time to do themselves.

Coxing High School Novice Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 25, 2013

I’m currently a novice high school rower but I haven’t been feeling really into rowing lately. I’ve wanted to cox since I started in September, but I’m too big to cox for the women. I’m 120ish and really want to cox for the men next season. However, I’m really nervous to talk to my coach about it because she considers me one of her better lightweight rowers. I know I still have a while to think about it since the season doesn’t end for a few months but how should I talk to her about this?

If you’re leaning more towards coxing than rowing, just tell your coach that. Explain to her why you feel like that and just say that even though you know she considers you an asset to the lightweight boat, you think you’d be more effective to the team as a coxswain. Then explain why, of course. Always have reasons that you can explain and/or back up. It makes for a much more effective argument. Don’t be nervous to talk to her – coaches are there for a reason and one of them is to help their athletes when they’re having problems. If you think she’s going to react poorly or punish you in some way, you’ve got bigger problems on your hands. Ask to talk to her privately and then just have an honest discussion about where you are mentally with crew. If your heart isn’t in rowing but something about coxing excites you, tell her that. I’d rather have an enthusiastic rower-turned-coxswain than a rower with a perpetual “meh” attitude.

I’d also think about why you’re not feeling into rowing lately and ask yourself if coxing is going to make you feel any differently if you’re able to make the switch. I’ve had friends try and do this before and I always end up equating it to people who are really unhappy about things and think that losing 20lbs will suddenly make all their problems go away. For the short term, maybe, but in the long term there’s a good chance you’re probably still going to be unhappy because you never dealt with the root issue. Before you make any decisions, figure out why rowing isn’t doing anything for you right now and what you could do to fix that. If whatever you try doesn’t seem to make things better, then try coxing. Don’t look at coxing as the be all, end all solution though.

High School Q&A Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 20, 2013

Hi! I’m supposed to be holding a captains practice on Friday and we have to incorporate 30 mins of hard work into the workout but it’s supposed to be like a fun workout. Any ideas of what to do? PS we are a varsity girls high school squad! Thanks!!

Fun! Some ideas off the top of my head:

steady state Erg relay

Break into teams of equal numbers and have each person row a certain number of meters.

Mini-biathlon

Run “x” number of miles and then in the remaining amount of time erg as many meters as you can. You could also pair people up (coxswain-rower pairs, pair partners, frosh-senior/sophomore-junior, etc.) and have one erg while the other runs and see which pair gets the most total meters.

Play a game

Soccer, basketball, dodgeball, kickball – it counts as cross training and it’s fun. Just be careful so you don’t get hurt.

Hope that helps!

College Coxing High School Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 16, 2013

Hi, I’m a sophomore in high school and I really want to get my name out there for colleges. I’m only 5’1 and I row now but for college I don’t think my times would be good enough to row. How can I get my name out if I just want to cox in college? Also would you need coxing experience or could I join the team and learn later?

It depends on the schools you’re looking at. Division 1 schools usually prefer coxswains who have a few years of experience but they do hold walk-on tryouts for those who have never rowed or coxed before (or those who have participated in crew but aren’t sure if they want to row or not yet) so that’d definitely be an option. If you went to a school that has a club team, you could probably still row if you wanted. The typical “rower’s body” doesn’t really exist at the club level – all but one of the rowers on the team I coach now had never seen an oar before they came to college and they definitely don’t look like your stereotypical rower. Most of the girls (and guys) are between 5’3″ and 5’10”, if I had to guess.

For someone who has never coxed before and assuming you won’t cox before going to college, getting your name out there probably won’t do much for you. If you really want to cox in college and don’t think that rowing would be an option for you, I would make the switch to coxing now while you’re still in high school. If I was a college coach and you contacted me about coxing on the team, I’d probably be a lot more interested/excited if you said you have two years of coxing experience vs. four years of rowing experience, even though you knew ahead of time that rowing probably wouldn’t pan out due to your erg times or whatever.

High School Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 15, 2013

So I’m a novice coxswain and I am very self conscious. I am constantly asking my rowers what they want to hear and asking others for advice. In a race we did well at, I was really proud of myself but then one of the girls in the boat told me that they did all the work and I didn’t really do anything. And then when we do bad in a race, I feel like its all my fault. I don’t really know what to do…

That is so rude of that girl. I really can’t stand rowers that have that attitude towards coxswains. If you think that they are such unimportant additions to the boat, go scull or row a pair. They’re there for a reason whether you like it or not.

If you do poorly in a race, it’s never one person’s fault. Yea, if you’re steering all over the place that’s probably going to make a significant difference and you deserve to have the rowers pissed at you for that. Otherwise, there isn’t much you can do to effect the outcome of the race other than call a good piece. Know your strategy and how to execute it. When you do execute it, do it confidently so that the rowers will feel your commitment and respond in kind.

Like I said to the person in the post linked above, sometimes you have to remove yourself from the situation and look at it from a neutral perspective. What actually happened in your race? What could you have done differently in terms of calling the race or where you made a certain call? How well did the rowers respond to your calls? What worked, what didn’t? What was the competition like? Are they known for being an insanely fast team who wins everything or are they a team you should have easily beaten? What were the weather conditions? How did that effect the water? How prepared was your crew for the race? Were they excited for it or was it “just another race”? All of those things have an effect on how well you do in a race, outside of the actual rowing. It’s never “all your fault”.

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 4

By readyallrow January 3, 2013

University of Delaware Coxswain Practice POV

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

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

Victoria City Rowing Club U17 Canadian Henley 2012

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

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

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

College Ergs High School Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

How to Survive Winter Training: Solidarity

By readyallrow January 1, 2013

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

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

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

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

Image via // @washingtonrowing

College High School How To Q&A Recruiting Rowing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 29, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

High School Novice Q&A Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 27, 2012

I’m a novice rower in my third season. I’m one of the strongest novice rowers, but also the heaviest (female) novice. This hasn’t seemed to be a problem before, I’m very healthy and strong, but when we did weight-adjusted pieces I began to realize it was a bit of a problem. I’m 5 7 and about 178 pounds, and about 20 pounds heavier than the other girls. I’m not self conscious about my weight, although according to my BMI I am slightly over weight, and now I’m realizing I could perform better if I was slightly lighter. I’ve tried dieting before, but I’ve always felt weak and worried about my strength while working out three hours every day. Do you have any tips about losing weight healthily as rower?

First, as an athlete, don’t take your BMI too seriously. BMI can’t tell how much muscle mass you have and since muscle tends to weigh more than fat, it more often than not classifies athletes (of all kinds) as overweight or obese when they’re obviously not.

To lose weight in a healthy manner, it’s requires a fairly simple, boring combination of diet and exercise. To lose fat mass, cardio is the way to go – biking, runnng, swimming, erging, etc. 3-4x a week. To maintain your strength, do core and weight training 2x a week. The biggest change will come from your diet. Successful weight loss tends to be about 70% diet and 30% exercise. As a rower, you’ve got the exercise part covered, so your diet is where you’ll want to focus your attention. Take inventory of what you eat and then spend some time finding healthy substitutes and slowly phasing out the unhealthy stuff. Don’t try and go cold turkey on Ben & Jerry’s or whatever because that’ll just make you want it more.

The reason you were probably feeling weak before when you were dieting is because you weren’t doing it the right way. To some extent, yes, dieting is about adjusting your caloric intake, but it’s more about just making healthier overall choices. You’re young and active, so your metabolism is probably still fairly high, so you’re burning energy a lot faster than the normal person, which means you need to be eating foods that provide an adequate amount of energy for a long period of time. Don’t try and limit how much you eat..if anything, you want to increase the number of meals you eat (instead of 3 large meals, eat 5 small meals) and substitute healthier options for the not-so-healthy stuff.

Also, don’t focus too much on what the scale says. Check it periodically (like, every couple of days or once a week) but look for more noticeable changes, like your jeans fitting a little looser or changes in your measurements – tangible stuff like that is a better indication of weight loss than the scale.