Category: High School

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 3, 2013

Hello! So I am currently a senior in high school and a coxswain for the varsity girls at my school. I would like to walk onto a team in college but the problem is I’m a little big for a coxswain (5’7″, 120-125 lbs). I know weight matters but is it totally unrealistic for me to cox in college? (I stopped rowing because of serious hip problems that are relatively unfixable.)

I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all to walk on – you’re the perfect size to cox for the men’s team, if your school has one. Their max is 125lbs for coxswains, regardless of whether they’re male or female. Height really isn’t that big of a deal (I feel like most male coxswains I know are in the 5’7″ to 5’10” range) so I wouldn’t really consider that a factor. If it’s something you’re really serious about doing, email the coach sometime in the spring to introduce yourself and say that you’re interested in walking on to the team in the fall. Sometimes they’ll have you come to practices with the recruited athletes right at the start of the season since you’ve already got some experience vs. waiting to start rowing with the novice walk-ons.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

By readyallrow November 23, 2013

Hello, I am a male HS senior coxswain who is 5’11”, 132lbs., and currently getting looks from several top level college coaches. Problem is, my HS coach says I am too heavy and I have been getting vibes that I may not be allowed to cox this spring due to my size. Compared to the other coxswains in my boathouse, I by far put my boat in the best position to win even despite my weight. I need to have a sit down conversation with the coaching staff to get things straight. I have a general idea of how to make my case to cox but I would like some more input. How would you suggest I approach this conversation? My boat is going to have our fastest season yet and I would like to spend my last HS year finishing what I started three years ago. Coxing is something I want to continue to do on a competitive level in college, so that makes things even more complicated. Also, as a collegiate coach yourself, and I don’t know if you can speak for the rest of the Cornell coaching staff, what is your philosophy about heavy coxswains? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

You are tall for a coxswain … is getting down to 120lbs even possible for you, let alone healthy? That should be what your coaches are asking you rather than giving you vibes like they’re not gonna let you race.

Truthfully, I don’t think you need to say anything other than what you just said. You and your crew are poised to have your fastest season yet (give reasons why you believe this, don’t just say “we’re gonna be fast!” – how do you know this, what are you basing it on, etc.), you want to finish what you started, you’re being looked at by multiple top collegiate programs, etc. and then list a couple reasons as to why YOU are the coxswain that puts this boat in the best position to win. Remember, it’s not about talking the other coxswains down, it’s about talking yourself up.

In addition to that, emphasize the fact that you’re being recruited by these collegiate programs and let them know how not coxing your last season in high school could hurt that. Obviously you’re going to know where you’re going to school before the season starts (presumably) but that’s beside the point. Getting that practice time, race experience, etc. are all huge factors here.

As frustrating as the whole situation is, try not to let your feelings towards it cloud your judgment when you talk to your coach(es). Listen to what they have to say, stay level-headed when presenting your case, and regardless of what the final decision is remember that you’re still a part of the team and it’s still your responsibility to contribute in whatever way you can. It might not be in the way that you’d hope but there is still a boat that you can help go fast or a coxswain you can mentor. Regardless of how things turn out, put it behind you, and move forward. You’re a senior which means everyone on the team is looking to you (whether you realize it or not) to set the example. Your actions and attitude following their final decision (in your favor or not) will play a huge part in communicating to your teammates what the “standard” is for people on your team. Do you hold yourself to a high enough standard that you can accept the decision and move on or are you going to be that person that bitches, complains, and badmouths the coaches weeks/months after the fact?

I definitely can’t speak for the other coaches but I don’t have a problem with “heavy” coxswains as long as they’re within a “common sense” range above the minimum. By “common sense” I mean just that – knowing that they are physically dead weight and therefore should be the lightest athlete in the boat, coxswains should use their common sense when looking at their weight in relation to their respective minimums if they aren’t naturally under them. 15lbs over it isn’t common sense but 5lbs is. For me, I ‘d say 7-8lbs over the minimum is the upper limit of that range. If you’re coxing lightweights I would say that range shrinks to 3-5lbs because … you’re coxing lightweights. The logic there should be obvious. If the coxswain was toeing the line, I’d casually mention it just to get an idea of what their plan is to get to weight (do they even have a plan?) and ensure that they’re being safe/responsible when it comes to nutrition, exercise, etc.

If a coxswain was over that I’d talk with them, explain my thought process, assess what weight they could reasonably be at relative to the racing minimum (because not everyone can easily be 110lbs or 125lbs), and then come up with a plan with them (and/or put them in contact with the strength coach/team nutritionist) to help them get there within a practical period of time.

When compared to more legitimate things like actual abilities, yes, it’s still a factor but their weight is at the very bottom of the list of things I look at when giving input on coxswains. If I can see that they’re taking it seriously, working out regularly, and putting the effort in it’s a complete non-issue for me. If they’re not putting the effort in or taking it seriously, then it becomes a bigger thing to consider, although still relatively minor in comparison to everything else.

College Coxing Ergs High School Novice Rowing Technique Training & Nutrition

Coxswains + Winter Training

By readyallrow November 19, 2013

The winter training season is a great time for coxswains to dive into educating themselves, developing their skills, and strategizing for the spring season but what typically ends up happening is one of two scenarios. Regardless of which one it is, they almost always show up to practice bitter because they know that they’re about to do either nothing or something very unpleasant for the next two hours when instead they could be studying or doing a million other productive things that don’t involve “glorified people-watching”, as one coxswain put it.

Scenario one

…involves them wandering around or sitting on an unused piece of equipment with their iPhone stopwatch open (and several other apps open in the background) and calling out switches on the machines or transitions on the erg every 30-60 seconds. After ~60-75 minutes their eyes are glazed over and their voices have reached that monotonous robotic stage that says to everyone around them “I don’t want to be here”. When the coach calls everyone into a sweaty and smelly huddle at the end of practice to congratulate them on a killer workout, you and the other coxswains hang back (arms folded or pretending to “put stuff away”) because you can’t hold your breath for that long and you value your nasal passages too much to put them through that kind of torture. Also, there’s not enough antibacterial gel in the world to convince you to come close to touching a bunch of sweaty rowers. Once you’ve been dismissed you’re the first ones out the door, complaining all the way to your cars that you can’t believe you have to show up when you’re literally not doing anything knowing full well that this is what things are going to be like for, at minimum, three more months.

Scenario two

…involves showing up and erging (“just hold whatever pace you can manage”) or lifting (“lift what you can”) with the team, which results in some coxswains feeling ridiculous, intimidated, or both. In one case, a collegiate (male) coxswain emailed me earlier this year after he injured himself (back and shoulder) trying to lift more than he was capable of (despite being fit and in good shape) because he felt pressured to match up to what his teammates were doing.

In addition to what I said in the post linked below, below are some options of things that you can do over the next few months to put you in the best possible position come springtime.

Working out

I’ve talked about this in the past and stand by what I’ve said before: I’m not against working out as a coxswain and I do think it should be a part of your own winter training program however I don’t necessarily think coxswains should be doing the exact same workouts as the rowers. Body weight circuits? Definitely! Lifts? Nah. Ergs? For the purpose of this conversation, no. I’ve been talking about this with some of the coxswains here over the last couple weeks and they brought up some points that I hadn’t thought of before but do actually agree with. Here’s an excerpt from an email I wrote that pretty much says what I think:

“No one is against working out but they’re all pretty against working out with and lifting at the same time as the guys. I think they brought up some good points too, the gist of them being that they think it’s too much of a hassle for the guys (who need to be using the equipment) to work around people who don’t need to be using it. The squat racks would constantly need to be lowered so they could use them properly and regardless of what they’re squatting, it seems unlikely that they could adequately spot each other anyways, which is a pretty big safety issue. We all agreed that the guys probably know that they physically can’t do the same workouts they’re doing and some of the coxswains felt it would come off as mocking them or not taking things seriously if they’re lifting 10lbs while the guys are lifting 100lbs. A couple of them mentioned back and/or joint problems that they have that they also don’t want to risk exacerbating over something that ultimately isn’t going to help their coxing.

I talked to them about doing core, running, or riding the bikes while you guys lift and everyone seemed on board with that. (One of the coxswains) said that she’s already meeting with (our strength coach) a couple times a week and doesn’t want to over do it by doing more of the same so she (and three of the other coxswains) all said they’d be up for running if that was an option. (One of the other coxswains) said that when they went running on Tuesday they ran to the vet school, did some core, then ran back. (One of the freshman coxswains) can’t run because of her hip and I think her knee(s) as well but said that she’d do core while (one of the other injured coxswains) could ride the bike with us if there was one available. It seems silly to make (the injured coxswains) do something where they could injure themselves more and then potentially be out of the boat in Florida.

My point is that everyone is willing to do something while the guys are lifting but no one is comfortable doing the actual lift routines. Having a strong core is actually pretty important for coxswains for a lot of reasons so if you wanted everyone doing the same thing instead of being spread out doing multiple different things, doing core would be a valuable use of their time. It helps them feel the boat better because they’re better able to stabilize themselves in the seat and it also helps them project their voice better which ultimately decreases the likelihood of them messing up or losing their voices.”

I’ve gotten messages and emails in the past from coxswains (girls and guys) who aren’t comfortable doing the workouts the rowers do but feel like they have no choice but to do them. Are there going to be coaches who insist you do the same workouts as the rowers regardless of whether or not you like it? Yea, but that’s not always a bad thing. You’re not always going to like everything you have to do and sometimes you really are going to have to just HTFU and do it. (There are many times on here where I struggle to say something more helpful than “just suck it up” and this is partially one of those times.)

As someone else said, the rowers “really appreciate seeing coxswains at least participating in winter training even if it’s not at the same level. It gives a sense of solidarity in the team”. This is usually what the coaches are going for, which I’m totally on board with, but they do sometimes tend to overlook what each individual is capable of in favor of establishing a sense of unity in the team. I can understand that so I’ll cut them some slack on that one. If there’s part of the workout you’re not comfortable doing or physically cannot do for whatever reason though you have to speak up. Talk to your coach in private and present an alternative solution. Don’t just say “I can’t do bench presses because the bar alone is half my body weight” because that can come off as an excuse instead of a reason (or safety issue, which it can also be). Instead, say something like “I think I’d benefit more from doing a core workout or body circuit because (insert reasons WHY it would benefit you as a coxswain here), would it be OK if I did that while the guys did their lift, power hour on the erg, etc.?”. If you show that you’re taking this seriously and are still willing to workout during practice alongside the rowers, your coaches are more likely to accommodate your request.

I could talk about this all day but to reiterate, I’m not against coxswains working out throughout the winter. I just think that if they’re going to be working out they should be doing something that will benefit them the same way lifting benefits the rowers. Like I said before, having a strong core helps you feel the boat better (especially beneficial if you’re coxing a four) because you’re better able to stabilize and brace yourself against the hull.

It also comes in handy if you’re working with a boat that isn’t technically sound yet because you’re better able to resist the effects of the checking of the boat, whereas if you’re lacking those core muscles you’ll end up flopping all over the place and can end up hurting your back or ribs, both of which have happened to coxswains I know. The other benefit I mentioned is being able to project your voice better, which is also something I’ve talked about before.

Listening to recordings & watching video

This is the default activity for many coxswains throughout the winter. This tends to be a solitary activity but if possible, I’d ask your coach if you and the other coxswains can use the coaches office or go to another quiet place in the boathouse and listen to the recordings together. Being able to listen to it with other people lets you have a discussion about why something sounds good, why it doesn’t, etc. I listened to some recordings with the freshmen earlier in the fall and was really surprised at things they pointed out that I hadn’t even noticed before, even after listening to the recordings a few times. I think once you listen to a recording by yourself so many times you start to get tunnel vision (or hearing, in this case) which is why listening to recordings in a group setting can be beneficial. As great as it is listening to other people cox, I’d really encourage you to listen to your own recordings with each other too. Yea, it’s uncomfortable but you’re all in the same boat so it’s probably not nearly as weird as you think it is. Constructive criticism is what you’re going for.

In addition to listening to recordings, video is another great tool that you can use to educate yourself with. The winter is the best time for the coxswains to gain a better technical understanding of the stroke and being able to see rowers on film can help with this. If you don’t have video of your crew on the water, go on YouTube and find some of other crews. There’s no shortage of it on there. You can also watch the videos on the recordings page and just mute the sound so you can focus more on the blades and less on the coxswain’s voice. The goal of doing this is not to point out every single flaw you see with a rower or a crew but rather to isolate the good and bad, figure out why it’s good or bad, and then determine what needs to be done by the rower and said by the coxswain to correct (or maintain) it. Spending time doing this in the winter will help you have a faster reaction time in the spring because you’ll know exactly what to be looking for with the boat and with the individual rowers and what to say to elicit a change if necessary.

If you want to critique your own rowers, grab your phones (or video camera, if your team has one) and get 10-15 seconds of video per rower. If they’re in tanks, to to get video of them from the front and side. If they’re on the ergs, one side only is fine. Make sure it’s clear footage and not shaky and don’t distract them, get in their way, or be annoying while you do this. Once you’ve got some film, sit down and critique it.

Tanks & ergs

OK, so before I said that I didn’t think coxswains should do the erg workouts that the rowers are doing but I do think that coxswains should get on the erg or in the tanks if/when they can. If they actually take some strokes themselves, that’s just another thing that will help them get a better feel for the stroke. This would be especially helpful too for novice coxswains who haven’t coxed or rowed before. Having them actually do the drills that they’re calling for or doing a modified steady state piece will force them to think about their calls (“if I was rowing and a coxswain said this to me, would/how would I respond”), where they’re calling things, their technique, and give them an idea of how the rowers feel when they’re doing it. If they can put themselves into a similar situation as the rowers then they can get a better idea of what they should say to keep them present, motivated, etc. during a piece. Obviously their technique doesn’t need to be varsity A-boat perfect but my opinion is that if they’re going to be telling the rowers to fix their technique or do this better/sharper/cleaner or whatever, they should at least be able to adequately do it as well.

It’s not about just getting on there and doing a workout just so you have something to do, it’s about being given some instruction, gaining insight, and getting some experience doing what they’re expected to coach the rowers on. How can you be expected to tell the rowers what to do if you’ve never done it yourself? You have to get in there and go through each motion while making a concentrated effort to understand what your body is doing. If you just get on the erg and screw around because LOL MY SPLIT IS LIKE 4:27 you’re really not accomplishing anything.

This is something you can do anytime the team isn’t using the tanks or ergs but it isn’t something you should do alone. If you’re doing it alone, how do you know what you’re doing right or wrong? Ask your coach to work with you for 20-30 minutes or if they’re not available, ask a varsity rower or another coxswain if they can watch and observe you and the other coxswains the first few times you use the equipment. Captain’s practices are a good time to do this because the atmosphere is a little more relaxed. Take turns doing this so you can get used to seeing different kinds of technique and recognizing what needs to change with each one.

Practice your calls, calling transitions, getting to know the rowers, and developing your “voice”

This is something you should definitely be doing . One coxswain said…

“Our coach expects our coxswains to be at practice helping run things. We get the workout before hand and they alternate calling rating shifts in time pieces/steady states and correcting form.”

It’s unlikely that you’re going to be coxing like you would in the boat but you can still call out technical issues when you see them, general reminders, etc. Save all the motivational calls for when you’re on the water. The rowers don’t need to hear “show me how bad you want it” in November when they’re staring at an erg monitor (or ever, really). If you want to motivate them, write “NCAAs”, “IRAs”, “YALE”, or some other word on a piece of paper and post it at the front of the room. That’s all the motivation they need. Focus on technique and calls relating to the bodies and blade work. If they’re on an erg, help them visualize being on the water. Think about the words you’re saying and how they sound coming out of your mouth – do your calls sound genuine (like you’re paying attention) and assertive (like you’re confident in what you’re saying) or bored (disinterested) and tired (played out)? Get feedback from the rowers so you can gauge how you’re doing, what calls you should keep, what you should adjust, etc.

Don’t forget to also spend time talking with the rowers to find out what they need so you can give them some individual attention when necessary. If you’ve got a rower who’s trying to PR on a piece to show that he’s A-boat material, remind him of his split every few minutes. It’s as simple as saying “1:48” quietly in their ear as you walk by. Stuff like this shows you’re invested in them and that you see them as people and not just as athletes. It can be easy to lump them all together, especially during the winter, but now more than ever is when you should be putting them under a microscope, scrutinizing their technique, figuring out their tendencies, learning about what makes them tick, etc.

Have a schedule

I just gave you a ton of options of things to do over the winter, not all of which can or should be done on your own time outside of practice hours. It’s also helpful for knowing when exactly you’re needed by the coaches and when you’re free to do your own thing. Sit down with them and the other coxswains and come up with a rotating schedule similar to what the rowers have, that way only the necessary number of coxswains are with the team to record times or call stuff on the ergs while everyone else is listening to recordings, doing their own workouts, etc. It’s pointless having five coxswains standing around doing nothing while two do all the work, so why not let the three who don’t have anything to do do something that will actually benefit them? The next day, two different coxswains can record or call stuff and so on and so forth. That way if you need someone they know that this is where they need to be on this day, at this time, but that the rest of the time they’ll be doing their own thing with the other coxswains.

If your team has a MWF lift + land workout schedule, have one or two coxswains on hand if necessary to help monitor things and/or record results while the rest of you do your own workout and then get in the tanks. On TuTh when the team is doing steady state on the ergs and/or in the tanks, listen to recordings and watch film. The coxswains that are scheduled for that day can apply what they’ve learned through watching film to what they’re actually seeing and subsequently practice their calls, calling transitions, projecting their voice, etc. On Saturday when everyone is together doing a long erg, all the coxswains can be there but try to divide up the rowers beforehand so that each coxswain can focus on a small group (no more than eight per coxswain, if possible). I’d still encourage walking around and watching everyone but only talk to/make calls for the rowers in your group. This will also be especially helpful if you’re recording splits or times, that way you don’t have multiple coxswains recording the same people.

As un-fun as the winter season can be, it’s a great time for coxswains to up their game if they apply themselves correctly. I hope this gives you some ideas and helps you start off winter training on the right foot!

Image via // @stanfordlwtcrew

College Coxing High School Teammates & Coaches Video of the Week

Video of the Week: What do coxswains do?

By readyallrow November 4, 2013

College High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 14, 2013

As a coach, do you feel that it is ever acceptable to refuse coaching to one specific individual solely on the basis of personal differences? My coach of two years this morning threw me out of his squad, not on the basis that I am a poor rower, that I don’t have potential, or that I don’t train, simply because he finds me difficult to deal with.

I guess my first question is why does he find you difficult to deal with? Coaches don’t normally just decide something like that, it’s usually something they notice and try to deal with over a period of time and then after deciding it’s either not worth their time anymore or is becoming too much of a distraction to your teammates, then they’ll remove you from practice(s) until you … change, for lack of a better word.

In certain situations, I do think it’s acceptable. I don’t think “refusing coaching” is the right term though because I (and most coaches) wouldn’t straight up refuse to coach you but I don’t see a problem with telling you to just go home if I felt like the situation/your attitude warranted it. You could be the best rower or coxswain on the team with a wealth of potential but if I think you’re a pain in the ass because you’re being uncooperative, uncoachable, or are being a distraction to the rest of the crew for whatever reason then yea, I wouldn’t have a problem telling you you’re out of the boat for the day/week.

If I was ever in this position I wouldn’t put you on land, I’d just send you home. I’m not a huge believer in punishing someone by putting them on the erg because I think that sends the wrong message about what the erg’s purpose is. If I find you difficult to deal with for whatever reason, chances are I also think that you’re wasting my time and having some kind of negative impact on your teammates’ ability to train. Why would I “reward” you by giving you the opportunity to continue training, even if it is on land, if you’ve been taking that opportunity away from your teammates for the last few practices? Time on the water is a valuable commodity that I don’t want to waste and if I think you’re wasting people’s time, I’m most certainly going to make you aware of it by taking away your opportunity to train.

After practice was over though or the following day I’d at least make the effort to talk to you to explain my reasoning for taking you out of the boat and try to get your side of the story to see if maybe there’s an underlying issue contributing to things. Basically I’d try to give you an opportunity to take ownership of the situation and recognize that your own actions are probably 99.9% of the reason why you’re on the erg and not in the boat. Doing that is a lot more effective in the long run than just saying “leave” and completely refusing to coach you, at least in my opinion.

On the flip side, if the coach is saying to get out of the boat and that they’re not going to coach you because you voted for this person instead of that person on one of those inane talent shows – those kind of personal differences – then yea, I think that’s unacceptable.

High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 7, 2013

Hi (I’m in high school). One of the reasons I’ve always loved rowing is the people and my coaches but both my coaches have left and we’re going to be coached by existing coaches who we’ve already come across. But I feel like the atmosphere will be completely different. I’m planning to give it a trial few weeks and have a decision made by the end of September about continuing, waaay before my school starts racing. Is this a good idea?

I wouldn’t say it’s a bad idea but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea either. I get why you’d be apprehensive about a new coaching staff but if you’re going to give it a trial period, it’s essentially got to be for the whole season, mostly because there are only SO many people that can cox a boat (whereas with rowers, it’s usually not too difficult to find a replacement of adequate skill). Even if the end of September is way before your team starts racing, you’d still have been with them for at least two to three weeks, meaning your coach would have gotten used to you in the boat and your crew would have started getting used to you as well. If you left they’d have to find someone else to put in there and they’d only end up with maybe three weeks with that crew instead of having the same person in there for six to eight weeks.

I’d talk to the people on your team who were coached by these coaches previously and see what they say about them. How was their coaching, what was the atmosphere/culture like with them in charge, etc. Go into it with an open mind and then make a decision after the season ends. The atmosphere probably will be different just because the new coaches are completely different people … that’s not a bad thing so I wouldn’t write them off just because they’re not who you’re used to working with.

College High School How To

How to raise money for your club team

By readyallrow August 29, 2013

Most club teams will say that their least favorite part of being a club rower is the fundraising. It takes a lot of time and you seem to be doing it constantly. That’s one of the evils of not being a varsity program or needing to find ways to defray the costs for the athletes though. If fundraising is something you want/need to do, be ready to put a lot of time and effort into it – the only successful fundraisers are the ones where everyone contributes to make things happen.

Crowdfunding

By now I’m sure everyone knows what crowdfunding is but if you don’t, it’s basically a group of individuals who pool their money to support another person or group’s project, platform, research, relief efforts, etc. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the two most well-known sites, in addition to others like GoFundMe and Make A Champ (which is specifically for athletes).

Getting started is really simple and pretty self-explanatory for most sites like this. You’ll need to:

Write a “bio” or introduction explaining your cause, what you’re raising money for, and why (you can also include a video – perfect for those of you who have already made one for recruiting)

Decide how many “levels” you’ll have in terms of how much people can donate (the most common amounts I’ve seen are $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and $250)

Come up with creative “rewards” for each dollar amount ($1 = a thank you email, $50 = your name included in the end-of-season video, $100 = 5 one-hour long private erg sessions, $250 = your name on the boat trailer, etc.)

Determine the length of your funding period (I think 30 days is the max on most sites.)

Set a goal of how much you want to raise – be realistic. Make sure you read the rules on pricing and funding too (i.e. Indiegogo’s flexible vs. fixed funding)

The other important thing is to read the guidelines for each site to make sure your campaign follows the rules. Kickstarter only funds “projects”, so if you wanted to go the route of the Naked Rowers and do a calendar, you could raise funds on here. A new boathouse, new docks, etc. are other ideas. To see an example of a successful campaign created by a crew team on Make A Champ, check out McGill University‘s page.

Last thing – make sure you promote yourself! Don’t just set up your campaign and let it sit there hoping for money to roll in. Have everyone post the links on their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. and don’t forget to email it to your family and relatives too. Just make sure you don’t spam people or their feeds by posting the link 405 times a day.

Naming rights

If you have any unnamed shells basically it goes like this. If you donate $3k, $5k, $7k, or whatever number the team decides on, you can have this shell named after you or give it whatever name you want. For stuff like this, go after alumni of the program. I guarantee you they’d love nothing more than to have a boat named after them. You can also reach out to an entire class or a particularly successful past crew, solicit donations from them, and then name the boat “Class of 2006” or something like that.

Another thing you can do is have people “endow” seats. In the past I’ve seen seats go for anywhere from $250 to $700+ so be realistic with what you ask but don’t sell yourself short. Also take into account the condition of the shell. If it’s brand new or has raced in national championships, obviously it’s going to be worth a little more than an older shell.

The last thing you can do is have people buy “inches” in the boat. For example, for $10 an inch, from bow to stern right below the gunnel line, you can have your name or a message painted into the boat. Obviously the writing needs to be tiny so don’t trust the writing of names to anyone that has less than amazing handwriting.

Like I said, this is the one to bring up to alumni of the program. Remember, any amount helps! You don’t have to be Rich Uncle Pennybags in order to get your name on a boat. This is something to really stress to your college-aged alums as they sit in their bare bones apartments eating ramen noodles and sobbing over their minimal job prospects and impending student loan payments.

Ergathon

This is the least original idea on here because at some point or another everyone does it. If you put the time and effort into planning this though it could be a huge moneymaker for you. It works the same as any other “-thon” out there – you erg and get people to donate X amount of dollars for every set amount of meters or chunk of time you row. For example, say for every 2k meters you do, someone will donate $10, another will donate $20, and someone else will donate $50.

Here’s some organizational tips:

Find places to set up your ergs around town

Obviously the boathouse would be a good place (preferably outside for increased visibility, weather permitting) but other good options might be a local park or outside the grocery store. Make sure you get permission to set up outside businesses first though.

Create incentives for the rowers

Yea, raising money for the team is great and if you want to be that person that says that should be their incentive then fine, but you’re asking them to do a lot of work so having something to strive for might be nice. I would have prizes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams in terms of who raised the most amount of money overall and then one individual prize for the rower on each team who raised the most money individually. A good prize for the first place finishers could be 50% (or all, if that’s possible) of his/her dues for the season are covered by the team. Try to make the prizes worth something to the rowers. Gift cards to Starbucks are great but for something like this, try to be a bit more creative.

Advertise

Let other people know about it besides just your parents. The more people that know, the more awareness you’ll bring to the team/sport and the more support you’ll receive from the community. Make fliers, distribute them around town, post them at school, at the library, on community bulletin boards, etc. Bonus points for getting it on the local news and/or radio.

Let people donate what they want instead of having predetermined dollar amounts listed. If someone wants to donate 50 cents for every 500m, let them. Any amount helps.

Use this opportunity to have an open house at the boathouse and give people a tour of the facilities if they’re unfamiliar with the team. Display your medals, trophies, plaques, etc. where they can be seen, have refreshments available, and be ready to provide information on how people can join the team if they’re interested. If you’re part of a larger club, have stuff available that talks about the other things your club offers, such as learn to row classes for adults and middle schoolers, sculling classes, fitness classes on the ergs, etc. This is also a great chance to get some recruiting done so make sure the boathouse looks presentable.

And some logistical ones:

Get the contact info (name, address, phone number, and email) of everyone who signs up to donate

They don’t need to give you any money up front unless they want to make a straight donation to the team. If they sign up to donate X amount per a set of time or meters, write it down and tell them you’ll contact them within the next two to three days to let them know the final amount.

Try to make sure every rower has an even number of backers…

…that way you don’t have your superstar with the 6:40 2k being backed by ten people and someone else being backed by only two. If someone says they specifically want to back this person, that’s fine, but if someone doesn’t specify put them with the next rower on the list and so on.

Create posters for everyone who’s erging and write their backers down on there and how much they’re being backed for

Display these on the ground behind their ergs (lay plastic wrap over the paper and then duct tape it to the ground). Have a goal for how many meters you want to erg or how long you want to erg for, and write it at the top so people can get an idea of how much they might potentially be donating. You don’t want someone to say “yea, I’ll donate $100 for every 2k you do” and then you go bang out 20,000 meters. The phone call saying “now you owe us $1000” might be a little shocking for them.

Give the rowers a minimum amount of time to commit to erging but obviously don’t give them a maximum. If they can only stay for two hours, that’s fine. Let them decide if they want to raise money per chunk of time or per a certain amount of meters.

Have everyone on the team be responsible for getting at least three backers (or whatever you decide) before the ergathon. This is a great opportunity to hit up your parents, grandparents, other relatives, teachers, etc. It’s also good for the team because if you can have these early backers already written down on everyone’s poster, the people that walk up at the grocery store or wherever you set up will see that people are already supporting you, which can give them a positive impression of the program and entice them to support you too.

And just some general guidelines:

Put together an ergathon committee that delegates responsibilities to everyone else on the team

This should include at least one of your coaches, a parent or two (if you’re in high school), and at least one representative from each class. For the big things, like advertising, finding corporate sponsors (local businesses, etc.), finding locations to set up, and putting together the prizes for the teams/rowers, give each class a responsibility. Freshman rowers are on this, sophomores are on that, juniors on this, seniors on that. Make sure you give the higher-responsibility tasks to the upperclassmen and the easier tasks to the underclassmen. The parents can be in charge of all the financial stuff – collecting money, tallying totals, reimbursing people for expenses, etc. – and your coach(es) can be in charge of generally overseeing everything and giving help when and where it’s needed. For the little things like cleaning the boathouse, everyone can (and should) help with that the day beforehand. For refreshments, put the coxswains in charge of that. (I made so many cookies and treats for my boats in high school, and so did my friends who were coxswains, so to me it just makes sense that we’d be in charge of refreshments.)

Your reputation precedes you

If your team is known for being a top notch group of kids who have had successful seasons in the past, you shouldn’t have any problem getting support from the community. If you’re known as a bunch of assholes who screw around, you’re probably going to have a tough time. Think about that before asking people for money.

Your team = your responsibility

This is primarily aimed at high schoolers but your parents are not in charge of putting this thing together from scratch. I. am. not. kidding. when I say that they and the coach(es) should be doing the least amount of work compared to everything you guys are doing. If you’re not willing to do at least 75% of the work necessary to get this thing rolling, why are you even bothering to do it in the first place? This is where pride for your team comes in. Do not be lazy and put your responsibilities on other people.

In that same vein, don’t let your parents take over just because they’re the adults and they think they have to. Make it clear that you guys want to be the ones in charge of most of it (because it’s your team) but that you want/need them there to help with certain things. Delegate responsibilities to them the same way you do to your teammates. In order to do this, you need to be the ones to go to the parent booster meetings, present the idea, and give them all the details that show you’ve thought about this ahead of time and are committed to making it happen. Be prepared to answer questions or find out the answers and be ready to report back at the next meeting. Obviously you’re in high school and there are certain things that are over your head so it’s fine to have the help you out but you (you as in “the team”) should be taking charge and doing the lion’s share of the work.

Write thank you notes

You want to give people a positive impression of the team and let them know you appreciated their donation so that hopefully they’ll continue to support you in the future. Take the time to send them a quick email or write them a thank you card, either from the individual rower or the entire team.

Sell stuff

I have no idea who came up with the ideas for the stuff we sold in high school but one year we sold Florida oranges, another we sold candles, and then for a couple years we sold candy bars. While I was in band we sold pizzas, cookie dough, and whatever else Joe Corbi’s had (that name still makes my friends and I cringe a little), in addition to selling poinsettias at Christmas time. We hooked up with a local greenery so if you have one of those near you I definitely recommend seeing if doing something like this during the holidays is a possibility. Pro tip, coming from the person who, every year for seven years, sold the most poinsettias out of anyone else in the band, go to every bank in your town and ask the if they’re interested in decorating for the holidays. Of course they’re interested. They’ll buy the biggest poinsettias for the entryways and then tons of smaller ones for the counters and side tables in the lobby area.

The most successful thing we did for band in the fall was these things call Band Bucks. They’ve been around for decades and are practically a staple in my town. What they are are these cards for tons of businesses around town that offer discounts on food at restaurants and coffee shops, as well as the local fast food places, oil changes and other car related maintenance, hair cuts, florists, photography services … the list goes on and on. The cards cost $10 and are the size of a business card, so they fit right in your wallet. It would definitely be worth going around town and seeing if local businesses, restaurants, etc. are interested in participating. As far as printing up the cards, if you don’t have a local place in town that you can do it I highly recommend MOO.

Rent-a-Rower

Rowers are known for being in shape and strong so it makes sense that people would want to hire them to do stuff, including helping to pack up a house to prep for a move, mowing lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow, painting houses, helping with construction projects, babysitting, house sitting, pet sitting, catering events, etc.

For high schoolers, doing something like this might not be feasible unless you do it on the weekends or during the summer when you’re not at school. College kids have a little more control over their time, plus they typically have cars, so this might be better suited for them.

Some general guidelines on how to set this up:

Set up a Google Form or a page on your team’s website where people can see the necessary information (i.e. max number of hours per job, your rates, etc.) and then “hire you” from there. If you’re in high school, have one of the coaches or parents be the contact person.

Have rules, especially if you’re in high school. Require parent supervision or no less than two people at a job in order to keep things safe. Obviously bad things can still happen regardless of the number of people there but in certain situations there is safety in numbers.

Make sure the client knows to keep in mind the scope of the job the athletes are being asked to do so that no one’s health, ability to compete, etc. is jeopardized. If they’re being asked to use any kind of equipment, have the client go over how to use them before anyone gets started just as a precaution.

Make your prices fair and known from the start. Offer discounts to friends of the team or if someone is hiring multiple people for multiple hours. Also make sure the hours of availability are posted and/or that you at least say you’re student-athletes, so some consideration has to be given to your academic/work schedule. Don’t blow off class or work to go do a job for someone. Don’t forget to also block out the weekends you have regattas so people know you’re unavailable.

Sponsorships

Everyone that has a Vespoli, Resolute, Concept 2, JL, etc. sticker on their water bottle is giving those companies free advertising any time someone sees their logo. Why not step it up and ask local businesses to sponsor you in exchange for having their logo or bumper sticker added to your teams boat trailer? Another thing I’ve seen is having all the sponsor’s logos printed onto a big magnet that is put on the side of the truck that’s towing the trailer. This would be a good opportunity to spread the word about the team amongst people in the community and get their support in exchange for some advertising space.

General guidelines for how to initiate this:

Don’t show up to these businesses that you’re trying to get money from looking like you just came from practice. You can still wear jeans and tshirt but make it a nice pair of jeans and a nice tshirt.

Be prepared to answer questions about the team, such as why you’re raising money, what the money will go towards, why/how sponsoring you would be good for business (what are they getting out of this), etc. Also be prepared to give them an idea as to where their logo would be on the trailer. They want maximum exposure to get their name out there so make sure all the spaces you’re offering are clearly visible and not obstructed by the boats in anyway.

Have a plan. Think about it ahead of time and plot out the places you want to go. Don’t just aimlessly wander around town and say “oh, that looks like a good spot, let’s go there!”. Research them a bit if you aren’t familiar with them too. Think of this sort of like a job interview – don’t go somewhere completely unprepared, not knowing what it is they do.

If you want to create levels of sponsorship, like “gold”, “silver”, and “bronze”, have perks to go with each one in addition to just having their name on the trailer. 10 hours of free labor, acknowledgment in the season video, naming rights, their logo added to the team website, social media shout outs, etc. For the higher levels of sponsorship, their logos should be bigger and more prominent than those in the lower levels.

Go in groups of two or three and/or bring along a parent to help you out with explaining the logistics and to answer any questions the company might have.

Write thank you notes or send a follow up email thanking them for their support and include a picture of where their logo is located on your trailer.

Create and sell team gear

Everybody loves/wants/needs team gear, right? And everybody needs to do fundraising, right? TeeSpring is a site that lets you do both. The process itself is a piece of cake – upload your design, choose the kind of shirt you want, set a “sales goal” and a price per shirt, and then fill out the “campaign info” (basically the same information that I talked about earlier with Indiegogo and Kickstarter).

The way you make money is by taking the difference in how much you choose to sell the shirts for and how much the shirts cost to produce. Say you printed your design on the white Hanes Tagless Tees, which are shown as having a base cost of $8.25 per shirt for 50 shirts. The next step, determining your sales goal, can change the cost per shirt. The more you order, the cheaper the individual cost. If you had a goal of selling 250 that would lower the cost to $6.81 per shirt. If you decided to sell your shirts for $15 each you would net a profit of $8.19 per shirt, totaling $2047 for all 250. The only “catch”, if you want to call it that, is that you have to get 250 orders (or whatever number you set your sales goal to) in the allotted time (anywhere from 7-21 days) before they’ll be printed. If you don’t reach your sales goal, the shirts won’t be printed and you won’t make any money.

Car wash

Self-explanatory (I hope). These are great to do during the spring and summer when everyone’s cars are covered in pollen but no one actually wants to go through the effort of washing their own car.

Raffles or silent auctions

Similarly to car washes, this is pretty self explanatory. You could sell tickets at your home regattas and the winner could win something like 3 free hours of rent-a-rower help or something like that. Alumni banquets would also be a great time to do a silent auction.

Bake sale

Super simple to do on a regular basis and you can set up pretty much anywhere. Regattas, on campus, dining halls/cafeterias, etc. are all places where you’d encounter people willing to spend $2 for some homemade desserts.

What has your team done in the past to raise money for the club? Feel free to comment with anything I might have missed!

Image via // @wvlytle

College High School Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

By readyallrow August 13, 2013

How much contact is too much contact for juniors? Are we allowed to pop in and visit quickly whilst touring? Or no personal contact at all?

I would at least email them first to say you’re coming to tour the campus and to see if they’re available, but meeting with them isn’t usually a big deal. It’s considered an unofficial visit but if you’re already going to be on campus it’s definitely worth seeing if you can meet up with them to save yourself an additional trip later on. Plus your parents will most likely be with you so they can ask the coach any questions they have too. I wouldn’t just go straight to their office with no prior warning though because that’s a little … weird, especially if you haven’t had much contact or interaction prior to that. I don’t think the NCAA has a definition of “too much contact”, at least from your end, but you should be able to use your common sense to determine how much is too much.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow August 2, 2013

Last season (my junior year) I coxed the JV boat all fall and most of spring and a week before championships my coach handed out ranking sheets to the rowers and they chose who they wanted as their coxswain. Half of the girls in the JV boat wanted me and half of them wanted another girl who has a year less experience than me. My assistant coach made an “executive” decision to put the other girl in the JV boat. This summer I had lunch with one of my close friends who was a rower in that JV boat, she told me that after the ranking day some of the other rowers texted her and talked about how they didn’t pick me because they didn’t like me as a person. I asked her what that meant and she said they meant that I was “too sassy and demanding” with them. Now this fall season it’ll be me and the same girl going after the varsity boat and I really want that spot. What do I do about the fact that the rowers don’t like me as a person? Do I just kill them with kindness or what? I honestly have no clue what to do. I’ve had several people come up to me and tell me personally that I am a much better coxswain than the other girl so I don’t understand why people have to use the fact that they don’t like me against me. How should I approach this season?

Ranking sheets? Is that the same or different than coxswain evaluations? Straight ranking sheets sound like … a bad idea.

Here’s the thing with coxing women … anytime you’re in a position where you’re giving directions or telling other women what to do you have to watch how you do it because the slightest hint of anything in your voice is going to be mistaken as you being a bitch. There’s nothing wrong with being demanding, especially in the position we’re in, but you have to make sure that your demands are realistic and actually achievable by the people you’re working with. If you have varsity heavyweight men’s 8+ expectations of a JV women’s 8+ then yea, that would be too demanding. If you have varsity women’s 8+ expectations of a JV women’s 8+ and their abilities indicate that those expectations are reasonable then that’s fine. If you’re constantly pushing them harder than they can reasonably tolerate, physically or psychologically then that would/could cause problems.

How you give direction is another thing you’ve got to be aware of. There’s always got to be some sense of self-awareness on our end as to what we’re saying, how we’re saying it, how it could/is being perceived, etc. so that we can be sure we’re building the rowers up and not tearing them down. Think about how you say things and ask yourself how you’d respond if someone said the same thing to you in the same tone of voice. Would it rub you the wrong way or would you not think twice about it? Try to be objective and not biased towards yourself, if that’s possible. Basically, don’t just assume you’re not doing anything wrong and that the rowers are just being bitches for no reason. If you’re brave enough you should talk to the ones that don’t like you, for whatever reason, and ask what you can do better this season with regards to communicating with them. They don’t have to like you and it shouldn’t be your goal to get them to like you. That isn’t your responsibility. I doubt every soldier liked George Washington but they respected him enough to follow him into battle. That’s the mentality that you should have. Rowers don’t have to like their coxswains but they do need to respect them enough to follow them into battle. That goes for coxswains as well – to earn respect you’ve got to give it. Making an effort to figure out how you can improve as a coxswain by getting feedback from the people you’re working with is a good way to start earning it. In return, you should take their feedback and actually use it to help you going forward.

Should you be nice to them? Yes, because that’s just common courtesy. Should you kill them with kindness? Eh…my personal opinion is no because ultimately what’s that going to do for you? Granted it could work out well but it could also come off as really, really fake, which will just piss them off even more. There’s a big difference between liking you as a coxswain and liking you as a person and my theory on why rowers use how much they like you as a person “against” you is because with the amount of time you’re going to be spending together, why wouldn’t you want to be with someone you genuinely like? I don’t necessarily agree with it but I do understand it. In a perfect world all coxswains would be chosen based on their abilities and not on popularity but that is never going to happen. Popularity is always going to play a small part, especially in high school, especially when you’re coxing women.

In addition to talking to the people in that boat and doing some self-reflection on your own, talk to your assistant coach. Ask her if she can share why she ultimately chose the other coxswain and what she based her decision on since it seemed like the votes were evenly split between you and the other girl. I wouldn’t straight up say that some of the girls prefer you because you’re the better coxswain but I would just say that you want to know what you can do to improve because you want the varsity boat, obviously, and as the senior coxswain with four years of experience you feel like you deserve a shot at it because of X, Y, and Z. There’s nothing wrong with saying you feel like you deserve a certain boat as long as you’ve done the work ahead of time and actually do deserve a shot at it. Seniority alone isn’t a reason, as much as we’d like to think it is. Your cohesiveness with the rowers, how likely it is that they’ll listen to you, your ability to control things on the water, etc. are all things I think any good coach would look at.

For me, I’d also be looking at how much drama I’d be setting myself up to deal with if I knowingly put you in a boat where there’s friction between you and some of the rowers. Drama in some instances is inevitable and that’s fine. Everyone is equipped to deal with it to an extent. It’s part of the game, so to say. But, as a coach I don’t want to have to deal with a mutiny in the middle of the season simply because there are a million other things that I need to worry about. Whoever I ultimately chose as coxswain would need to be able to make it work with everyone in the boat, regardless of their friendships or lack there of off the water. Looking back on the previous season and seeing that there were personality clashes, no respect being given or received, etc. it would take a lot of convincing for me to put that coxswain with those same rowers, regardless of their skills. Their skills could be amazing and they could be a great coxswain but I’d be delusional to think that personality doesn’t play a part in being a good, effective leader. Like I said, they don’t have to like you but they do have to respect you and there can be no question as to whether or not that will happen.

In this order, look at how you’ve handled things in the past and how you’ve interacted with these women previously, then talk to your coach, then talk to the rowers. Start thinking about your goals for the season and use them and the feedback you get from everyone to help motivate you to make some improvements throughout the start of the season. I won’t lie to you, it sucks having to making adjustments to your attitude, personality, etc. just to avoid pissing people off but I will promise you this: in the end, it’s worth it. All those stupid situations in school where your teachers are like “oh, working on this group project is going to teach you how to deal with people in the future”…no. We all know they don’t. What teaches you how to deal with different personalities in the future is having conflicts with people and figuring out the best way to interact with them going forward. Sometimes that requires changes on our end and it requires taking the time to figure out what you’ve done in the past that you could do differently, more effectively, or just plain better going forward.

Coxing High School Masters Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 25, 2013

Hi! I am a coxswain who has coxed on my school’s team for 5 seasons. I seem to do better when put in a boys boat (I’m a girl). In the past, I have attributed this to the fact that the girls on my team are incredibly immature and difficult to deal with. It’s gotten to a point where no cox on my team wants to cox a girls boat. How would you approach this? Also, I have recently gotten an opportunity to cox for a local club’s masters women’s boat. How would you adjust to a such a different group?

That’s rough. It sounds like something your coaches need to address (or should have) rather than something the coxswains should be forced to put up with/suffer through or handle on their own. Have you guys tried talking to the coaches about the issues you have coxing them? Are they difficult to deal with because they don’t listen, are unnecessarily combative, and just straight up bitches or are they difficult to deal with because they’re teenagers and doing typical annoying teenager stuff? Regardless of the reason, I think it’s worth bringing up and discussing with the coach so that they can do something about it. It’s also possible that they might not know what’s going on or that the coxswains feel this way so they never realized there was a problem needing addressing. Until then though, if you get put in a boat with them try not to get frustrated. Avoid displaying any outward signs of being irritated that you’re coxing that boat because that’ll either piss off the rowers and give them even more reasons to make things difficult or it’ll just amuse them and give them a reason to antagonize you.

Regarding coxing a masters boat, the biggest difference for me in going from coxing people my own age to coxing people who are closer to my parents’ age was coxing them with the same amount of intensity. It felt weird coxing them like I coxed college or high school crews because they’re so much older than me but once I talked to them about it they said they want to be coxed hard like that, so that’s what I started doing. After a few practices it didn’t feel weird any more. I’d suggest just talking to them and finding out what they look for in their coxswains. Are they a competitive team who expects to be coxed as such or are they just out there to have a good time and get away from the stress of daily life, so they don’t need to be coxed as hard? Don’t be intimidated by them and don’t feel like you can’t call them out on any technique problems like you would a normal crew. They want to be corrected so they can improve just like rowers your own age so make sure you’re talking to them and giving them the same feedback that you’d give your regular crew.