Category: How To

How to Pass Crews During a Head Race

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

How to Pass Crews During a Head Race

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

I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about this at any great length but I figured it’d be a good topic to get out there since we’re starting to get into head race season. Passing another crew requires you to be a bit of a maverick, depending on the situation. It’s not something you should be figuring out how to do as you do it though because deciding what the best course of action is requires a lot of decision making in a very short period of time. When your mind is going a mile a minute you don’t want to be trying to figure out all this stuff in the middle of the race.

The first thing you’ve got to do before passing a crew is assess the situation and figure out how many crews are ahead of you and how close you are to bridges or any other kind of potential obstruction. If there is a lot of traffic up ahead or there’s a chance you won’t have completed your pass before you reach the bridge, it might be best to hold off until crews spread out or you’re through the bridge. It sounds counter-intuitive but from a safety perspective, holding back is always preferable to a collision. No coach who has their priorities straight will tell you otherwise.

From there, when you do go to make your pass, and sticking with the idea of what is safer in the long run, you’ve got to decide if taking a slightly wider course off the better line is preferable to taking the better line and potentially being involved in a collision that could cost you even more time. This is where having studied the course beforehand can work in your favor. If you’re on a river with a lot of curves – the Charles, for example – it’s less about how you come out of the turns and more about how you go in. Even if the faster line around a turn to port is to hug the buoys, if you’re passing someone and know that the next turn is to starboard, it would be advisable, if it’s safe, to pass the crew on the outside, that way you’ll be on the buoys around the next turn.

Related: HOCR: Steering around the turns

One thing to remember if you decide to pass on the inside is that if the next turn is fairly sharp and in close proximity to the last one, you’ll either have to be really good at steering or you’ll have to have the crew adjust their power to bring you around, which has the potential to add seconds to your time. 60ft long boats don’t turn on a dime, which is something a lot of novices don’t realize, so knowing the best way to move your shell around a tight turn is something you should have figured out before you race. That way if such a situation arises where you’re going around a tight turn, either because you chose it or were forced into it, you’ll know how to do it smoothly and with as little added time as possible.

Related: Yaz Farooq’s HOCR coxswain clinic

The last thing you’ve got to consider is whether you want to increase the stroke rate to get by the other crew or if you want to keep it the same. You can take it up a beat or so if you want but it’s not usually necessary and if you’re constantly changing your speed you run the risk of running out of gas and not having enough energy to maintain your pace through the end of the race. If you’re passing someone, your strokes are  already more powerful and your boat is generating more speed so all you need to do is find an open lane to glide into.

If there’s a crew behind you that’s threatening to pass, increasing the stroke rate might be a good idea if you think your crew can sustain it. If there are crews that are packed together in front of the one you’re trying to pass, you might want to pass them at your base pace and then settle in where you can, either with or behind the pack in front. If you think you can pass another crew, that’s a calculated risk you’ll have to make a decision on as it’s happening based on the information you have on hand. You should also be watching the crew you’re passing to see if and how they counter your move. They might take the stroke rate up to hold you off, which might mean that instead of cruising by them, you might need to take the rate up for a couple strokes too.

Another thing you’ve got to factor in is whether or not the crew in front of you is a rival. A normal crew will do their best to hold you off but a rival will make it their mission to make sure that your bowball doesn’t get past theirs. Be prepared for this and know how to counter it.

General passing rules – these should be announced by the regatta official(s) at the coaches and coxswains meeting so don’t skip that. Different regattas have different rules, especially at head races. Some might allow you to pass under a bridge, others might penalize you for doing it. You won’t know unless you go. I’d also recommend not assuming you know the rules just because you’ve been there before. You never know when they might change them.

When passing, your bow must be pointed towards the side you intend to pass on by the time you are within at least one length of open water on the crew you’re passing. The crew that’s being passed should be fully out of the way by the time the passing crew is within half a length of open.

When you are passing, you should yell out “coxswain, move to starboard/port” to the crew in front of you. Most coxswains will acknowledge you (do this by raising your hand, like normal) and immediately move over but some will be less accommodating. This can be attributed to two things: a) they can’t hear you, which is sometimes understandable or b) they’re purposely doing that because they think it’ll make you give up on trying to pass them. All you have to do in situations like this is yell again to move over. Your bow (wo)men can help you out here by yelling at them to move too. People in bow, don’t wait for your coxswain to tell you to do this. If you can hear them repeatedly telling someone to move, just look over and repeat what they’re saying. If you have to tell at them again to move, threaten them with a penalty. They will get penalized for not moving out of the way because it’s considered unsportsmanlike conduct. At HOCR it’s a 60 second penalty the first time, 2 minutes the second time, and an automatic DQ for the third time.

If you are being passed, move. Communicate with your stroke before the race (or bow if you’re in a 4+) and tell them that if there’s a crew coming up on you, they must tell you. It doesn’t need to be some big long conversation between the two of you either. That’s part of the reason why I think a lot of the rowers don’t tell their coxswain what’s going on behind the because they think they need to say “hey, there’s a boat passing us on starboard” and they don’t want to waste that much energy or oxygen, but in reality all they need to do is say “starboard” or “port”. I know your lungs are on fire but I think you can manage to squeak out a one or two syllable word. Help your coxswain out. If your crew gets penalized for not yielding, it’s just as much your fault as it is the coxswain’s.

Try to avoid passing under bridges when you can. Know the rules as to what bridges you’re allowed to pass under and which ones you aren’t if there are multiple ones along the course. Don’t be that coxswain that thinks it’s a good idea to go three wide under Weeks (shout out to the coxswain who messed up my turn last year by being that person…ya jerk).

I’ll try to find more videos of this if I can but I came across this one while writing this and thought it was a good example of a coxswain telling a crew to move repeatedly (Michigan) and the crew being passed not moving (Dartmouth), leading to a collision before Eliot. Michigan was able to recover quickly but you can see it really stalled Dartmouth. If you’ve got time, definitely check out the whole video but the part I’m referring to starts around 20:00 and the collision around 21:45.

One other quick thing to note, you can hear somebody say “you had room!”, someone else say “fuck you”, and someone else say “fucking” something (it’s kinda hard to hear). I get that situations like that are irritating but you’ve got to be careful about spouting off on other crews like that because you can also get an unsportsmanlike penalty even if steering-wise you did everything correct. I’m lucky I didn’t get a penalty last year for yelling “are you fucking kidding me” to the coxswain who thought going three-wide under Weeks was do-able because there were three officials standing on Weeks watching the whole thing unfold. (I was the only one of the three crews to not be penalized so yay for that.) In the heat of the moment it’s understandable but ask yourself if it’s worth a penalty if an official hears you.

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi! Since fall season hit, I’ve been trying to improve my steering. The problem is, my team has a limited number a boats and we’re taking a Resolute to a head race. The steering essentially forces me to go straight and I find it impossible to make it around big turns! I was wondering, how can I steer a head race in a Resolute?

Whenever I’m in Resolutes I feel like I’m steering a bathtub or something. I don’t know if they’re all like that or just the ones I’ve been in but it was really frustrating. I think one of the boats we used at Penn AC was a Resolute too and I remember the coxswains had a lot of problems steering around the turn right after the finish line on the Schuylkill, probably because we had the same racing rudder that you have.

Your best option is going to be using the rowers to help you turn. In some races, like HOCR, this is a necessity anyways on some of the turns. You should still use the rudder and turn it in the direction you want to go but to fully get around the turn, you’ll want to have the rowers adjust their power so that one side powers down while the other side brings it around. Having one side row at 100% and then telling the other side to “pull harder” just does. not. work. It doesn’t! I don’t know why coxswains do this. If you’re turning to port, you want the port rowers to go down to maybe 75% (I never go less than 50% on any turn) and then have your starboards go balls out to bring you around. It’s gotta be coordinated well so that everyone still stays in time, knows when to adjust their power, and when to even it out again. I typically say something like “ports down, starboards up in 2…in 1…now, starboards GO”. This tells everyone what to do in as few words as possible. We also practiced doing this a lot before HOCR last year so they had plenty of opportunities to get used to how I was planning on calling it.

How to raise money for your club team

College High School How To

How to raise money for your club team

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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

Coxing How To Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Okay. I know you have gotten questions like this before but how do I get people to respect me as a coxswain? I mean I’m fairly knowledgeable, I know how to correct people’s technique and how to work with them to improve. I do most of the workouts with the team but I feel like there is something about me that makes them not respect me. I’m a camp counselor over the summer and I feel like the campers don’t really respect my authority either.

There are two ways to approach this. Do you think they don’t respect you because you’re not authoritative at the right times or do you think they don’t respect you because your attitude rubs them the wrong way?

Making an effort to get to know the rowers, being friendly with them, etc. is a good thing but it can end up hurting you a bit if you are too friendly with them because they’ll see you more as “one of them” instead of someone in a leadership role. I’m not saying you can’t be friends (or even best friends) with your rowers but you have to be able to separate yourself from those friendships when practice rolls around. If the rowers see you as their friend all the time it’ll be harder for them to take you seriously when you’re telling them what to do.

Related: RESPECT and the follow-up email to that post from a collegiate men’s coxswain

The flip side is if you’re too authoritative all the time and try to throw your weight around just because you’re in a position that has some degree of power, all in an attempt to make the rowers respect you. One of the things that can be tough to master with coxing is telling someone what to do without being bossy or bitchy. This is where your tone of voice comes into play. Think of how you say things and then put yourself in the shoes of the rowers. If someone was saying to you what you’re saying to the rowers in the same way you’re saying it, how would you interpret it? Would you take it as someone who knows what they’re doing and is trying to help you improve or as someone who is trying too hard to get people to respect her, overstepping her authority, and not being an effective communicator?

Related: How NOT to piss off your rowers

I don’t have the secret to earning someone’s respect. It’s going to be different with every person you meet and every crew you cox because there are different personalities to contend with. The first step towards gaining the respect of your teammates though is to make an effort to figure out why they don’t respect you. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt since I obviously don’t know the entirety of your situation and say that it’s possible that they don’t disrespect you but they don’t fully respect either because they don’t know you that well. Make an effort to get to know them, figure out why they’re there, what their goals are, what they need from you, etc. and use all of that to not only work on the respect thing but to also improve yourself and your boat.

Definitely check out the “respect” tag too, there are tons of questions in there that you should be able to pull some good advice from.

College Coxing High School How To Novice Q&A

TED Talks, body language, and … coxing?

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I was going through Reddit the other night and came across this talk from last October given by Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist who currently teaches at Harvard Business School. It’s really interesting and a lot of what she says can easily be related to coxing.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions asking “how to do I become more confident”, “will I be a good coxswain even though I’m shy and quiet”, etc. and that made me realize how big of an issue this is for those who are new to the sport (and for some experienced coxswains as well). I get asked a lot how I developed my confidence as a coxswain and I don’t ever really know how to answer that other than to say “I just am/was”. Good coaching, support from my family and friends, and my natural personality all play(ed) into it but it was never something I had to teach myself to be.

That isn’t the case for a lot of coxswains out there though and is really more of a “pick two” situation. You can have two of the above but not the other one and what sucks is that the one you don’t have tends to affect you more than the two you do have. When you’re just starting out in something new, especially something as feedback-based as rowing, that can be the make-or-break thing that helps you decide whether to stick with it or not. I’ve said multiple times that to be a good coxswain you have to be confident in your skills, your decisions, and yourself as an individual and I stand by that wholeheartedly, but how do you teach yourself to become that, especially when there’s no one telling you the process step by step?

One of the things that Amy talks about in the beginning of her talk is how your level of confidence is communicated in your posture, what your body language is communicating to other people, and what your body language is communicating to yourself. If you think about how you approach any given situation, what do you think your body language/non-verbals say about you? If you’re a coxswain, think about yourself when you’re at practice. Do your non-verbals give off an air of “I know what I’m doing” or, as Amy said, “I’m not supposed to be here”? Do you stand up front by the coaches, hands on your hips, waiting to be told what to do or do stand near the back or in the middle of the rowers playing with your cox box hoping no one notices you’re there? What about when you’re on the water? How do your coxing non-verbals make you look? Think about that for a second and honestly ask yourself how you think your non-verbals have affected you so far, either positively or negatively.

A little bit further on she talks about how there’s a grade gap in business schools between men and women and they can’t figure it out because coming in, they’re all on equal footing so you’d think that gap wouldn’t exist. What they attribute part of it to is one’s level of participation in class. Based on personal experience I know that in classes and situations where I’m confident in what I know, I’m a willing, avid participant in whatever’s going on. I’m one of those people that “spreads out”, has their hand high in the air, etc. When I’m not confident (i.e. every math class I’ve taken since elementary school) I don’t say a word and tend to make myself smaller in the chair I’m sitting in with what I can only assume is a “I’m not supposed to be here” look on my face.

When I started thinking about this, we do this at crew too. We all come in on equal footing, not knowing anything about the sport, but the ones who participate more by engaging themselves in the beginning during winter training, talking to the coaches, interacting with the rowers, learning about the sport on their own time, etc. are the ones that (initially) succeed. Those that stand around not doing much, are nervous or afraid to talk to the coaches, are intimidated by the rowers, and don’t do anything to engage themselves other than show up tend to get looked over in favor of those who are displaying more positive non-verbals. That all has to do with confidence. The more confident you are, the more risks you’re willing to take at the beginning to put yourself out there in an unfamiliar situation. That confidence is an inherent thing too that has nothing to do with how much you know or don’t know about crew or coxing. So, how do you become more confident and project those positive non-verbals?

The next minute or two of her talk really justified something I’ve felt and been saying for awhile now. “Is it possible that we could get people to fake it and would it lead people to participate more? … Can you experience a behavioral outcome that makes you seem more powerful?” You all know that one of the things I’ve consistently said, especially to novices, is “fake it ’til you make it” because the more you fake it, the more you start to actually become it. But, as she goes on to say, do the non-verbals govern how we think and feel about ourselves? I say definitely. If you’re awkwardly standing somewhere in a “powerless” position, chances are you aren’t feeling so great about yourself whereas if you’re standing somewhere with your chin up, shoulders back, etc. you probably feel pretty confident … or do you? Maybe you’re faking it. Who knows! That’s the beauty of it. “When you pretend to be powerful you are more likely to actually feel powerful.”

Related: “Fake it till you make it.” Do you believe in that for coxswains? Because of today’s terrible practice I wouldn’t have been able to fake anything for the life of me.

This transitioned into what she was saying about how powerful and effective leaders have high testosterone and low cortisol levels, testosterone relating to dominance and cortisol relating to stress. As she says, when you think about power you tend to think more about testosterone and less about cortisol but the thing with power is that it’s not all about how dominant you are over a situation or group of people, it’s also about how you handle and react to the stress of being in that position. Tell me that isn’t exactly like coxing. As she goes on to say, think about the kind of leader you want to be — do you want to be a dominant leader who is also very reactive to stress or a leader who is dominant and not very reactive to stress? I know there are a fair number of rowers out there cringing as you recall situations where your coxswain was freaking out about something on the water and you spent the next several minutes wondering if he/she was gonna have their shit together at any point during practice. That’s not the kind of coxswain you want to be. You want to be the kind that manages stress effectively by figuring out a solution to the problem rather than outwardly reacting to it. Why? Because the non-verbals you display in situations like that let your rowers know you’ve got things under control and their confidence in you ultimately translates into confidence in yourself. See how that works? (On the flip side though, the exact opposite can also happen…)

Moving on to “primate hierarchies”, think about when your coach decides to make a change by randomly and all of a sudden taking you out of your novice 4+ and putting you in the varsity 8+. You’re probably nervous, questioning your abilities, and thinking “oh shit, what if I mess up”, right? You’re replacing an “alpha” coxswain -someone who is most likely more confident, more experienced, and more skilled that you. But, after a few practices with the boat you realize it’s just like coxing any other crew with only minor differences. You start to worry less about how you’re doing as you settle into your groove and become more comfortable with the rowers. This demonstrates what she’s saying about your testosterone going up and cortisol coming down. As you continue working with them you gradually become more and more confident with yourself, which is what she’s saying about how role changes can shape the mind. On that same line, the more confident you become, the more positive your body language becomes, which in turn circles back around and increases your confidence. Body shaping the mind. Bam. Science.

Hopefully by this point you get how big of a role your body language plays in that. The trick is to do it in small doses like she says (starting around 10:19). For two minutes stand in a “high power pose” like one of the ones from her PowerPoint. Obviously you don’t have to do this somewhere where people can see you if you’re worried about looking silly. Do that and see how it makes you feel. Do this every day before you go to school, before you go to practice, etc. and after a week or two, see if you notice a difference with yourself. If what she says is right, the more you do it the more confident you’ll feel and see yourself becoming.

I have a great story to tell about “having the opportunity to gamble”. So, about two weeks or so before I left for Penn AC I was basically in the midst of a full-on quarter-life crisis. Fellow millennials will probably know the feeling – messy personal life, feeling stuck in our jobs, and freaking out about our (lack of) finances. I went out to breakfast one morning with one of the women in my boat and she said to me, dead serious, “you look like you’re going through life like you’re in the middle of surgery with no anesthesia”. That was a serious wake-up call because I knew how shitty I felt and I had been trying really hard to keep it to myself but apparently I was failing (miserably). What had given it away was how I was carrying myself. I wasn’t carrying myself confidently like I normally did; instead I just looked defeated all the time, including when I was on the water, which had never happened before. Ever since I started coxing this boat they’ve all consistently said to me, with wondrous amazement, that I’m a completely different person on the water. I’m a much more reserved and quiet person than I used to be but when I’m on the water, my true personality really comes through. I’m the person on the water that I wish I still was on land. How they knew something was “off” though was by how I was acting whenever we’d go out for practice. Up to this point I was always 100% in command, 100% focused, and never once questioned myself. Now though, I just wasn’t into practice, I couldn’t concentrate, and my mind was always on other things. They didn’t know any of that but they read it all through my body language, which was giving them the sense through my non-verbals that I didn’t have an ounce of confidence in my body.

For the first time in a long time I questioned myself in the middle of a race piece. I haven’t done that since I was a novice and didn’t know any better. Looking back at my non-verbals I know I was giving off the “I don’t belong here” vibe because in that moment that was exactly how I felt. We were doing race pieces with another boat and we were coming up on the last 400m or so. It was close between the two of us and I wanted to call a move to put us ahead once and for all going into the final sprint. I was already not 100% mentally into practice, in addition to being nervous about how close we were to the other crew. I debated for too long about whether or not to make the move, whether it would hurt our speed during the sprint, etc. and missed the opportunity. We lost the race by about two seats. I was furious with myself, which then made me feel even less confident and more defeated. It also just went to show how irrational I was being because it was just a practice piece — there was literally nothing riding on it whatsoever and my boat was happy because it was a good piece. My coach asked me afterwards what was up because he’d never seen me like that in the boat before. He said his first clue that something was off was as soon as we crossed the finish line I buried my head in hands and started crying, which is really unlike me, especially on the water.

Fast forward about three weeks to Penn AC. The guys were doing 4x2ks and I ended up coxing the last one. Up to that point I’d been having a great week so I was feeling pretty good all around. Seeing how well the guys had been doing up to this point just sent my enthusiasm levels through the roof and having the guy at stroke say to me “let’s go fuck this other boat up” before the start just totally did it for me. Thinking back on it, I was willing to take the risk I did because I was feeling good about myself and the boat, which was translated to my body language (I was in a “high power” stance, or as close as you can get in the boat), which then translated how I felt to those that were watching us. Compared to the piece I did with my own eight, my testosterone and cortisol levels were probably the exact opposite of what they were before. I felt completely in control and wasn’t stressed because I knew that no matter what I said the guys were gonna go with me.

I called for a move with 750m to go that took the other crew by complete surprise and helped us get even with them after being about a length or so down — something we should not have been able to do given the difference in size and experience between the two boats. It was a risk and as one of the coaches later said, a ballsy one at that. It could have backfired and killed the momentum we’d built up but in the moment that wasn’t even something I was thinking about. Later on I ended up talking with another coach about that piece and they said that they had a feeling that I was going to do something “crazy” just based on my body language. He said that he told the rower that was riding with him to watch our boat because “she’s gonna do something … I don’t know what or when but she’s gonna do something and they’re gonna move.”

That definitely ranked in the top 5 compliments I’ve gotten on my coxing and it really boosted my confidence even though I had no real reason to need a confidence boost. It’s not like I needed any kind of validation on my coxing skills (but when has something like that ever hurt…). Put yourself in that situation though or go back to a time when something similar happened to you — how awesome would/did you feel immediately afterwards? What would/did that do for your confidence? And now think that it has nothing to do with your coxing, it all came straight from what your body language was communicating.

There are a lot of different connections to be made here which can get confusing trying to put all the pieces together, so, to recap:

Non-verbals communicate to other people as well as to ourselves

Positive non-verbals = “happy” feelings; negative non-verbals = “sad” feelings

Happy/sad = confident/not confident

“Fake it ’til you make it” = mind shaping the body

Confident/not confident = dominant/powerless, indicated through testosterone and cortisol levels

Feelings of confidence or lack thereof displayed through “high power”/”low power” body stances

“High power”/”low power” stances = higher/lower risk tolerance, higher/lower testosterone, lower/higher cortisol

Non-verbals govern how we think/feel about ourselves

Bodies change our mind

This video from the Harvard Business Review also gives a good, quick overview in simple terms of what’s been talked about so far.

Back to the Ted Talk, fast forward to 13:50 where she’s talking about what you’re doing before a job interview. Translate this to race day or right before your first practice of the season on the water with a group of people you’ve never coxed before. Instead of making yourself small and finding ways to distract yourself from “the big moment”, you should be making yourself big by spending two minutes in one of your power poses.

Fast forward again to 15:10. It’s not about what you’re saying, it’s about your presence. This is something I really want the novice coxswains to pay attention to. You can listen to as many recordings as you want and borrow as many calls as you want from all the great coxswains out there but if you lack presence, what you say isn’t going to matter. What you say is not what makes you seem more confident or like you know what you’re doing, it’s how. you. say. it. and the vibe you’re giving off as you do it.

When she’s talking about her car accident, going to Princeton, and feeling like she didn’t belong, that’s intense stuff but it’s something that in one way or another we can relate to because we’ve all felt that way at some point. Some of you have said that you don’t feel like you belong at crew because you’re just not confident enough, you don’t think you’ll ever have the personality for coxing, etc. and that you want to quit. I’m going to say to you what her professor said to her:

You’re not quitting. You’re gonna stay and this is what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna fake it. You’re gonna cox every boat you ever get asked to cox, you’re gonna do it and do it and do it, even if you’re terrified and paralyzed and having an out of body experience until you have this moment where you say “Oh my gosh, I’m doing it. I have become this. I am actually doing this.”

Don’t fake it ’til you make it, fake it ’til you become it. There’s a saying that says “don’t practice until you do it right, practice until you don’t do it wrong” that is along the same lines. Don’t fake it and practice your skills until you’re confident in yourself for one practice, practice until you’re confident in your skills every practice and you don’t have to fake that confidence anymore because you’ve actually become confident.

Do I have all the answers for how to become a more confident coxswain? No, but what I do have is a way that you can become more confident as a person which will hopefully translate to you becoming more confident as a coxswain. Win-win, right? And don’t gimme that bullshit of “oh, *scoffs* that’s lame, that’s silly, it won’t work, I’ll look pretentious, this is just smart people talk about smart people stuff that only smart people do, etc.” Don’t knock it before you try it. I fully admit that I am one of those people that definitely thought stuff like this was ridiculous until a time came when I needed stuff like this just to make it through the day. Try it for a week and then tell me you don’t feel just a little bit better about yourself and that your coxing isn’t improved by your new-found positive attitude towards yourself.

As she says at the end of her talk, try the power posing and share the science. I shared it with all of you so now I want you to share it with someone else. Forward the link to a coxswain on your team that you see struggling with his/her confidence because like she said, those without resources and power are the ones who need it most. Novice coxswains tend to lack both. This also goes for coxswains who are moving up to varsity. Hopefully they’ve found a few resources that have helped them learn the ins-and-outs of coxing but they might still be lacking when it comes to power so share this with them too.

How To Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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A problem we always ran into with our boat that we stored down low – when we get the boat out, everybody is on the same side at waist and obviously can’t all bring it up to shoulders. Is there an easier way to do it than having the girls run around to the other side before shoulders or is that just how it is?

That’s kinda just how it is. The easiest way to do it is to have everyone lift it up off the racks at waist, side step to the middle of the boat bay, and then have all the ports or all the starboards go under the boat one by one until everyone is on the correct side. Going under vs. going around just saves time because you don’t have to bob and weave around riggers or other people. From there you can take it up to shoulders and walk it out.

For some reason every so often this confuses the hell out of people and no one knows who should be going under so make sure you specify, “Ports go under, starting from the stern … Annie, go. Maddie, go. Rachel, go. Alex, go.” You want this to be a quick process, obviously, because the boat gets heavier when someone lets go and it’s uncomfortable to hold the boat for too long when everyone is on the same side.

How (NOT) to piss off your rowers

Coxing How To Novice Teammates & Coaches

How (NOT) to piss off your rowers

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Previously: Steer an eight/four || Call a pick drill and reverse pick drill ||  Avoid getting sick || Make improvement as a novice || Protect your voice || Pass crews during a head race || Be useful during winter training || Train when you’re sick (as a rower) || Train when you’re sick (as a coxswain) || Sit in the boat || Lose vs. how to win || Cox (and coach) novices

About two weeks ago I wrote a lengthy post in response to a question I got that basically asked what rowers do that piss off their coxswains and how they can avoid doing such things in the future. After putting that post together I wanted to give rowers the same opportunity to tell coxswains what they do that pisses them off.

Related: I consider my crew to be very lucky. We possibly have one of the best coxswains around. She can steer like a BOSS and has the patience and the nature of a saint. However I think we pushed her to her limits at one point and I don’t think I have ever seen her that angry. I often read this blog and I always read tips on what makes a great coxswain, how to deal with your rowers, and things not to do however I would like to hear from a coxie’s point of view is what are the things that rowers do that really sets you off edge and how we can avoid those things. I know coxies are all different (…and I have had some interesting ones at times) but it would really help if you could give some pointers from a coxswain. As rowers our biceps are sometimes bigger than our brains so it would help if you could give us some insight. Thanks…oh, and great blog!

Over the last week I’ve gotten even more feedback than I did for the first post (read into that however you want) and even though a lot of it is really obvious stuff, I think it all bears repeating, especially for novices who might not know to not do these things. The fact that it is so obvious though means that it should be an easy fix.

Keep repeating things that aren’t working

Meaning you’ve been saying “stop rushing” for about 10 minutes and everyone is still rushing. You need to be able to recognize the problem, say how they should fix it (which means you’ve got to have a solid understanding of technique), and what specific changes they need to make to get back on track. Repeating the same thing over and over is lazy, not to mention whatever you’re saying loses its meaning and leads to you getting tuned out.

Aren’t mindful of their weight or of athletes in their boat who are trying to make weight

Obviously no one’s saying that you shouldn’t eat or that you should hide all traces of food when the lightweights are around. What they’re saying is that it’s a real asshole move to stuff your face with food in a “haha I get to eat and you don’t, suckers” kind of way.

In that same vein, another thing that came up, regardless of whether you’re coxing lightweights or heavyweights, is not being aware of your own weight (or straight up not caring). I’ve talked about the issue of coxswains and weight before and the fact of the matter is, we are expected to be as light as possible because we are literally dead weight in the boat. It’s part of the job and a responsibility your teammates will expect you to take seriously (especially if you’re coxing lightweights).

Yell at the rowers for talking in the boat while you carry on an unnecessary conversation with the stroke seat

I talk pretty frequently about how you need to talk to your stroke seat and communicate with them throughout practice – obviously you should keep doing that. What this rower was getting at is that everyone else in the boat gets really irritated when you tell them to stop talking but then you immediately turn around and start talking with your stroke about stuff completely unrelated to practice.

While you’re on the water, try to keep everything focused on whatever you’re doing that day and not on anything that isn’t related to rowing. Along this same line, when you are talking to your stroke (or stern pair, really), don’t talk into the mic, regardless of whether you’re talking about rowing related stuff or not. It’s distracting to everyone else and can sometimes generate a lot of opinions on something that don’t really require everyone’s input. If you’re talking about something that effects the entire crew, talk about it with your stroke first (with the the volume off), determine what needs to happen, and then give the rest of the boat the pertinent information.

Related: So I’m going to begin coxing this coming spring season, and I am constantly reading about experienced coxes getting annoyed with the newbies. Any recommendations for things I should do to avoid pissing everyone off?

No aggression during races or pieces

The rowers feed on your energy and if you’re not engaged in what’s going on, how do you expect them to be? Don’t worry about sounding silly or stupid or whatever. If that’s how you feel about getting louder during pieces you’re probably in the wrong sport.

Getting distracted

You are the eyes and ears for eight other people – you can’t be ogling whatever is happening on shore or pointing out things that have nothing to do with practice. Stay focused and present in your boat.

Messing up the count or sides

Starboard is right, port is left. It’s OK if you accidentally skip a number – as in one – when you’re really into a piece and doing a power ten but that’s about all the leeway you get. I occasionally do it and I know it immediately but the rowers don’t tend to notice it because they’re focused on whatever I’m telling them to do. If you go from 4 to 7 though, that’s an issue.

An even bigger issue with messing up the count that someone brought up is calling “x” number of strokes to the line multiple times. Don’t. Just don’t. Start practicing judging distances while you’re at practice so that when you’re racing you can gauge how far you are from the line and call the final 20 appropriately.

Related: Judging distance

Talking down to the crew

This is the fastest way to lose the respect of your boat. Respect is a two way street and if you’re not willing to give it, you sure as hell can’t expect to receive it. You’re not perfect and as much as we’d like to think we don’t, we make mistakes too.

Being a coxswain requires a lot of self-control too because it’s easy to get an ego when you’re 14 or 15 years old and you’re given the responsibility and power that comes with being a coxswain. We all have shitty practices but it’s never any one person’s fault. It’s not your right or place to act like the quality of practice or a race rests solely on the shoulders of the rowers.

Related: Words

Not giving or withholding info about the race

You have to relay to the crew what is happening during the race, specifically and most importantly where they are, how far in they are, and how many meters are left. They don’t want to feel like they’re rowing an endless race because eventually their minds are going to give out. You have to keep their brains in the game (or race, rather) and tell them what’s happening. Withholding info because you think it’ll bring them down doesn’t help either. If they’re down, tell them. They don’t want to know that they’re not in first, obviously, but at the same time, they do.

Blaming the rowers for your mistakes

“Big mistake. Big. HUGE.” If you make a mistake, who cares? Admit it, learn from it, don’t do it again. There’s never an excuse to blame something you did wrong on someone in your boat.

Have boat meetings to discuss what to call during a race and then not calling what the rowers asked for

There’s a simple way to avoid this: write. everything. down. Try to hold these meetings ahead of time (at least a day or two before the race) so you can start incorporating the calls when you do practice pieces, that way it becomes ingrained into your “muscle memory”. If you can’t do that, write it on a post-it note and tape it beside your cox box. If you ask your rowers to tell you what they want and then you ignore it, that’s going to cause a rift. Saying “oh I forgot” isn’t an excuse either because, like I said, you can easily write it all down and bring it into the boat with you.

Being indecisive

Commit to something. Don’t debate and go back and forth because each time you do it, the confidence your boat has in you goes down exponentially. They want to know that you have control over the situations you’re in and if you’re constantly questioning yourself or what you should be doing, that makes it hard for them to focus on what they should be doing. It’s better to commit to running into a bridge than to debate back and forth and then hit it because you couldn’t decide which side to pass the pier on.

Letting rowers walk all over you

Pretty self-explanatory, I think. You’re expected to act like and be a leader, which means being assertive and, like I said in the post about respect, not inviting contradiction.

Related: RESPECT

Checking the boat to get a point while people are rowing

Whoever sent this, bless you. Seriously though, who taught you this?! If you do this, stop. You have cables attached to a rudder for a reason. Use them to steer and get a point while you’re moving, not the rowers.

Related: Checking it down vs. backing it

“Be pompous assholes.”

The Napoleon-God complex thing is just a joke, guys. Don’t take it literally.

In addition to these things, I would encourage talking with your individual boats and asking them if there’s something you do that they’d prefer you didn’t. Don’t take what they say personally – remember, it’s coming from a helpful place. If your rowers aren’t comfortable saying stuff to your face, talk to your coach about doing regular coxswain evaluations so the rowers can anonymously provide you with some (presumably more honest) feedback.

Image via // @theboatsmancompany
How a collegiate coxswain earned her crew’s respect

College Coxing High School How To Novice Teammates & Coaches

How a collegiate coxswain earned her crew’s respect

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After yesterday’s post on respect went up, I got an email yesterday from a coxswain that I wanted to share. I think most of can say “yup, been there…” and relate to what she’s saying. She brings up a lot of excellent points so I hope everyone is able to take something away from reading this and apply it to your own situation.

Related: RESPECT

“Here’s my story on how I gained respect on my team.

I rowed three sprint seasons at an all-girls’ high school prior to becoming a coxswain in college.  When I joined the team, they were so short on coxswains that they bumped me right up to varsity – in the men’s boat.  Now, I realize that my coxing style is definitely one that works best with men’s teams, but when I joined the team, I was a shy first-year student trying to adjust to life in college who only had experience with women’s rowing and sprint races, and who had clocked in only a few hours in the coxswain’s seat previously.  I was terrified, and although I like to think I didn’t show my nervousness to an extreme degree in the boat, I certainly did not sound sure of myself, and that led to a bumpy season with regards to team dynamics.

Later on in the season, we had a really bad race.  The crank that turned my rudder had corroded to a point at which it would not even turn the rudder to port slightly.  Pair that with steering that still was at a novice level, and you get a race that left us all, including myself, even more unsure of my abilities as a coxswain (I won’t go into details – but it was hairy).

That was when I talked to my coach, who told me to meet with my stroke seat to come up with a game plan and a list of goals; my coach’s logic was that if you have one of the rowers on your side, the rest are more likely to follow suit, especially if it’s the stroke seat who naturally assumes a leadership role in the boat.  There, he told me something that has stuck with me.  This particular comment only applies to my situation, but the general sentiment, I think, applies to all crews.  My stroke seat didn’t mince words, looked me straight in the eye, and said:

“We are a boat of eight big, cocky guys who all think we’re better than everyone.  We’re bigger than you, stronger than you, older than you, and we don’t give a shit that you rowed longer than most of us have.  So we’re not going to give you respect; you have to take it from us.”

Let me first say that the guys I coxed that season are not the brand of asshole that you would think after reading that comment. And obviously it wasn’t meant to be – nor was it taken as – an enumeration of my flaws. It was just a glimpse into the mind of a college men’s crew.  But it was exactly what I needed.I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that within a week of having that conversation with my stroke seat, my coxing did a total one-eighty turn.  I started as a timid little freshman and ended as a coxswain who would kick her crew’s ass and push them to their limits. And, more importantly, I finally understood something really important about coxing that I think all novice coxswains have to realize, one way or another: you have to know who you’re coxing.  It’s obvious, and you say that on your blog all the time, but that was when I learned it, and it made all the difference in learning how to deserve and earn the respect I wanted.

In my case, I had to (for lack of a better term) sack the fuck up and be willing to get a little mean, because I was coxing men who respond best to (constructive, not over-the-top) aggressiveness and a no-bullshit coxing style.  In cases like yours, it might be figuring out how to bridge the age-gap, if a coxswain is much younger than his or her crew.  In all cases, it’s a matter of being flexible and letting WHO you’re coxing inform you HOW to cox them.  For me, I gained respect by yanking it away from them and claiming it as my own, making it absolutely clear that I am not to be messed with.  For someone else, it might be totally different.  But the underlying principle is the same no matter what: respect has to be earned, not just given, not because “ree-rah I have the microphone so what I say goes” and not because of some divine right thereto.”

Image via // NBC Olympics
RESPECT

College Coxing High School How To Novice Teammates & Coaches

RESPECT

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I get emails and questions from coxswains all. the. time. that read like lyrics from an Aretha Franklin song.

“All I’m askin’ … is for a little respect.”

They want to know how to get their boat, their coaches, the team, etc. to respect them because they are coxswain, hear them roar. I applaud the tenacity and enthusiasm but there are some things you’ve gotta understand first, starting with the fact that wanting, earning, getting, and deserving respect are four completely different things. You might want respect and feel like you deserve it but you have to earn it before you get it.

I’m not going to say this is a foolproof guide to gaining respect but it’s a start.

Respect is a two-way street

You have to give respect to get it in return. You’re in charge of the rowers but you’re not and they have to obey your commands but at the same time they don’t. It’s a respect and safety thing. It starts out as pure safety and then as you spend more time on the water together it blends to a mix of the two. This is really where it all begins. You get thrown in the boat as a novice after hearing from your coach that the rowers have to listen to you because you’re the coxswain, it’s your job to be in charge, etc. and we instantly develop this Napoleon complex and think we’re the shit because we get to boss people who are bigger than us around. Nope nope nope. If you get in the boat thinking that the rowers are your minions out to do your bidding, you’re setting yourself up for apocalyptic failure.

Related: Words

In the beginning they have to listen to you because they don’t know what they’re doing and by being in your position it’s assumed you do (even when you don’t either). Someone has to tell them what to do and they have to listen because…they just do. As you start coming together as a boat — as a crew — they start listening to you not out of necessity but because they trust you and your judgement (on everything…). In order for this to happen, you have to gain their trust and in order to do that, you have to afford your crew the same level of respect that you desire in return.

Be in control of every situation by staying calm and composed

The strongest leaders are the ones who can silence a crowd without raising their voice. Yelling or being loud just to be loud doesn’t mean you’re taking charge — it means you’re straining your vocal cords for no reason.

Show up

Show up physically (never on time or late, always early), emotionally (what happens outside of crew stays outside of crew, don’t start or perpetuate unnecessary drama, etc.), mentally (be ready to do work and get shit done), and spiritually. If you’ve rowed long enough, or maybe if you’ve only rowed for one season, you know what I mean by “spiritually”. It’s that feeling you have when you show up at the boathouse and get on the water that can’t be explained to anyone who’s never experienced it. This quality must be infectious in you — when your crew isn’t feeling it one day, they should be able to look at you and feed off your energy.

Experience “the dark place”

Have you ever seen a rower doing a 2k or looked into your stroke’s eyes during an all out, balls to the wall piece, and been able to see hell in their eyes?That is the place I’m talking about. Soldiers won’t follow a general into battle if the general has never been in their shoes before. It’s not about pulling a certain split or getting a certain time; if your 2:04 split makes you feel the same way your rower feels when pulling a 1:39, so be it. The numbers don’t matter. It’s about the toll being put on your mind and body.

One of the biggest ways to gain the respect of your crew is to never ask them to give more than you could give yourself. Don’t say “I know you’re hurting” if you’ve never experienced what they’re going through. Wherever and whatever the dark place is for you, go there every once in awhile to remind yourself of just how strong your teammates are. Every time you finish I guarantee that you’ll be newly enlightened with an even greater sense of admiration for what they put their bodies through. (Don’t make the fatal mistake of confusing hero worship and respect though.) Remind yourself of that “wow, these guys” feeling every time you call for a power ten or the build into your sprint or “everything you got, put it on the line, right here“.

No matter what the situation is, its never “you” and “them”, it’s “us” and “we”

This can not be emphasized enough. You are not eight rowers and one coxswain. There is not an invisible divide between the stroke seat and the ninth seat. You are ONE crew. That subtle change in linguistics says a lot and it’s something I really pay attention to as a coach. You want your teammates to consider you as part of the crew?Act like one. When talking about your boat, it’s never “they’re doing this”, it’s “we’re doing this”. “They” didn’t row poorly, “we” rowed poorly. “You” don’t want this, “we” want this.

When you say “they”, it’s as though you’re excluding yourself from whatever follows. “They” had a bad race. “They” had a great day on the water. Don’t you think you played a part in that? If you only include yourself in the positive and not the negative, what do you think that says to your teammates? That you only want to be involved in their success but never their failure. On the flip side, if you never include yourself in the positive it gives off the impression that you’re not considering your own contributions, which opens the door for the rowers to not consider them either. I’ll say it again — you are not eight rowers and one coxswain. You are ONE crew.

Always learn from your experiences, positive and negative, on the water and off

Every opportunity is a chance to learn something new or reinforce something you’ve learned previously. You should be soaking it in every chance you get. You can’t do that if you consider yourself anything less than a sponge at any given moment during practice. That glazed over, “kill me now” look in your eyes during winter training? Yea, stop that. Your coach is talking to 3-seat on the water about keeping his inside shoulder relaxed and you’re staring at the group of people picnicking on shore? Yea, stop that too. You can read about technique all you want but reading is only going to take you so far. It’s a book sense vs. street sense kind of thing. You need to be in the boat, in the launch, watching video, etc. Your rowers notice when you’re taking advantages of these opportunities and your coaches absolutely notice when they hear you make a call based off of something they said individually to a rower (or even to the crew as a whole). It shows that you’re invested, engaged, and doing your part to make the boat go fast.

Rowers add meters to their stroke by erging, lifting, etc. You add meters to all of their strokes by filling your brain with useful information that you’ve attained through every avenue possible, not just from reading a blog online (although that’s a good start, if I do say so myself), and then delivering it in the most effective way(s) possible. In a similar vein, don’t coach beyond your level of experience. If you’re a novice coxswain, don’t try to cox like you’ve been doing it for ten years. I understand the intentions but more often times than not it comes off as obnoxious and your coxing ends up being just plain bad. Don’t cox what you don’t understand.

Reaction time is crucial

One of the first things I was taught as a novice was that you have to be able to experience, analyze, and react to situations no less than five seconds before they happen. You have to anticipate everything and anything. Ten different scenarios have to be going through your head at any given time and you’ve got to have a plan for every single one. Something that hurts novice rowers in the earning respect department is having horrible reaction times to what’s happening on the water. This usually occurs more when they’re coxing experienced crews but novice crews can also tell when their coxswain is showing up to the party late (and not in a fashionable way).

Your rowers shouldn’t have to take control of the boat because YOU should already have it under control. If rowers are calling for something to happen or telling you to do/call something, that’s a problem because you should have already done or called it. You earn respect from your rowers by demonstrating an unwavering capability to take control of a situation if and, most especially, when the situation warrants. This also relates to what I said at the beginning — calm and composed, never freaking out. For clarification/elaboration, reaction times doesn’t apply only to a situation that could be considered dangerous. It also applies to you calling for the starboards to lift their hands immediately after the boat goes offset, telling the crew exactly what needs to happen in order to recover from a crab and get back into the piece, etc.

Stand up for yourself and always be confident in your calls, decisions, and actions

Your teammates, including other coxswains, are only going to be assholes to you if you let them. If they think they can get away with it, nothing’s going to stop them from telling you to shut up, stop being such a goody two-shoes, or to straight up fuck off. You are in a position on the team that invites a lot of criticism and you have to have a thick layer of skin to deal with it. Confidence is non-negotiable. If you question yourself every time you do something or you let people walk all over you, no one is going to respect you because you don’t respect yourself.

Something I heard a college coach tell a novice coxswain a few weeks ago was “don’t invite contradiction”. I’ve heard that phrase many times in many different situations over the years and have always liked it. A coach I worked with this year said that he’d rather have a coxswain steer directly into a bridge than debate about what to do to avoid it in the five seconds before they hit it. Sticking to your convictions, regardless of whether the outcome is good or bad, is important. Being able to defend why you did something is better than doing something and not having a reason for why you did it.

How To Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Tips on how to correct posture while rowing? Apparently I slouch a lot around the catch!

It all starts at the finish. Well, sort of. It’s kind of like the chicken-egg thing … which comes first? Finishes are affected by catches and catches are affected by finishes, but where does the problem actually start?

At the finish you’ve got to make sure you’re laying back while sitting up tall. The next most important thing after that is swinging while maintaining a straight back. Keep the core solid, almost as if you’re preparing to be punched at any second, without hunching the shoulders or stiffening the upper body. Make sure that you’re moving in the proper sequence – arms, back, legs – and not letting your butt slide under your shoulders. This is a huge reason why a lot of people slouch at the finish. Your shoulders should always be ahead of your butt. If you get to half slide and stop moving your shoulders but continue to move your butt, your body is going to go from being at a 55(ish) degree angle to being at 90 degrees, which you obviously don’t want and will cause you to curve your lower back, sink into your hips, and open your back early on the ensuing catch. Your stroke will also be very short. Focus on keeping your head and chin up and level – memorize every intricate detail of the back of the person’s head in front of you. This also tends to help with keeping your back straight because if your eyes are down, everything else tends to follow, but if your eyes are up, everything tends to stay up and supported (including the handle).

If your core isn’t well developed, sitting up tall and avoiding the slouch will probably be difficult for you. Having abs or any kind of 6 pack doesn’t count as having a strong core so don’t let your hot rower’s bod fool you into thinking your core is strong just because you’re ripped. Planks and side-planks are great core developers so if you find you’re still having issues sitting up at the catch after you’ve worked on the basic technique stuff I’d definitely recommend adding some planks into your pre-row warmup/on-land workouts.