Category: Novice

Race skills: Pre-race prep

By readyallrow February 22, 2013

We’re getting closer to the start of the spring racing season, which means I’m getting a lot of questions on racing starts – what they are, how to do them, what it’s like at the starting line, etc. The simple explanation is that it’s tense … super tense. It’s also exciting, nerve wracking, intense, incredible, and terrifying all in one. The bigger the regatta, the better the feeling. The trick (and honestly, a sign of total badass-ness) is the ability to reel in the emotions and stay completely pokerfaced while you’re getting staged.

I always thought of it like a slingshot. As we’re being backing into the stake boats and I’m getting my point, it’s being pulled back farther and farther until the official finally says “GO” and that’s when the slingshot releases and all the pent-up energy goes into coxing the race. For me, there are few places I enjoy being more than the starting line of a sprint race.

Getting to the line

The hardest part of the start isn’t even part of the start. Getting there is the hardest part, for a number of reasons. It is imperative that you know what time your race is set to begin. At most major regattas, you have to be locked onto the stake boats no less than 2 minutes before the start of your race. If you’re not there, they will not wait for you. Ideally you would know the race schedule before you even leave to go to the regatta but worst case scenario is you find out the morning of at the coxswain meeting. Commit your race time to memory and then determine how much time you’ll need to get everyone together, get the boat down to the dock, and get up to the starting line.

Our band director in high school used to say “to be early is to be on time and to be on time is to be late” all the time and it’s something I carried over to rowing as well. When in doubt, always be early. I used to tell my crews that we would have hands on the boat 35-45 minutes before the start of our race and preferably we’d meet an hour before our race, spend fifteen minutes stretching and having a quick meeting with our coach before getting hands on and making our way down to the dock. You never know if the dock is going to be backed up, so getting down there with a little bit of time to spare is always a plus.

Once we’d get out, we’d do our warm-up and get up to the line as quickly as possible without rushing through anything. It’s important to still get a good warmup in and go through everything you want to do while still moving at a good pace. It doesn’t need to be frantic but your job is to keep things moving.

Staging

Depending on the regatta, staging will either involve stake boats or they won’t. Smaller regattas typically don’t use stake boats and instead do what is called a “floating start”. Floating starts mean that all the crews gather about 200m or so above the starting line and then paddle down together. As I paddle down, I like to go by 4s unless I’m told to go by 6s or all eight. Usually I’ll end up doing what everyone else is doing but if I’m the front boat I’ll row down by 4s. Whatever pairing you choose to row by, don’t switch in the middle (i.e. don’t go from stern four to middle four to bow four).

When you get to about 100m before the starting line, the starting marshal will typically have you go down to 4s (if you’re currently at 6s or all eight) or bow pair to row it up closer to the line. They’ll be off to the side so they can see where everyone’s bows are. It’s important that you and your crew (especially your crew) are quiet so you can hear what they’re saying. Sometimes they’ll talk directly to you, other times they’ll talk to whatever pair you have rowing. You don’t need to repeat their instructions to your crew and personally, I think it’s best if you don’t. Tell them before you launch to listen to the instructions of the marshal and immediately respond to what they say.

All the crews will row up to about 20ish meters before the start before they’ll have you weigh enough and hold water. At this point, everyone should sit at the ready position with their blades buried, holding water, while the marshal finishes lining up the crews. As he lines them up, you’ll hear him say “Dartmouth, tap it one stroke. Harvard, hold water. Princeton, two strokes.” When your crews take these strokes, they should be LIGHT. I am known to make the biggest “WTF” face when I see a crew take a full slide, full pressure stroke (or two) when they’re being lined up. It throws everything off, really pisses off the marshals, and really pisses off the other coxswains. Strokes shouldn’t be more than 1/2 pressure at most. Make sure your crew is aware of that, especially if you’re coxing a men’s boat (they tend to use more pressure than is necessary).

When the marshal sees that the boats are lined up evenly, he’ll call the start. If you’re doing a floating start, it’s pretty likely that you’re not on a buoyed course so make sure that as you’ve rowed down you’ve spaced an equal distance away from the crews on either side of you to avoid a collision or clashing of oars right off the line.

Stake boats

The other staging scenario is when you’re using stake boats. It takes a little effort and skill to get into them quickly and correctly but compared to the potential hassles of a floating start, they’re worth the extra time.

Stake boats, if you’re unaware of what they are, are anchored docks or boats that run perpendicular to the crews. A stake boat holder lies on their stomach and holds on to the stern of your boat and is responsible for moving it in or out to ensure the crews are aligned. Some examples of various stake boats can be seen here, here, and here. The ones from the Olympics this year are similar to the most common ones I’ve backed into. A long diving board-like platform extends from the main dock and that is where the stake boat holder lies.

Getting into stake boats is admittedly not easy for novices. It’s best to practice it with your coach before you get to the regatta (you can do this by either backing into the launch or into the dock) but not all coaches will think of this as something to practice with their coxswains so I’d suggest proposing the idea to them yourself.

Similar to how crews stage for a floating start, boats will row up behind or beside the starting platform and wait to be called in. Typically they’ll call you in in the order of your lanes, so pay attention to the crews you’re near and be prepared to move out of their way if necessary. As they call you in, you’ll row across the lanes (which are almost always marked with buoys), spin, and then back up to the starting platform. It sounds tricky but it’s really not that hard once you’ve done it a few times. The two biggest things to remember are:

Don’t be an unnecessary distance away from the platform when you spin. You want to be as close as you can get to it when you spin so that you don’t have to spend a ton of time (and energy) back rowing. 50m away from the platform is more than enough.

When you back, only back by stern pair or stern 4 if necessary. Don’t use your bow 4 to back because it’ll be harder for you to control the boat’s direction than if you were using the rowers in the stern. Backing should be done at 1/2 – 3/4 pressure at most. Make sure you’re looking behind you and lining yourself up with the platform too. I find it easiest to keep the rudder straight and use the rowers to guide you in vs. trying to steer yourself. When your stern is a couple of feet away from the platform, weigh enough and let it drift in. If you come in too fast the holder can’t grab you and you can end up breaking your stern by getting it caught under the platform. I’ve seen it happen before, so go in slowly. Better safe than sorry.

To line the crews up, the marshal will talk directly to the stake boat holders and will usually say “Lane 1, in 6 inches. Lane 4, out one foot. Lane 5, in 2 inches.” As soon as my crew gets locked on I like to have them sit ready, blades flat on the water until we’re finished getting lined up. When they’re done aligning us that’s when I’ll have them square up.

Below I’ve posted some videos that do a great job of demonstrating how to get into the starting blocks. The first video is by far the best one I’ve been able to find in terms of explaining how it’s done. The second one also does a good job of showing the do’s and don’ts. (Shout out to my high school team from senior year at 1:01.) The third video let’s you see the boats back in the last few strokes and hear the announcer telling the holder how much to move each crew and the fourth video is a stake holder’s view of the start.

Image via // @rowingcelebration

Coxing How To Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 21, 2013

One of the varsity rowers told me about a certain race move/call-10 for pairs? Like having all 8 take a 10, but emphasis for specific pairs. I’m not sure how to call that, can you help me out? I was thinking maybe ” Alright, we’re all 8 we’re going to take a 10 by pairs.. in two… in ONE.. on THIS one, stern pair let’s see what you got! That’s one… two… 5 and 6 right here 3… 4..” and so on..” I don’t know if that’s how you call it…

Yup, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I use this frequently with my boats, usually in the second thousand of a sprint race or during the final 30ish strokes of a head race. I like to do 5 “hard” strokes per pair + an all eight power 10 so that I’m not making the crew do a straight power 40 or something. I usually say something like: “OK, coming into the last 30 strokes, let’s feel it – stern pair 5 … give it to me, on this one… (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) … 5 + 6, now, (repeat down to bow pair) … and all eight, 10 to bring it home, on this one…”.

I like to use each pair’s five strokes as “focus” strokes to get them to maximize the stuff they’ve been working on … like, they’re obviously still power strokes but I’ll usually say something like “grab those catches, bow pair”, “5 + 6, let’s see that jump!”, “squeeze the finishes 3 + 4!”, “Stern pair, work that rhythm now...”, etc. At the end when I call the final ten I’ll say something about driving across the line just to remind them how close we are to the finish and to give that last little bit of “oomph” to get us over.

Coxing How To Novice

How to Make Improvements as a Novice Coxswain

By readyallrow February 21, 2013

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

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

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

Be a student of the sport.

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

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

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

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

Exude confidence.

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

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

Improvement #2: Be confident.

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

Open and maintain lines of communication.

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

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

Improvement #3: Communicate.

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

Record everything.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image via // @david_herren

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 17, 2013

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

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

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

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 15, 2013

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

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

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 14, 2013

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

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

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

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

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 14, 2013

What would you say differently if this post was asked by a varsity coxswain?

I’d still bring it to the coach’s attention but as the more experienced coxswain (thus a team leader by default) I’d also take the coxswain(s) aside and ask/say something along these lines.

Why did you join crew? Did they actually want to do it or were they forced to find an extracurricular to partake in?

You lack of enthusiasm has become quite noticeable to the rowers in your boat – did you know that?

It’s been noted that you don’t enjoy going out on the water. It’s kind of a big part of coxing so if you don’t enjoy being out there, I’d say it’s time to start reevaluating if rowing is the sport for you.

Regardless of whether you enjoy it or not, if you’re going to be here you need to take it seriously because coxswains who are flippant about safety or not paying attention because they’re uninterested can quickly become some of the biggest hazards on the river.

Are you aware of the responsibilities of a coxswain? If yes, any particular reason why they’re not doing them? If no, explain what they are (general responsibilities and any specific ones that your club has).

Can you handle the responsibilities? If yes, good. Come back tomorrow prepared to do better. If not, again, time to start reevaluating things.

Explain the team dynamic to them – what’s the philosophy, what are the team’s goals for the season, why are the coxswains important in helping achieve those goals, etc.

Let them know that you and the other varsity coxswains (and rowers) are there to help (and that you want to help) but they can only help you if you’re willing to listen and learn. A blasé attitude is not going to be accepted by anyone who chooses to be a member of the team.

That is all assuming you’re talking to a novice. If you’re talking to a fellow varsity coxswain, this is what I’d say:

Seriously, you’ve been already been doing this for 2, 3, 4 years. Underclassmen look up to you and you’re expected to set the example. Get your shit together.

Things are a little different when you’re a varsity coxswain because you’ve got more experience and an assumed leadership role on your side. You should however, like I said, alert the coach to the issue but let them know that you’ve talked to the person and this was what was said. This makes them aware of the situation and gives them an opportunity to quietly observe the person to see if any improvements can be seen.

If after a week or so things are starting to look better, let the issue rest for the time being. If not, then it’s time for the coach to step in and talk to the athlete and really lay down the law of shape up or get out.

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 13, 2013

How do you deal with coxswains who just don’t really want to do what they’re supposed to do? I’m a very passionate novice cox but there are others who tend to slack off and don’t like going out on water and aren’t very helpful/motivating to the rowers. Some girls on their boats have come up to me and asked me to talk to the other coxswains.

If you were a varsity coxswain, I would probably give you different advice but since you’re a novice, same as them (I assume), I’ll say this: let your coach handle it. You can and should absolutely bring the issue to their attention but as far as talking to them I’d let the coach do it. If the other coxswains figure out that the rowers went behind their backs to talk to you and then you said something to them, even if you have the best intentions, shit could hit the fan. It could come off as you putting yourself on some kind of pedestal and thinking you’re better than or in charge of them, which will lead to them completely ignoring you and then taking it out on their rowers for being snitches.

I witnessed a similar situation in high school when I was a junior or senior and it made practice miserable for everyone. It sucks having people like that on your team but sometimes the best solution is to just let the person in charge deal with it. They actually have the authority to tell them to either shape up or get out.

Ergs Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 13, 2013

I think this is a basic technique thing, but a lot of people seem to forget to watch their arms when we’re erging because they’re so focused on everything else. I know what the finish looks like but what position would you say the arms/elbows are in at the catch? Also with arms on the erg, should they be going straight in and out? Like should the cord (or whatever it’s even called) be moving at all vertically? If that makes sense?

It’s hard to explain over the internet what it should look like – it’s definitely something you need to see, not read – so my suggestion would be to watch this video. It’s the best one I’ve seen because it really breaks down the stroke and shows what everything should look like. They start with the finish around the 0:56 mark, so if you pause the video there, you can see what her body looks like.

The video I’ve posted below is great because it shows you everything people do wrong. You’ll want to pay particular attention to the 1:10 mark where they demonstrate “chicken wing arms”. The opposite of the chicken wing arms that they don’t discuss is the T-Rex arms. If you look at a T-Rex’s arms (in this super educational photo) you can see that they’re tiny, close to the body, and weirdly bent at the wrists, which if you watch some people on the erg, that’s how they row.

Regarding how the arms should travel, yes, they should ideally be going straight in and out, for the most part. Think of the handle and chain as the oar; if your arms and hands are going all over the place on the erg, what do you think the oar would be doing if you were in the boat? The movement of the chain and hands is a hotly contested topic amongst rowers. Some rowers on the erg pull the handle all the way up to their chests because it makes the stroke longer and the output is a few more meters per stroke than if they’d pulled into their usual targets.

If you watch the video below, see if you can pause it at 0:26. Look at the rower in the bottom right of the screen with the black and red shorts. See how far he’s laying back and how the handle is practically level with his shoulders? Now, unpause it and go back a few seconds so you can watch him take the full stroke. Play from 0:23-0:28 a few times and watch the path that the chain travels. He pulls the handle in really high, which, because he lays back so far doesn’t change the chain height too much, but watch it on the recovery … he shoots his hands down from his chest to his knees as he swings up and then brings them even lower over his feet 0:30 before lifting them back up a few inches at the catch. These are all guys on the Canadian national team so obviously whatever they do works for them but for the sake of demonstrating a different side of the argument, this guy does a good job of making my point.

Personally, I think this style is really inefficient so when I’m trying to explain the stroke I tell people to pull somewhere between the bottom of their rib cage and their belly button and make the small c-turn with the handle to mimic tapping down with the oar handle. I think you should row the same on the erg as you do in the boat because why wouldn’t you? People who say “oh, I don’t do this in the boat” are wrong – whatever bad habits they have on the erg almost always translate into bad habits in the boat.

You don’t want the chain flopping up and down because a) that will break it, b) it’s inefficient, and c) it’s just wrong. I tell people to envision a table or something over their legs that they have to slide their hands across as they come into the catch. Visualizing your hands gliding across something helps them to stay level and avoid lifting their hands up (which in the boat would mean they’re catching before their bodies are actually at the catch), as well as from dropping them down too low which would lead to missing water and rowing it in.

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 11, 2013

Hi! I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to cox rowers who seem to not be willing to push themselves? I cox the novice girls and there’s this one really tall girl who I know has great potential and probably tons of power in those long legs of hers but she just doesn’t seem to try at all during erg pieces. How do I help her live up to her potential?

As a coxswain I’ve always thought (and heard my coaches say) that each rower has to already be motivated when they get on the erg or in the boat, otherwise how can you be expected to motivate them? If you’re not going to motivate yourself first and I can see that you’re happy with settling for mediocrity, there is a 99.9% chance that I’m going to just shrug my shoulders and be done with it.

Looking back to the times in college when I had to do things that I wasn’t been totally thrilled about, I’ve asked myself the following questions:

Why am I doing this?

Is it because I have to do it (i.e. someone’s making me, it’s required, etc.) or because I wanted to do it? The answer to this usually dictates my level of enthusiasm for the activity. If it’s something I have to do then I’ll do the bare minimum to get by and get out of there but if it’s something that I want to do, I throw myself into it, heart and soul, if you want to be cliche. I’d start by asking your rower the same thing. Why did she join crew? Was it at her parent’s behest or was it something she wanted to do? If she wanted to do it, why did she want to do it? What persuaded her to sign up?

How committed am I?

When I sign up for something, I’m automatically committed 100%. It’s like a rule I have for myself. If I don’t want to do it at the end of the semester, month, year, or whatever that’s fine but until that specific time period ends, I have to stick with it and give my best efforts. If I’m not going to give at least 100%, the question then reverts back to the previous one – why am I doing this in the first place? I like to assume that there is always someone depending on me, even if no one is, thus I can’t quit. With crew, there are at least four or eight other people depending on you at any given time. You have to assume that they are giving 100% at all times and are counting on you to do the same. The next question I’d ask your rower is how committed she is – is she willing to give her all or is she just trying to make it to the end of the season?

What are my goals?

Goals are a requirement of crew. I really believe that it is just not possible to be a part of crew and not have personal and team goals. Ask your rower what hers are. If she doesn’t have any, ask her why and then maybe help her come up with some. Maybe the reason she’s not trying hard on the erg is because she has nothing to try hard for. If she doesn’t have a goal of pulling 7:45 on a 2k she’s certainly not going to try just for the hell of it. Help her figure out a goal or two and give herself something to work for.

I’d also tell her that she has potential and you can see it but are sure of what it’s going to take to make her see it. I don’t want to say that you should say that in a guilt trip-y kind of way but I know for me, I always hated when someone would say that they can see my potential, why can’t I? That was always motivation enough for me to get my ass in gear if need be. At the coaching conference I went to last week, something I heard that I know will stick with me forever was: “At the beginning of every season, the best thing a coach can say to you is ‘you have a tremendous amount of potential.’ At the end of the season, the worst thing a coach can say to you is ‘you have a tremendous amount of potential’.”

Talk to your rower one-on-one, somewhere away from all the noise of the boathouse. Sometimes just taking an interest can make her want to try a little harder because she knows that there’s someone on her side rooting for her. Figuring out why she’s there, what she wants to get out of it, and how hard she’s willing to work can be of huge help to both you and her.

When I was in high school I had a similar situation and looking back on it, if the girl I was coxing had had a personality different from mine, this wouldn’t have worked at all, but knowing that we were fairly similar I relied on the fact that I knew if someone did this to me, I’d go balls to the wall on whatever we were doing. She was doing a 2k and I knew she could go harder than she was going. I was pissed because she was in my boat so I went up behind her and yelled “harder” every. single. stroke. She’d take a stroke and I’d say “NO, not good enough, HARDER“…”NO, you can do better”…”NO, I’ve seen you give more than this”…”NO, more“…until she was pulling what I knew she could pull. When she reached that split, I’d say “YES, do it again”…”again”…”again“…”AGAIN”. I was right in her ear at every finish. After half-assing the first 1000m she kicked it into gear for the last half and ended up pulling a pretty decent time (and when you can do that and still end up with times that are up there with the fast girls on the team, you know you can be good if you just try).

After she’d cooled down (physically and mentally) we went outside and sat for awhile and talked about the piece. I told her that I never wanted to have to cox her like that again because I knew what she was capable of and more importantly, so did she. She was tall, strong, athletic … everything you want in a rower … and it shouldn’t take me yelling at her to pull harder for her to get a good time. For the next two months, her 2ks were some of the best on the team and she said that whenever she felt like quitting she’d imagine me yelling in her ear “NO, harder”, “NO, you can do better”, etc. Sometimes the motivation someone needs is as simple as a little tough love.

The best thing you can do is just talk to her. Let her know that she has potential and you want to know what you can do to help her reach it. I think framing the conversation that way is a lot more effective than pretty much anything else because it lets her maintain some control over the situation without feeling like she’s being pressured or guilt-tripped to give you an answer about why she’s not doing better.