Category: Q&A

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

Our assistant coach is not here this season and won’t be back until winter training so our head coach introduced a new assistant coach earlier this week. Every time she tries to correct someone’s form she says it in a way that sounds really mean and negative. After our last piece today our head coach gave us some feedback and told us what he thought was good and what could be improved. After he went to the other 8 she came over and told us we were “ridiculous and mediocre”. The other coxswains and the rowers on my team feel like she’s being way too negative and it’s making everyone feel awful. Sorry that was really long, I just want to know how to handle that kind of coach.

This is a situation where the team captains need to have a one-on-one meeting with the head coach. (If you don’t have team captains work something out so you have one or two varsity coxswains and rowers (each) that can meet with them.) The biggest thing that I’d have an issue with is her saying that you’re “ridiculous and mediocre” after the coach had already made his comments, which sound fairly positive from how you described it. That’s just not cool. I get how two coaches can see things in different ways but this is far from being the best way to address that and she should know that.

From the perspective of the rowers and coxswains, there is no “handling” of it on your end. Leave that to your head coach to deal with once you’ve spoken with him. I know it’s easier said than done for some people but don’t let her attitude get the best of you. I’ve had coaches like that too and usually my stroke and I would just look at each other, roll our eyes, and get on with whatever we were doing. Your head coach already gave you constructive feedback and that’s what you have to internalize and go with. Stupid comments like the one she made are the ones you brush off and ignore because they don’t mean anything. I’m not saying that you should always ignore the assistant’s comments in favor of what the head coach says, rather you should prioritize the comments that offer genuine feedback rather than the ones that just say “you suck”.

As far as everyone feeling awful because of it, this is where the coxswains have to step up and maintain the focus by reiterating the positives and rewording the overly-harsh negatives into something that the rowers can actually use. Negative feedback isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it’s gotta be delivered the right way for it to be effective. Plus, you have to know your audience too. If the coxswains can take what the coach is saying and give it to the rowers in a more constructive format then that’ll do a lot for how everyone feels. Granted, I can’t imagine the morale is going to be THAT great after dealing with this for awhile but that’s why I said the captains, seniors, whoever need to talk with the coach one-on-one and let them in on what’s been going on and how everyone is feeling.

College Q&A Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

Question of the Day

By

Hey! At the end of the spring season I was one of the best rowers on my team. I had some of the strongest erg scores and was stroking the 1V8+. However I was rowing through an injury, it was a plica so there was no structural damage, and after receiving a cortisone shot, the pain went down a lot, so I was cleared to row though they said to go see another dr. over the summer for potential surgery. The Dr. I saw over the summer took an MRI and decided to try PT and an anti-inflammatory. She also said to limit my exercise to non-impact workouts, which pretty much meant no erging/rowing, running, or biking. I did do some swimming this summer and focused on building core strength. Now I’m back at school in pre-season, it definitely helped, and my knee is better. However my erg scores (obviously) haven’t been where they were and it’s been discouraging. I’ve been going to every practice to gain an advantage, before mandatory practice starts, but it’s so hard motivating myself to go when I know I’ll be in the middle of the pack, even though I know the only way to get better is by going. What’s worse is that my coach ignores me. This sucks because I’ve picked up that that’s what he does to the girls who maybe aren’t the top rowers on the team. Do you have any advice on how I can boost my moral?

Ah yes, I’m familiar with plica syndrome. I’m pretty sure the chondromalacia that the doctors say I have in the knee I dislocated is actually this. It’s definitely not a pleasant thing to deal with – I can’t believe you rowed through it! I wouldn’t keep doing that though if it starts acting up again just because you will, without question, end up exacerbating the problem and ultimately end up with an injury that is way more severe than this one and will keep you off the water for an even longer period of time.

Even though your erg scores aren’t where you want them to be right now, I think you can at least take comfort in knowing that they’re where they are for a legitimate reason and not because you were lazy and sat around on your ass all summer. There’s nothing wrong with being in the middle of the pack either. I know people look at it as some colossal failure if they were previously at the head of the pack but it’s really not that big of a deal. If you’re relatively in shape then you shouldn’t have any issue getting back to where you were in a reasonable amount of time.

Instead of focusing on getting your scores back to where they were just focus on improving where you’re at right now. If you’re currently pulling (for example) a 1:55 split for a 2k but your PR is a 1:46 then yea, no wonder you’re discouraged. That’s a lot of time to try and make up. Stop focusing on the 1:46 though and instead work on making small improvements on the 1:55. Eventually you’ll get back to where you were but it’ll be a lot easier if you set more reasonable goals for yourself (i.e. like maintaining a 1:53 on your next test…). Being able to knock off small goals on your way to a larger one is much more motivating and better for morale.

If you think your coach is ignoring you, set up a one-on-one meeting with him sometime this week so you can update him on what your doctors told you, what you did this summer in terms of working out, and what your plan is to get your times back to where they were. If he doesn’t have any idea as to what’s going on and it just looks like you came back to campus out of shape then I can understand why he’d be annoyed. I don’t necessarily condone ignoring you for it but I can at least where he might be coming from. Clue him in and go from there. I would also touch base with the sports med staff that works with your team and work something out with them too, that way you can tell your coach that you met/will be meeting with them so that he sees that you’re serious about taking care of yourself and you’re not being flippant about this whole situation.

College Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By

I have been coxing for 4 years in High School and originally loved it however the past years I have slowly started to dread the practices to the extent that I would fake sick just so I wouldn’t have to go. I find that as I am becoming a higher level coxswain (Junior National Team and now a University Recruit) that rowing is no longer a hobby for my fellow crew mates, that it is their life. I don’t think I would ever be able to have that level of commitment as rowing has started to lose all of the joy that it once brought me and has become more of a nuisance than anything else. I am now starting University Training Camp and don’t know whether I should quit or not. I have never quit at something before in my life however I just truly get no joy out of it anymore and it just makes me very tired and depressed. I also just cannot really relate with my teammates and their lifestyles as all of them are Arts students with light course loads while I am in a very competitive Commerce program and in addition many of them thrive on “rowing drama” and are rather catty and competitive. Don’t get me wrong, the thrill of coxing a race is still one of the greatest things ever for me however I don’t know if I can handle all the rest. What do you suggest? I wish to tell the coaches as early as possible if I am not continuing as I do not want to inconvenience them…

Short answer? Just quit. You clearly aren’t enjoying it anymore and what’s the point in doing something if it doesn’t make you happy?

Long answer? I felt the same way you do and was in the same position as you as well. I did it for four years in high school, was recruited, and then fell out of love with it pretty hard and fast. I had a couple friends on the team but the majority were way more into partying than I was so we didn’t really have a ton in common. I’ve talked about this on here before but for me it got to the point where my alarm would go off in the morning and I would instantly be so pissed off that I had to wake up and go to practice. Not really the best way to start off what frequently turned into 18-20 hour days. I was always tired, always behind, always miserable, and perpetually in a state of being “over it”. When I decided to quit it was a really hard decision because I’d never quit anything either. I actually considered staying with it just so I could say I never quit anything. That’s a really stupid reason for doing stuff though so I told my coach that I was quitting and that was that.

As far as crossing that line between hobby and it becoming your life, you’re going to find those people on every team you’re on, regardless of whether it’s a sports team, the people you work with, etc. However, I don’t think that means that you should have to conform or pretend to be super into something you’re not just to please other people. Personally, I need that separation. I love crew but it in no way is my life and I’ve definitely met other coaches who don’t like the fact that I refuse to be all about rowing 24/7. There’s also a pretentiousness about it that just makes me roll my eyes (although that could have been/probably was more about the people than the sentiment). The point is that it’s OK to view crew as a hobby as long as you still show up ready to give 100%. If you think nothing of crew before or after practice, who am I to care? I’ve met plenty of people like that and in my experience they tend to be more dedicated in the long run than the people who are all OMG CREW = LIFE. There needs to be a balance otherwise you’re just asking to burn yourself out (case in point: that’s why I quit, I had no balance because crew took up so much time and mental energy). It can be hard to be that person who is perceived to be less dedicated than everyone else, especially when they’re catty and competitive like you said, but if people are going to make you feel like shit because you’re trying to manage a heavy course load and whatever else you’ve got going on, at some point you’ve gotta ask yourself if those are the kind of people you even want to call your teammates.

I’d set a meeting as soon as you’re able with the coaches and then tell them that you don’t want to do it anymore. Don’t beat around the bush, just get straight to the point. Don’t let them guilt trip you into staying or anything like that either. That’s such an asshole move and I hate when people do that. You also don’t have to say everything to them that you said in your question regarding the reasons behind your decision. If you just want to say that you’d rather focus on school because you’re course load is starting to really pick up then say that. You’re not obligated to tell them every detail. If you want to that’s your choice but you shouldn’t feel like you have to.

Like I said at the beginning, there’s no point in continuing to do something that doesn’t make you happy. If it’s to the point where you’re faking being sick to get out of practice or you view it as a nuisance rather than a fun activity then quitting is probably the best option.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Do you have any tips about getting back into the swing of coxing after taking the whole summer vacation off? I’ve had 8 weeks off and although I get back onto the water in a week I was wondering if there was anything I should do in advance?

Beforehand I don’t think there’s anything you really need to do. What is there to prep for? I’d just enjoy your last couple of days off, maybe go for a run or long bike ride, and that’s it. Once you get back on the water though, don’t try to jump right back into coxing like you were at the end of last season. Being quiet is so underrated but it’s pretty much exactly what you should be doing right now. Just like the rowers are trying to get back into the swing of things, so should you, which means instead of talking and trying to correct their technique, make (unnecessary) calls, etc. you should instead be focusing the majority of your energy on steering a good course.

Use this time to focus on your basics which are steering (priorities #1-10), observing and silently analyzing the blade work (i.e. do you notice anything “off”, if so what is it, how does it deviate from what it should look like, what’s causing it, what adjustments should the rower make, and what should you say to him to elicit a change?) and feeling the boat (what feels good, what feels bad, do you feel a change after the coach talks to a rower about something, what did the coach say that resulted in that change, etc.).

Coxing High School Q&A

Question of the Day

By

I’m about to enter my second season of coxing with my high school. In the spring, late in the season, my coach put me in a new lineup of novice girls just like me and, just out of coincidence, we worked really well. We kept that boat until the end of the season and at the last regatta we even placed second, which was huge for our club, which is still really young, and our confidence. After finding out yesterday that all four girls are returning for fall crew, I’ve become obsessed with winning. I know the girls can do it, but is there anything I can do to help us? I think we need to get together and train outside of practice, but I don’t know how to go about doing that, especially for the long-distance races that we’ll face for the first time. I don’t want to seem whiny or annoying if I try to set something up with all of us, but I have to feel like I’m bringing something to this boat.

Just a tip/word of caution: don’t be that coxswain that gets so obsessed with crew or the idea of winning that you take things too far. (You all know the kind of person I’m talking about, don’t pretend like you don’t…) Having an over eager attitude can quickly turn into a major turn-off for your teammates (and your coach – trust me), especially if you start venturing into trying to make everything about crew. Let your coach worry about workouts, training, and all that other stuff – it is their job, after all.

The best thing you can do is show up each day and consistently work on your execution (of calls, drills, pieces, etc.) when you’re out on the water, allow yourself to be coached, and continue building up a good rapport with your teammates. When you’re on land, be a leader. What “be a leader” means is a little different for everyone so you have to figure out for yourself how to best interpret that and implement those behaviors. I never understood why coxswains think they have to do anything more than that in order to be contributing something to the boat/team. Helping your coach, keeping everyone focused, getting your crew on the water as quickly as possible with minimal time wasted … all that stuff plays a huge part in winning races, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Don’t underestimate or forget about the little things and try to jump straight into being all GO! GO! GO!.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

What is the best way to deal with people leaving your team? I have talked with a couple of my teammates lately and they have told me that they are not returning to the team this coming fall. I want to be supportive of their decision, but I’m still upset. Any advice?

Honestly? Just accept it and move on. It’s fine to be upset that you won’t get to spend as much time together but it’s not fair to project that on to them because the situation’s not about you. I’ve found that you very rarely ever know the full story as to why someone decided to quit so you kinda just have to accept that this is the decision they’ve made and then go about your business as usual. Personally I think the best way to show your support is to keep any negative feelings to yourself and say “we’ll have to make plans to do something whenever we’re all free” … and then actually make those plans. Things only get awkward when people say they’re gonna hang out and then keep finding reasons/making excuses not to.

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By

Hi! So I recently started rowing not to long ago, as I just did two weeks of long skinny boat camp. But as I was rowing I kept getting told not to over compress at the catch. Also to relax my shoulders. I am short, only 4’11 and I talked to the coach about coxing (my sister is a captain) in high school and he wants me to row first. Do you have any tips I can take from the rowing? Also how not to over compress at the catch? Thanks! I love your blog!

…long skinny boat camp.

I’m 4’11” too and while I never actually rowed, our coaches did take the coxswains out for a spin a few times to give us a chance to see what it was like. One of the things they told me before we even got started was since I was the shortest one it was going to be important that I not try to match the length of the other coxswains by lunging or over-compressing at the catch. That’s the first thing I’d recommend – don’t try to be as long as the other people in the boat because you’re not gonna be. Over-compressing means that instead of stopping with your shins in line with your ankles and your butt a couple inches away from your heels, you’re catching with your knees out over your toes and your butt as close to your heels as it can get.

Another way to think of it is instead of your hips/butt being behind your shoulders, they’re under them. One way to break the habit of over-compressing is to teach yourself what the proper catch position feels like. This tends to be a lot more effective when you’ve got another person to watch your form so grab your sister and have her watch you take a couple strokes on the erg. Sit in the proper catch position for a couple seconds and memorize what it feels  like – where are your legs, arms, back, etc. Flip between that and an over-compressed position so you can feel the difference between the two, then take a couple strokes, making sure you’re staying super conscious of where your body’s at as you come up the slide. If you find you’re still having problems though, you can put a piece or two of tape on the tracks and then if you feel the seat run over them you’ll know that you’re coming too far up.

With relaxing your shoulders, you’ve just gotta remember that when you’re holding tension in your muscles like that everything is going to move slower and not be as fluid. Every so often, take a deep breath and just let your upper body relax. Make sure you keep your grip on the oar loose too. Use your common sense – you want to find a happy medium between a death grip and no grip at all. The tighter your grip, the tenser your shoulders are going to be.

As far as things to take away … don’t focus on trying to perfect your stroke, rather just work on getting the basics down as far as the proper motions and body positions go. From there, just listen to everything the coach is saying (to you and whoever else is in the boat) with regards to technical critiques (since those are things you’ll need to be able to once you start coxing) and make sure you understand why he’s saying that, what part of the stroke it applies to, and how the boat changes (aka how does it feel) after the correction is made.

Related: At Masters’ Regionals this weekend we were having a discussion on if it is important for coxswains to have time rowing. Not just on the erg, but on the water as well. What do you think?

I talked about the whole “coxswains rowing before they cox” debate in the post linked above so make sure to check it out as well. It might also give you some ideas for how you can apply your time rowing to coxing.

Coxing High School Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Hi! I am moving onto my fourth year coxing and I am a bit worried if I am getting too tall and/or heavy to cox?? I know the club’s guidelines are quite strict but I was just wondering what you thought! I am 5 ft 4 inches and weigh 105lbs (48KG). For most of our races the minimum weight is roughly 99 lbs (45KG). I am the same height as most of the rowers but have fallen in love with coxing! Btw your blog is so useful and the recordings are really helpful! 🙂

Where do you live that the minimum is 99lbs? That can’t possibly be in the US, right?

Related: Female coxswain weight minimums

I mean, personally, I don’t think you’re too big/too heavy. You’re pretty much the same size as most female high school coxswains that I know (and coxed with). Plus, it’s not like being a whole six pounds over is going to make that much of a difference, especially at the junior level. I honestly don’t think it’s a big deal but if somebody says something to you about it, maybe remind them that you’re a teenager and telling a 105lb girl that she’s too heavy for something pretty much makes them the mayor of Asshole-town. Strict club guidelines or not, a 99lb minimum seems … unhealthy … for the vast majority of girls/coxswains out there. Also, don’t use being close in height with the rowers as a gauge for whether or not you’re growing (or have grown) out of being the right size for coxing. Height, to an extent, has never mattered that much when it comes to coxing – it’s just more common (physically and logically) to have a coxswain who’s relatively thin and short because it’s just not that easy for most people to maintain 110lbs or 120lbs on a taller frame (that being like, 5’7″ – 5’9″+).

Like I said, I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ve been doing this long enough now to have a good grasp on what you’re doing so just keep focusing your energy on honing your skills and you’ll be fine.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By

I’m kind of confused looking over the USRowing Rules. Can you please give a summary of what I should know? Thank you, I really appreciate it. PS Your blog is an amazing resource I wish I found out about earlier than I did. Thanks for all you do.

Anything specific or is it just all the legalese that’s not making sense? To be honest, in twelve years I’ve never once actually read the rule book in its entirety. My coaches gave us specific things to review (mostly the rules of racing) but pretty much everything you need to know is clearly stated at the coaches and coxswains meetings. Try to stay up to date with the rule changes though – they’re always one of the first PDFs posted on this page on USRowing’s site.

Follow up: The protesting “process” and when to do it is kind of confusing. Thank you!

Check out the post linked below (scroll to the very bottom of the post).

Related: What happens at a coaches and coxswains meeting?

The only major difference between the rule book and what I wrote is that in the rule book it says it’s $50 to file a protest. I think that might differ at regular regattas (aka not the big ones like regionals, nationals, etc.) because I’ve seen it range from costing nothing to up to $30, so just pay attention to what they say at the meeting (or ask if they don’t mention it).

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

I just got the confirmation that I’ll be coaching Juniors for the fall! I’m so excited, but nervous at the same time. I was wondering if you had any tips on effective coaching (or at least tips on staying patient, which I’m afraid will be my issue)? Thanks so much! Your blog has helped me out quite a bit lately.

There are going to be times when someone you’re coaching (or coaching with) makes you go from zero to rage in two seconds flat and 98% of the time you can’t say a single thing about it (because of parents, your spot on the totem pole, etc.). It’s inevitable. In situations like that, the best thing you can do for yourself is just close your eyes, take a deep breath, rage it out in your head for a few seconds, and then get on with whatever you were doing. Being impatient or getting easily frustrated doesn’t make you a bad coach as long as you’re not going off on people Bobby Knight-style every time something happens.

When I first started coaching, if I had $100 for every time I thought this, made this face, or wanted to do this I would be a very wealthy person. I’m not a patient person at all so having to teach people how to do something and watch them initially do it so poorly despite what I thought were the most basic and simple instructions I could give them made me very frustrated on a pretty consistent basis.

When you hit that point where you’re thinking “I’m gonna lose it on this kid” because he can’t seem to do anything right, take a step back and re-evaluate. There’s a good chance that he’s just as frustrated as you are because he can tell that he’s not doing or understanding what you want. This is the part where you have to remind yourself that you’re most likely not actually frustrated at the kid, you’re frustrated with yourself because what you think should be working … isn’t. That was my problem. I was never actually angry at anyone for not understanding something, rather I was getting progressively more and more frustrated with myself because I wasn’t used to my (pretty solid) communication skills failing me.

Because that was an unfamiliar feeling, I didn’t know what to do and that pissed me off. What I concluded though was that instead of getting mad you have to get creative. For example, I found out that I am really good at coming up with analogies to explain what should be happening at different points in the stroke. That happened completely on the fly one day and I’m pretty sure I had no idea what I was saying as I was explaining it but it worked (about 50 million times better than anything else I’d said up to that point) so that became my go-to fallback for when somebody doesn’t understand something.

Have a plan but keep it flexible. If you’re one of those people that can function on the fly with no prep or schedule or planning … cool. I’m kinda jealous of anybody that can do that. Everybody does things a little differently though and has their own system that keeps them at their “most effective” but even if you’re not the planning type of person, try to sit down at least once or twice a week and come up with a rough idea of what you want to do at practice over the next couple of days. It doesn’t need to be planned out in 10 minute increments or anything like that but you should at least know the drills you want to do throughout the week and why you want to do them (to reinforce something you did the other day, to highlight and work on something you noticed a few people having trouble with yesterday, etc.), as well as the pieces you want to get in so that when someone (your coxswains) says “Hey Mike, what are we doing today…” you can say “X and Y to start [reasons why] and then we’ll finish off with Z [reasons why]” instead of “I donno yet, we’ll see once we get out there”. (As a coxswain, I hate you if you’re that kind of coach. It’s infuriating. If you want your coxswains to be on top of their game, you need to be on top of yours.)

The reason I say keep it flexible is because there are gonna be practices where you wanna change it up a bit based on what you’re seeing so far, what your coxswains have seen the last few days, what you saw last night when you finally had time to sit down and watch last week’s race footage, etc. Deviating from the plan is totally fine as long as it’s done in an organizational manner that doesn’t throw off everyone else (your coxswains). Being too attached to your schedule can result in you doing stuff just to check it off and say it got done instead of you actually spending time coaching the kids through the drills, pieces, etc.

Oh, and if you’re like me and need (and like) to have a plan in order to be your most effective, don’t take shit from anybody who tries to tell you that that’s wrong, stupid, “not how it’s done”, etc. That goes the other way too – if writing stuff down and adhering to a strict schedule makes you over-think things and spend too much time focusing on unnecessary stuff, that’s fine! Feel free to speak up and say that but don’t let anyone tell your way is wrong just because it’s different from theirs. Be flexible and open to trying new ways of doing things but if you find something that works, don’t be afraid to stick with it.

Last thing. Every so often when you’re out on the water, take a second for yourself to just enjoy being out there. This job is always going to be frustrating to some extent but for every frustrating thing that pops up, there’s going to be ten things that happen that remind you of why you do it. Those five seconds where you hang back in the launch just to take a deep breath and shake out the tension in your shoulders help keep you sane, especially on the days when it took ten extra minutes to get off the dock, traffic is ridiculous, your coxswain is steering like she closed the bar, and now it’s snowing in September because let’s be honest that’s just how the weather’s been this year. Don’t let all the crazy shit that’s going on make forget why you’re out there.  Enjoy the little moments because at the end-of-the-year banquet, that’s gonna be the stuff you laugh about.