Category: Rowing

End of the season calls + motivation

College Coxing Racing Rowing

End of the season calls + motivation

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This is an email I sent over the weekend to our varsity coxswain who will be driving the four we’re taking to IRAs this weekend. As I’ve said in the past, being in the launch every day has its perks and while it may be boring at times it can be a useful tool once the end of the season rolls around. I tend to take a lot of notes when we’re out, either in a notebook or on my phone, and it’s nice to be able to pull them out now and get a few ideas for calls or new things to say that we haven’t talked about in awhile. Even though you could take a lot of what I said down below into the boat with you verbatim, there’s really only a few explicitly laid out calls in here. There’s a lot to be inferred though so coming up with calls on your own shouldn’t be hard.

“Here’s some of my notes on the guys from the last few months. The whole not being able to see them thing means you’ve gotta rely on what you know they have a tendency to do and these are their tendencies. Incorporate these into your calls this week (throughout the entire practice, not just the 500s and 250s we’ll be doing) so you can pull them out on Fri/Sat/Sun without having to think about it.

STROKE

No wind up

No up and down movement with the shoulders at the catch – lock the blade in then hang on it (“suspend send” for three is a good call here…don’t say “for the next three” or anything, just call it…)

Keep the hands moving out of the finish – he’s got to be a metronome if he’s gonna stroke this four and it’s on you to not let up for a single stroke if you see the rate fall off.

Release clean, feel the boat send away followed by smooth, relaxed hands out of the finish

Lean into the rigger

THREE

Keep the shoulders low

Patient with hands out of the finish

Don’t lunge at the catch

Hold the finishes, has a tendency to wash out at higher rates/pressures

TWO

Sit up/posture in general, particularly through the back end

Stay loose in the shoulders (tends to get tense when told to sit up)

Don’t get grabby at the catch

Back it in, don’t miss water at the catch

Hands down and away – specifically say “[his name]” when you make this call so he knows you’re talking to him

Stay connected with the feet at the finish

BOW

Hold the finishes in

Don’t cut off the lay back, get all the swing through the finish – especially important since he’s in bow now

General stuff

Suspend the weight, feet light on the stretchers

Accelerate with the hips

No lift out of the catch

Find speed through the legs

Smooth turnaround at the finish, keep the hands and seat moving (important for [STROKE], he adds the tiniest pause over the knees and that’s where [THREE] + [TWO] get ahead of him)

Build together through the water, don’t force it via rushing the hands out of bow ([THREE] + [TWO] in particular but applies to the whole boat)

Stay relaxed and long

During the “10 to relax” after the start, focus on actually getting them to relax and swing rather than just calling another 10. You shouldn’t need to count this out, instead remind them that every stroke needs to be relaxed but intentional, free of tension, etc. and then make repetitive swing-related calls for several strokes as you begin to establish your rhythm. Keep your voice calm but focused here.

Third 500 – the focus has to re-shift back to their form as fatigue sets in. Catches sharp, posture tall, cores solid, chins up, hanging on the handle, sequencing, mind over matter, etc. – all of it has to be on point. Every single thing you say, more so in this 500 than any other 500 during the race, has to have a purpose otherwise all you’re doing is taking speed away instead of adding it.

During the last 500 when you build for the sprint you have to be unrelenting when it comes to those rates. I know we’ve talked about not getting picky when it falls off by a beat but during the sprint that can’t happen. As the rate goes up remind them to sustain their rhythm and speed by picking it up together and staying light on the seats. As [THREE] said, the organization during this chunk needs to be better. There can’t be any second-guessing, tripping over your calls, periods of silence, etc. especially if you’re tight with another crew.

Be prepared. Eliminate all distractions. Be relentless. That’s your only job this week.”

Image via // @calebj.photography

College Racing Rowing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: 48spm

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If you thought Princeton’s sprint vs. Brown last weekend was sick, wait til you see FIT’s sprint vs. Michigan in the last 10 strokes of the MV8+ finals at Dad Vails this past Saturday.

If you haven’t seen the Princeton-Brown video, check it out here. Fast forward to the 1:09:27 mark for the start of the race and the 1:14:00 mark for the sprint (and the commentary, which is hilarious).

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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How can I get back my passion for rowing? It used to be my life and there was nothing else I wanted to do. At 15/16 I wanted nothing more than to be in the position I’m in now. Recently though I’ve been finding myself falling out of love with it, I even thought the other day I can’t wait for the season to be over. I don’t know if it’s the negativity on my team becoming contagious or what but I hate myself for it.

This has been a recurring theme in a lot of  the emails I’ve been getting lately. I want to believe these types of feelings are all temporary simply because of the time of year with school winding down and championship season heating up but there are some people I’ve talked to who just sound seeeriously burnt out on rowing. This is why I tend to caution people from being all “crew crew crew” 100% of the time because eventually you are going to get sick of it. Like everything else in life, there has to be a balance. I wouldn’t hate yourself for feeling like this though – even on teams without rampant negativity issues, this is a pretty common thing to experience at some point or another.

Taking time off is always a good way to get perspective on situations like this. Sometimes that means taking a day or two off from practice, taking a week off before starting your summer workouts, or taking the entire summer off and not thinking about or doing anything rowing-related. You’ve gotta decide which one is best for you and then talk it over with your coaches so they can be kept in the loop with what’s going on. If you aren’t sure you want to talk to your coaches just yet (you should eventually though…), try talking with one of your team captains. You’re your best advocate though so if there’s something going on with a teammate or just on the team in general that’s contributing to you feeling like this, it’s up to you to speak up to the appropriate people and make them aware of what’s going on so the issue can be addressed. Same goes if you need to take time off. You have to get over the idea that somebody might be mad that you want to sit out a practice or are contemplating not returning next year – you have to do what’s right for you in the long run.

When I’ve felt this way about crew I usually find that it’s not actually the sport or my teammates that’s pissing me off, it’s something else that’s causing me to experience a lot of stress which is in turn being exacerbated by everything going on at practice. Things that wouldn’t normally be a big deal (like missing the stroke you’re supposed to come in on or having a brain fart during a piece and flubbing a call) end up making you feel like shit because you’re hyper-aware of all the stressors around you. Even though crew itself might not be the problem it’s an easy target to pin everything on just because the environment in general, expectations we have for ourselves, etc. always have us a little tense and on our toes. On its own most of us have figured out how to manage that but when you combine all that with other external factors things can get pretty overwhelming and you end up feeling how you’re feeling right now. Zeroing in on the root cause of the problem is a good way to figure out if crew really is the issue though or if it’s something else that you can work on fixing or learning to manage better. This combined with taking some time off is usually the best way to get back in the swing of things, at least in my experience (with what I’ve seen from friends/people I’ve coached and how I felt when I quit crew for awhile).

How to scull your bow around

Coxing How To Novice Racing Rowing

How to scull your bow around

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This past weekend we raced at Princeton and during the brief coaches and coxswains meeting on Friday night, Princeton’s head coach mentioned something that I thought warranted a quick recap post of some spring racing “how-to’s”.

We were going over the 2k course, how early to be locked on, etc. and he said that the coxswains should all know how to scull the boats around in order to get their points because the previous week the stake boats were ripped off whatever was holding them in place because (fellow D1 Ivy League) crews didn’t know how to scull their bows around. I saw a lot of crews have issues with this two weeks ago as well due to the wind so I wanted to quickly go over this, that way there’s hopefully no confusion as to how it’s done.

Keep in mind that there’s a big difference between being unable to get your point  due to the wind or current (been there, done that so I can sympathize) and straight up not knowing how and from my point of view (which the officials I was driving shared) it looked like both rowers and coxswains just didn’t know what they were doing (which was not only stressful for them but also for the other coxswains who were able to do it and had to spend 5+ minutes adjusting because they kept losing their point waiting for other crews to lock on and get aligned).

I’ve probably said it a hundred times by now (if not more) but coxswains, SERIOUSLY, if you don’t know how to back into a stake boat and/or scull the boat around to get your point, you need to speak up during practice and have your coach go over it with you and your crew. None of this “I don’t want my coach to think I’m incompetent” or “I don’t want to look stupid by asking a question” bullshit. You have to know how to do this so … suck it up. And coaches, you need to actually teach your coxswains how to do this, especially your novice coxswains. There’s really no excuse to not spend 15 minutes at the end of the day letting them practice backing into your launch or the dock and getting their points.

Below are links to several posts that talk about backing into stake boats, getting your point, etc., in addition to a couple other spring season basics that I think might be helpful. If you have questions on any of this or want/need something clarified feel free to send me an email or leave a comment.

QOTD: Can you explain the hand raising process at the start? Like you raise hand while getting point and keep it up till you’re done? If you’re on the line, how do you fix your point so you don’t cross the line and have to back? I heard of scull/row…(???) There’s no stake boats… just a regular start. What’s the stake’s purpose?

QOTD: A new USRowing rule for sprint starts does not recognize hands at the starting line; they simply wait for alignment and then call the start. At my race today, the marshals called the start before coxswains got their points, which led to us steering into each other’s lanes for about the first twenty strokes fairly severely. How do you let the marshals know whether or not you’re ready without the hand up if they rush the start like they did today?

Stake boat tips & tricks This is a great video that shows and explains how to back into stake boats (in both an eight and a bow loaded four), scull the boat around, and tap it immediately before the start. Rowers, I highly recommend you watch this video as well so you understand what the coxswain is asking you to do. There is no “most important” takeaway from this video because literally everything is important but if you do only take one thing away, for the love of god, please let it be what is discussed at 6:05 – tapping the boat with too many people instead of sculling it. This is one of those things that when I see coxswains doing it I start twitching, especially on windy days when even the smallest amount of common sense would indicate that this isn’t going to effective.

Racing skills: Pre-race prep This post has a lot of information in it that will probably be most helpful for novice coxswains (but also will be good reminders for those of you who are seasoned vets). It goes over getting to the line and staging before the start of the race (both for a floating start and with stake boats) and includes a couple videos that show how to get into starting platforms and what they look like from a stake holders point of view, which is pretty neat.

What happens at a coaches and coxswains meeting? Every regatta is different but for the most part, these are the things that the officials will go over with you before you race. I’ve been in ones that last for 30 minutes and I’ve been in ones that last for 5. Our meeting this past Saturday morning lasted about 10 minutes and was about as straightforward and to the point as you can get. The more experience you are the more this will become the norm but in high school regattas especially, the officials tend to operate with an abundance of caution so they’ll usually spend a good amount of time going over this stuff (and thus, you should be paying attention to all of it, regardless of how early in the morning it is or how many times you’ve heard the same thing over the years).

For more how to’s and race skill posts, you can check out their respective tags here and here.

Image via // Kevin Light

Coxing Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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I was just wondering if there is a way to control the stroke rate when coxing. Usually the crew is too fast. Are there certain things that I should say? Thanks.

It sounds less like a stroke rate problem and more like you’re coxing rowers (novices, if I had to guess) who are having a problem with rushing . Just because your butt is on wheels doesn’t mean you can just fly uncontrollably up the slide but that’s a hard concept to get when you’re first starting out. Check out the posts in the “rush” tag, there are lots of questions and answers in there that should help you out in terms of coming up with things to say.

If it’s an issue with hitting the right rates, make sure you’re communicating with your stroke about what rates you need to be at and then stay on them until they hit it. This is especially important if you’re a less experienced crew because the sooner everyone (especially your stroke) learns what each rate feels like, the quicker they’ll be able to hit it when you say where they should be. The key with this though is to not be annoying and nagging about it. For example, don’t say the rate on every single stroke of a 5 minute piece or get super nitpicky if they go +/- one beat from where they’re supposed to be. If they’re consistently too fast then tell them (both when they’re not rowing and when they are) to be more controlled/slower/relaxed/composed/etc. on the slides as they come into the front end. Match their hands to the boat speed as they come away at the finish, get the bodies set early, stay light on the feet (aka don’t pull yourself up) and move with your stern pair. Follow the pace they set instead of, as I said earlier, uncontrollably flying into the catch.

Drills Rowing

Reverse pick drill progression + what “bob drills” look like

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The reason I posted this was mainly to show you what the reverse pick drill looks like if you’re unfamiliar with it, what bob drills look like, and to give an example of what one of our warmup drills are.

Related: What are stationary drills? How can there be drills if the rowers aren’t rowing? What are some examples?

We did this by stern 6, bow 6 (who the video features), and finished up with all eight, which is typical of all of the drills we do. This was from Thursday morning of our spring break trip (check out that sunrise in the background and the gorgeous flat water…) and we had a different lineup than we’d had the rest of the week because two guys were rowing on opposite sides and two guys who row in the V4+ were subbed in to give two other guys a break.

Related: How to call a pick drill (and reverse pick drill)

One of those guys had to sit out because a cut on one of his fingers got infected, causing that finger to swell up to roughly double the size of his other fingers. Pro tip kids, keep your wounds clean. So, if you’re wondering why the rowing looks … sloppy … that’s a large reason why.

Drills Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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What are stationary drills? How can there be drills if the rowers aren’t rowing? What are some examples?

Stationary drills are just drills that are done when the boat isn’t moving. They’re good to do if/when you’re waiting for your coach at the beginning of practice or just have time to spare in general.

Catch placement drills (also known as roll ups) are one of the most well-known and basic stationary drills. (I talked about them a bit more in-depth in the fourth paragraph of this post.) The rowers start at the finish with their blades buried then tap down, come up the slide to the catch, and drop their blades in without actually taking a stroke. The purpose is to match up the timing on the slides, when the blades enter the water, and the motion of taking the catch. Here’s an example of what it looks like.

Another common one is bob drills. These can get pretty frustrating the more people you have doing it but they’re good for getting people to think about having level hands at the catch and maintaining pressure with the oar against the collar (the thing that keeps the oar shaft from sliding through the oarlock), in addition to the obvious focus on timing.

Related: Reverse pick drill progression + what “bob drills” look like

You can either do these at the catch or finish too. All you do is sit at full compression at the catch or in your normal finish position, starting with the blades squared and buried, and tap them in and out of the water. The bobs have to be confident and deliberate otherwise the boat will just crash over to one side. If you follow the movements of the people in front of you instead of anticipating them then that will also mess things up.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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My team has been working on our starts and sprints for our races coming up. One thing that I have noticed is that we have a really difficult time hitting our rates for our high strokes. We usually hit between 34-35 but we are supposed to be in the upper 30s, maybe even 40. Any suggestions for how to hit these rates? Thanks!

Here’s a couple…

Focus on getting the rate on the drive and through the water instead of with your slide speed on the recovery

Coming out of the finish match the speed of the hands coming away to the speed of the boat immediately – eliminate any pauses

Make sure you’re not slamming into the catch – you want there to be a smooth transfer of energy when the slide reverses

As the rates go up keep the focus on maintaining good form (if you let the bodies get sloppy or fall apart then you’ll never hit your target rates)

I’d talk about this with your coach(es) too and see if you can incorporate some stroke rate ladders or something into a couple of your practices. Definitely make sure you’re communicating with them (on and off the water) when you’re not hitting your rates. If you let them know then they can watch the boat and figure out what’s going on but if you don’t say anything then they can’t help you.

Drills Ergs Novice Rowing

Video of the Week: Biomechanical analysis of the rowing stroke

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This is a great video for novice rowers and anyone that’s looking to improve their technique (both on the erg and the water). It goes over each of the four parts of the stroke and describes what they should look like from a mechanical perspective and then transitions into a critique of her own rowing on the erg. From there it goes over some drills to highlight some of the technical changes she wants to make.

Something she does that I’d probably recommend you not do is be so bouncy with the hands through the final part of the finish and the beginning of the recovery (when the hands are coming in and moving away from the body). A lot of the time people confuse matching the speed of the hands to the boat’s speed with just throwing their hands away from their bodies as fast as they can which results in that super bouncy, ripcord-like motion she’s got going on. I’ve always been taught (and seen other coaches teach) that this isn’t the correct way to approach the finish/start of the recovery but every coach does things a little differently so make sure you understand the style that your coach is trying to develop before making any drastic changes your own rowing.

Outside of that I think this is a great video. Coxswains, this would be a good video for you to watch too, especially those of you who are new to coxing, so you can start to understand the stroke a little bit better. Since you physically can’t see what they look like when you’re on the water it’s important to have a good understanding and visual image of what the bodies should ideally look like during the catch, finish, drive, and recovery so you can make the appropriate calls if something with their bladework indicates that something is off with their body mechanics.

The Language of the First 500

Coxing Drills Racing Rowing Technique

The Language of the First 500

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A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to go to the What Works Summit that’s hosted each year by the IRL program at CRI. The theme this year was “The First 500” and each speaker created a presentation that related in some way to that theme. For the most part I’m writing everything below as it is in my notes so while I’ve completed some of the thoughts, some of it is still in shorthand.

The first presentation I went to was given by Yaz Farooq, current head coach of Stanford’s women’s program and former national team coxswain in the 90s. She spoke on “the language of the first 500”,  managing the transition strokes, and knowing how to balance focusing on your speed and communicating your position relative to the other crews.

Breaking down the start from a language perspective

What does the start look like and what are it’s core components?

Start sequence to get out of the blocks → high stroke sequence → lengthen → lengthen again to base

The first lengthen is what you might know as the “settle” but as Yaz said, most programs are starting to move away from calling it that and instead are focusing more on calling it the “lengthen” or the “sub-lengthen”. The thought behind this is you’re not really settling so much as you’re trying to maintain as much boat speed as possible while transitioning to a more sustainable pace. It’s one of those subtle changes in language that, in theory, has a more positive effect on the psychology of the crew. (Regardless of whether you use “lengthen” or “settle” though, pick one and stick with it.)

How do you break it all up?

Based on strengths/weaknesses of the team, how well they handle the high strokes (i.e. how efficient they are at high rates), and how powerful they are.

Scripting out the starting sequence

First and most importantly, have a plan and map it out. This is the only area of the race that is really worth scripting (in addition to maybe the sprint depending on how your team approaches it).

How many strokes do you need to get off the line, how many high, how many to lengthen, how many base, etc.

Assign key words – these are things the coxswain would say to reinforce the rhythm and make sure it’s as effective as it can be. They key here is to have technical themes assigned, possibly emotional or philosophical themes based on team beliefs that the crew can lock into. Instill these themes throughout practice so coxswains can set up attacks with key words/phrases that reference each theme (without monologuing). Having key words/phrases attached to each theme results in no confusion and everything is clear because it’s been practiced daily.

When possible, reinforce the rhythm with your voice to support it and/or get it to where it needs to go. For a standard five stroke starting sequence (1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full, full):

Squeeze, direct, build, lengthen, full

Grip, lock, lock, lengthen, full

Complete, direct, grip, lengthen, full

Drills to work on the start

These drills, if done with multiple crews, should be done leapfrog style so each crew can watch/cheer for each other. Remember to be patient when something isn’t working. Talk it out with your crew until you find what works for you. I always talk with my stern pair first when something doesn’t work but it’s important to make sure you talk with the entire crew and consider/incorporate everyone’s feedback into whatever changes you make.

Stroke-by-stroke start drill

The goal is to perfect the sequence and bladework.

First stroke done from a dead stop.

Stroke 1 + 2 done from a pause.

Strokes 1 + 2 + 3 done from a pause.

First five done from a pause.

First ten done from a dead stop.

The first stroke is heavy but you get to keep perfecting it and improving the strokes by doing them one at a time and building up through the entire sequence.

Example: If your start is the standard “half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full” followed by high strokes…

Half stroke done from a dead stop. When this stroke is done, pause at half slide. Hold the pause long enough for the crew to collect themselves and the boat to set up but don’t hold it forever. Two seconds or so max.

Half, half done from a pause. Again, pause at half slide when finished.

Half, half, three-quarters from a pause. Again, pause at half slide when finished.

Half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full from a pause. Let it run when finished, balance the boat, weigh enough, and check it down.

Half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full + first five high strokes from a dead stop. Let it run when finished, balance the boat, and weigh enough.

4-6-8 drill

Starts are done by 4s, 6s, and all 8. Goal is to learn how to use your legs and complete each stroke. The boat is heavier when rowing by 4s and 6s so you don’t want to wail on the oar right away otherwise you won’t be able to hold on to the water and ultimately your strokes will be short and ineffective.

Example:

Stern 4 goes through the starting sequence (just the first five strokes). When finished, let it run, weight enough, and check it down.

Bow 4 ”               “

Stern 6 ”               “

Bow 6 ”               “

All 8 ”               “

Square blade starts

Goal is to complete the strokes. Can do the entire starting sequence straight through or do each stroke individually as with the stroke-by-stroke start drill. Best to start off stroke-by-stroke and then progress to doing them straight through the further into the season/more experienced you get.

Striking a balance between speed + rhythm and position

Ultimately what you’re shooting for (as the coxswain) is striking the right balance between getting your crew off the line effectively and letting them know where they are relative to other crews.

How much time do we spend focusing on boat speed/rhythm and how much on when/how to communicate the crew’s position?

It depends on the team and skills of the coxswain. If it’s the early part of the season or your coxswain is a novice, focus solely on execution. This may evolve throughout the season though.

Example: At the beginning of the season, Stanford coxswains don’t tell positions until they lengthen to base so everyone can focus on nuances of each phase of the start. By NCAAs the coxswains will communicate as much info as they feel is relevant at the time but the focus remains on the execution of each phase of the start.

Managing the transition strokes

The goal when transitioning from your starting pace to base pace is to maintain boat speed and keep the intensity on while getting the rating down to a more sustainable number. One of the most important parts of managing the transition strokes efficiently and effectively is to set them up and call them consistently. Find a set of calls that work for you, your crew, and what you’re trying to accomplish and then stick with it.

The “traditional” thing to do when calling transition strokes was to lengthen in one beat but now it’s becoming more common to transition over 3-5 strokes depending on how much the rate is coming down. A good habit for coxswains to get into is to say the rate as you’re lengthening, especially early on in the season. (This isn’t as necessary as the season progresses but ultimately it’s dependent on what the crew wants/needs. Personally I think it’s something that’s important to do regardless of what part of the season you’re in but it all goes back to what will help the crew the most.)

Good calls for this part of the start are “push the spacing” or “push the puddles” because it’s something the rowers can both feel and see.

Practice the transitional cues during practice so when anxiety takes over (during their first big race, at the national championships, etc.) you can use those calls as  a fall back that they can rely on to be part of your plan in order to get everyone focused in on the same thing and moving/transitioning together.

Make it clear to the crew that they have to establish a solid base rhythm before the coxswain tells them where they are, that way they’re not tempted to rush the transition to base just to find out where they are. It’s important for the coxswain to reinforce and make sure they get to a sustainable base rhythm that mimics what you’ve practiced and worked on so the crew’s not distracted. You’ve got to establish the rhythm before relaying information, not the other way around because otherwise it becomes about the other crew and the people in your boat/their rowing gets frantic.

What should you look for when looking for a “solid base rhythm”?

When you practice your base rate during practice the rowers would know to a certain extent how it should feel based on the coach and coxswain’s feedback. This includes hitting a certain split (i.e. your “sweet spot” when everything just seems to naturally fall into place and come together), feeling like you’re able to get to full slide (coxswains, this is where it’s important to communicate with your stern pair so you can find out if this is happening or not), the stroke is leading the rhythm and everyone else is following and supporting it (again, talk with your stroke…), each end of the stroke is clean, and the rhythm has that “swing” feel to it rather than a “back and forth” rhythm.

Image via // @ryanjnicholsonphoto