Category: Teammates & Coaches

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hey! So I keep getting put in boats that I don’t think I belong in at races/practices, even though the boats that I should be on request me and I’m sure I’m better than the coxswain in those boats. When talking to my coach, he tells me that because we lost a race to a technically slower boat, it is literally all my fault and no one else’s fault even though my boat doesn’t blame me at all, so I shouldn’t be on the faster boats.

I’m so frustrated and just thinking of quitting but I need a reason to not quit because I will regret it if I do. I love this sport yet getting the blame being put entirely on me by my coach unfairly really bothers me. I’m just confused and don’t know what to do anymore. Another note on losing to the slower boat, we lost due to many reasons, most being technique issues in the boat and the other coxswain didn’t even have a cox box so it wasn’t that boat’s coxswain’s calls. Thank you so much. Sorry for the long question, I’m just really frustrated.

Have you tried talking to your coach about this? Blaming coxswains for every single thing that goes wrong in the boat is something that irritates me so much (and not just because I’m a coxswain either). My theory is that unless someone catches a massive crab that completely eliminates you from contention, losing a race is on everyone in the boat, not just one specific person or a couple  specific people. There’s always things that everyone can do better and to put the blame solely on a coxswain not making the right calls or whatever is BS.

Coxswains can only do so much too … like, yes, you’re there to give instructions, make corrections, etc. and you could do that until you’re blue in the face but unless the rowers actually listen to you and make an effort to do something different, things aren’t going to change. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink is essentially what I’m getting at.

I’d approach him about this and say that as a crew you all agree that the reason you lost was because of technique issues that everyone was having and now that you, as the coxswain, are more aware of what those issues are and what calls to make for them, you feel like you deserve an opportunity to work with them for at least a couple practices to show your coach not only your improved communications skills but also the positive effect that you have on the boat when you’re in there with them. Think about what you contribute to the boat, how you being in there makes them faster, and tell him that. If he doesn’t respond to that or keeps putting you in the other boats … I mean, that’s kind of unfair in my opinion, but you’ve essentially got to accept that that’s the decision he’s made (regardless of whether it’s right, fair, etc.) and commit to working with your new boat to help them go fast.

Going back to what I said about being more aware of the technique issues, make sure you actually are aware of what specifically was causing problems, what the stroke should look like compared to how it looked that day, what you need to tell the rowers to do differently, what calls you would make, and how you would make those calls. Be cognizant of all of that with whatever boat you’re put in and make an effort to be really on top of watching their technique so you can immediately point out something when you see it. Not only will that make you a better coxswain in the long run but it’ll also give your coach an opportunity to watch you with a completely different crew and see that you’re making an effort yourself to do something differently/better than you were before.

Whenever I’m in a boat that’s consistently having technique problems one of the things I always do is re-evaluate how I’m communicating with them and if I’m saying the right things. Even if what I’m saying sounds good to me or good in my head, it might not be resonating with the rowers, which means I’ve gotta either stop using it or reword it so everyone understands what I’m saying. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a coxswain is continuing to use an ineffective call or saying the same thing over and over with no results. If your coach sees you making an effort to improve that area of your coxing then he might be willing to give you another shot with your original boat.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I had been rowing for a club for a few years and am now coxing due to a chronic illness. Right now, in winter, that means that I am still erging all workouts but I just can’t go at a rate higher than a 24. Even with this, I am still the third fastest girl on my team. My coach is in her first year and pretty much came in to overhaul our program and make it really good in 4 years (She has told us that she much prefers to work with novice freshmen).

When I was first diagnosed, she got really pissed at me, which was fine I guess, but now she refuses to help me learn how to cox or to even acknowledge me. I have come to every day of non-mandatory winter practice, I work my ass off and I am simultaneously trying to teach myself to cox whereas the rest of our coxswains are in 8th grade and either don’t show up or don’t try. She has now started putting me in a workout group with all of our eighth graders (whom she refers to as the slow ones), even though I still hold a top split for our team, even if I have to slightly modify workouts to, you know, stay alive.

I now have the option to tryout for another club, but they are 1 1/2 hours away (nearest club) and are our rival club. I really want to get better and they would definitely give me more opportunities, but I feel like I have put in so much energy to this team (which I loved before this coach and my diagnoses) that I would feel like I was betraying my team. What do you suggest? Should I stay with my club, quit, or switch clubs? And if I switch clubs, how can I prepare for a coxswain tryout since I haven’t ever really had anyone care to teach me? Thanks.

“When I was first diagnosed, she got really pissed at me, which was fine I guess…” Uh, what world do you live in where it’s OK for an adult to get pissed at a teenager for a medical condition that’s completely out of their control? Does it maybe mess with their plans a little bit, yea, but that’s no excuse to actively project their annoyance at them, let alone disregard them completely.

Have you talked to your coach directly about this? In most other situations I’d say that if a coach did this it’s probably not intentional, they’re just trying to keep their focus on the “healthy” athletes while you do whatever you’ve gotta do as far as modified workouts, rehab, etc. goes but to completely ignore you, that’s questionable to me. I’d try talking to her privately and say that you understand that having to switch to coxing isn’t ideal but since that happened you feel like there’s been a lack of communication between the two of you and you wanted to have a conversation so that you could figure out where you stand on the team, how she’s thinking of using you once you get on the water, etc.

Hear what she has to say and then maybe discuss the situation with your parents. A 90 minute drive to and from practice every day is a lot of time to spend in the car. Take that three hours on top of a two hour practice and, assuming you have practice at 4pm, it’d be 7:30pm at the earliest that you’d get home every night. When you consider the amount of time you need to spend doing homework, eating, showering, and sleeping, driving that far for practice doesn’t seem worth it to me, no matter how good the opportunity might be. That’s your call though.

As far as learning how to cox, if you’ve been rowing for a few years already then it’s likely that you already know the basic drills and calls. If she doesn’t seem willing or able to help you with the other stuff that goes into coxing, go to the experienced coxswains and ask them for some help with the things you don’t know/understand yet. Coaching you is part of her job though and if she doesn’t make an effort to do that like she does with the other people on the team then I’d maybe consider if being a part of the team is the best use of your time (and money, since I’m assuming you/your parents are paying a couple hundred dollars in fees each season).

If you do decide to switch teams then presumably you wouldn’t need to try out, unless the definition of a tryout has changed in recent years. I consider a tryout to be where you show off your skills to the coaches before the season starts and they either say “yay you made the team” or “sorry kid, maybe next year”. It seems like something that’d be pretty hard to do with a novice coxswain but if I had to guess I’d say they’d probably just put you in a boat (don’t read anything into what boat they put you into to start with, it literally means nothing), see how you do during practice with steering, giving commands, etc., and then give you some feedback afterwards.

What determines the boat you end up with is how well you respond to the feedback and make an effort to improve on the areas they said you were a little weak in. It doesn’t hurt to let them know beforehand that you haven’t had much experience with coxing, although I would avoid throwing your coach under the bus and saying that she refused to teach you because that doesn’t make you look very good.

College Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I’m a 3rd year coxswain and last week I made a pretty big statement about wanting to go to Nationals to my coach. He said he’d try me out in the 2nd boat and he did for 2 days, but he took me out even though my boat was doing well and he gave to the girl who’s always on the launch. This week though, the boat I’ve been in has had an attitude problem and I tried to stay positive and encouraging but the negativity kinda got to me. I talked to the coaches today but they said they’d talk to the girl and then my head coach said I’m part of the problem, which OK, I can see that I was frustrated because I was unsure where I was and why he just took me out of the boat, but saying that just felt a little unfair. He said I had to make the boat I’m in go, which I also get, but I feel like I’ve shown him throughout this season and last season that I can make boats better. I drove the JV8 last year and we got 3rd at WIRAs, when our coaches thought we’d do shit. I’m just so close to quitting, because I just don’t feel like anything I do makes any difference. I’m conflicted though, because this is the start of regatta season and I just don’t want to make it seem like I’ve abandoned the team when “I’m needed”, though I suspect they won’t need me. What should I do? I feel like crew really affects me mentally and I just have so much on my plate that the last few weeks I’ve been a wreck. When I talk to the coach it just feels like a brick wall. It seems like he doesn’t see that he plays favorites and I’m just over busting myself for something that doesn’t enrich my life anymore.

First off, I wouldn’t read too much into him taking you out of the boat after two days. Like you said, we’re only at the start of the season … it’d be foolish of him to switch you into a brand new boat and just leave you there for the next three months. Trying out a new coxswain is like test driving a car you’re thinking about buying. You don’t go into the dealership and say “hey, I wanna try out this car” and then drive off the lot and never come back. Pretty sure that’d irritate a few people. You take it out on the road for an hour to see how it feels, how it maneuvers, etc. That’s what your coach did with you, he gave you a two day test-drive. Once he thought he saw everything he needed to see, he put someone else in to see what they were like. Don’t confuse someone saying they’ll try you out with a new boat as them saying that boat is now indefinitely yours because that’ll come off as having a serious sense of entitlement which will ultimately garner you no favors with the coaches.

Regarding the crew with the attitude problem, what was the cause of that and the negativity? Did you try to handle the situation yourself before the coaches got involved? I know that’s not always possible and it can be really hard to try and be positive when everyone around is doing the opposite but as the coxswain, it’s your responsibility to work with the crew and figure out a solution so the coaches don’t have to get involved. I’ve definitely been in similar situations before where you don’t realize you’re part of the problem until someone says something and yea, at first you’re like “WTF, rude…” but you’ve gotta remember there’s a big difference between saying something to hurt another person and giving them criticism/feedback in an attempt to help them improve themselves. I think your coach was giving you some harsh but necessary feedback in this situation. The best way to handle it is to put emotions aside, accept it, and say “OK, I see that now, I’ll try to act differently in the future”. Saying that it’s unfair that he said that because you didn’t know why you were in that boat isn’t legitimate because you don’t need to know why you’re in the boat you’re in – you just need to get in there and cox. Take whatever he said about why you were part of the problem and reflect on that so you can figure out what to do differently the next time you’re in a similar situation.

I agree with him that whatever boat you’re in you’ve gotta commit to making them go fast, regardless of whether it’s the boat you want to be in or not. You’ve proven up to this point that you’re an effective coxswain but you have to keep proving that every day you’re at practice. It’s like seat racing – rowers think that seat races only happen when the coaches say they do but they’re actually happening every day. Same goes for the coxswains. Every move you make, every interaction you have, every task you’re given is seen and evaluated by someone and all of that is later brought to the table as evidence of your skills and abilities when it comes time to make lineups.

I don’t think it should ever be a problem to sit down with your coaches/superiors/whoever and ask, in their opinion, what they feel you bring to the table. Particularly if you’re feeling like you’re not being used to your full potential, this would be a good opportunity to lay that all out on the table. Far too often I’ve found that people think when you ask that that you want them to stroke your ego and sing your praises so they ultimately refuse to do it but that’s really not what the point of the conversation is. Reiterate your goals for the season and how you’d like to make a run for nationals and then ask him what he feels your strengths/weaknesses are because at this point you aren’t sure where you stand with him, compared to the other coxswains, etc. and you’re looking for some honest feedback as to what you can improve on so that you actually can help make whatever boat you’re in go fast.

If he asks where this is coming from or why you’re bringing this up now, just say what you said up above about how crew has been affecting you in a way that is starting to make you question it’s place in your life and that you want some reassurance one way or the other about your role on the team so that you can make an informed decision going forward about whether or not it’s worth it for you to keep coxing. It’s not an easy conversation to have (trust me, I’ve had it before) but things tend to go a lot more smoothly when both sides are honest and up front about what they need from one another. The only side of this that you have any control over is obviously your own but if you go into it with an open mind and a willingness to hear what he’s got to say about how he hopes to use you this season, you might find that your value to him and the team is a lot higher than you think it is.

How to: (Cold) Water safety

How To Teammates & Coaches

How to: (Cold) Water safety

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So … your boat flipped.What do you do?

Recently in exchanging emails with other rowers and coxswains a slightly scary trend emerged in that it seemed like a lot of coaches aren’t going over water safety with their athletes. There is a video from USRowing that everyone is supposed to watch but that thing is so ridiculous that it’s unlikely that the majority of people who do see it actually pay attention to what’s being said or demonstrated. (Raise your hand if you’ve seen it and the only thing you remember is the part about crabs.) Some people have said their team doesn’t even show it anymore because of that exact reason.

This is a problem though because what if something happens while you’re out and you end up in the water? It makes me incredibly nervous when an experienced coxswain says “our four flipped today, the water was freezing, and none of us knew what to do”. (That’s from an actual email I got.) If you don’t know what to do if/when this happens, I honestly can’t imagine a more dangerous situation to be in.

There are a couple different aspects to water safety but what this post is going to focus on is the basics of what you should do if you and your crew end up outside of your boat and the effects that cold water in particular can have on your body. Every aspect of water safety is important but in my opinion these two things rank at the top of the list, particularly right now since some crews are going to be entertaining the idea of getting back on the water within the next couple weeks.

If your boat submerges or flips

The first thing you must do is remain calm. This is not the time to be throwing blame, trying to figure out what happened, laughing because “haha this sucksss“, etc. The good thing in this situation is that regardless of how much water is in the shell (or if it flips) it will still float. The oars will also float and can be used by everyone to hold on to. Because the hull floats, it’s not necessary to remove the oars from the oarlocks so it’s best to just keep them in there. Coxswains, you should grab on to your stroke’s oar – don’t worry, it will support both of you – and quickly do a head count to ensue everyone is accounted for. This might not be easy to do, particularly in the heat of the moment when you’re likely a little panicked, so it’s crucial that the rowers do their best to stay quiet. Similarly to how backseat coxing isn’t OK in a normal situation, it’s even less OK now.

Once you’re sure everyone has been accounted for, the next thing to do is keep everyone with the boat. Do not try to swim to shore. I don’t care if you’re the second coming of Michael Phelps, do. not. leave. your. boat. It is very, very easy to underestimate the distance to shore or how you’ll be affected by the elements (air/water temperature, wind, the current, fatigue, etc.), which can lead to you drowning. When you’re going against the elements and/or are in cold water, being a good swimmer is at most a psychological advantage and nothing more.

The vast majority of the time you will likely have a launch nearby that will already be on its way to you. If the launch is in sight but doesn’t see you in the water, yell, scream, make as much noise as possible to try and get their attention. The launches are required to carry life jackets on board so once it comes over the coach will distribute them and get everyone out of the water. When getting out of the water and into the launch, distributing everyone’s weight is going to be important in ensuring that the launch doesn’t also start to sink. Keeping a low center of gravity will also be important.

If you want to know what not to do … ever … like, EVER … watch this video.

The one good thing about that video is at the end they show how you should get the boat out of the water once you’re back on land. First, you’ve got to bail out as much water as you can using buckets or a pump. Next, you’ll need to get hands on (probably at least two boats worth) and pick it up a little so you can tilt it on it’s side (do not rest the riggers on the dock) and let more of the water flow out. The next step is to get it up and over heads. Yea, it’s gonna be a waterfall and yes, you’re gonna get wet (see here). From here the coxswain will tell you to tilt it left, then right, then left, then right to get even more water out. When you do this you’ll want to make sure the bow and stern caps are open too. (They should always be closed when you’re on the water.)

What should you do while you’re waiting for someone to come get you?

The most important things are keeping your head above water and continuing to talk to one another so that everyone stays alert and conscious. You’ll also want to turn your backs to the waves if the water is choppy. When the air/water temperature is on the colder side, getting everyone on the same side of the boat can give you a little bit of warmth. In this situation I’d recommend linking arms while holding on to the gunnels or riggers, just as another way to ensure everyone stays above water.

Coxswains, you should always stick with the stern pair. Remember, the hull floats, so if the water is particularly cold or you need to get someone out of the water, you can climb (gently) on to the boat and drape yourself across it. If the boat is submerged (but still right side up) then you can roll it over (you can leave the oars in the oarlocks, just make sure everyone is out of the way), which will trap air underneath it and allow it to sit up just a little bit higher out of the water.

What happens to the body in the cold water?

A few things.

You lose body heat 25-30x faster when you’re submerged in cold water compared to just sitting in the open air.

Your gut reaction is going to tell you to keep moving and tread water in order to generate heat. It doesn’t work like that when you’re submerged in cold water though. This will actually cause you to lose body heat faster, which will increase the rate at which hypothermia sets in. You need to stay still, stay upright, and keep your head above water

Within 10-15 minutes your core temp begins to drop, causing your arms and legs to go dumb and eventually resulting in a loss in consciousness (which then could lead to drowning).

You’ll start shivering as a way to generate more body heat and as hypothermia sets in (around 95 degrees Fahrenheit), it will become more intense and you’ll lose the ability to voluntarily stop shaking. When the body temp reaches around 90 degrees Fahrenheit you’ll stop shivering completely because it’s no longer effective. This is usually a sign that you’re in serious danger because after you stop shivering the rate at which you lose body heat rapidly accelerates.

How can I tell if I or one of my teammates is hypothermic?

There are several stages of hypothermia ranging from pre-hypothermia to severe hypothermia. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to remember every detail of each stage but the most important stage to watch out for is the “pre” and “mild” stage symptoms. If you recognize that someone is showing these signs then you can get them out of the water and up onto the hull. This is why it’s very important that you keep talking to each other.

Pre-hypothermia (body temp is around 95-96 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: Hands and feet become stiff and sore as circulation decreases and muscle tension increases due to shivering (although at this stage you can still voluntarily stop). You might also start feeling tired and lethargic, symptoms that could be exacerbated by the fact that you were most likely just rowing.

Mental symptoms: For the most part, you’ll most likely still be all there.

Mild hypothermia (body temp has decreased to 90-94 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: You can no longer control your shivering, your fine motor skills are deteriorating (making it difficult to hold on to things, which is another reason why linking arms with the person beside you with one arm and with the oar or rigger with the other is important), your heart rate and breathing have increased (because of the shivering), and your speech will start slurring.

You might also notice that you spontaneously start peeing – this is pretty standard as part of the fight-or-flight response (and also because you’ve probably been drinking a lot of water) and occurs because the majority of your blood volume is migrating to your core in order to protect the vital organs. The downside to this is that it can rapidly lead to dehydration (you can read about some of the effects of that towards the end of this post).

This is the point where you need to get out of the water to prevent losing any more of your body heat. Hopefully your teammates have recognized this and are taking the necessary steps to get you on top of the hull. When draping them across the hull, don’t just get them on there and go back to where you were. Stay on either side of them and hold on to their arms and legs to keep them from sliding off.

Mental symptoms: You’ll start becoming confused, maybe unaware of your surroundings or how you ended up in the water. Doing simple things like counting from 1-10 or saying everyone’s names can be difficult to do.

Moderate hypothermia (body temp has decreased even further to 83-88 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: At this point, your body is no longer getting anything out of shivering so it stops. Your speech is very slow and you probably sound like you’re drunk when you try and talk. Your muscles have become very stiff and your heart rate and breathing has decreased dramatically. Because your breathing has slowed, less oxygen is getting to your tissues which results in less body heat being produced. If you’re still in the water at this point, the likelihood of you breathing in water (and drowning) has increased because your cough reflex is no longer functioning.

Mental symptoms: You’re operating under pure confusion right now and probably feel like taking a nap.

Severe hypothermia (body temp is now below 82 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: At this stage you’re dangerously teetering on the edge of the point of no return. Your heart rate will be extremely slow and your breathing will be very shallow and less stable. Your teammates will probably think you’re dead based on physical appearance. Drowning is a very likely and very real possibility if you’re still in the water. Even if your teammates were able to get you up on to the hull, waves can still present a threat to water entering your nose and/or mouth.

Mental symptoms: You’re unconscious.

How long will it take for these symptoms to set in?

This all depends on the water temperature. The colder it is though, the more rapidly the onset of symptoms will be. According to USRowing, if it’s under 32 degrees you could be unconscious in as little as 15 minutes. In water that’s around 40-50 degrees, it could be up to an hour before you reach unconsciousness. It’s important to remember that just because you’re out of the water once you’re on the launch or back on land doesn’t mean you’re safe from the effects of hypothermia, especially if you’re still in wet clothes.

Check out this video. Some of the stuff doesn’t necessarily apply to rowing (basically everything involving life jackets) but overall it does a pretty good job of communicating the dangers of being submerged in cold water. (I promise, it’s not super corny or anything and is only ten minutes long.)

So, moral of the story is this: stay out of the water but if for whatever reason you end up in the water, make sure everyone is accounted for, try to get the attention of your coaches, keep everyone talking, and watch for signs of hypothermia in yourself and your teammates. Also, bring up the subject of water safety with your coaches and have them go over it with everyone if they haven’t already. It’s important stuff that everybody needs to know.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hi! I’m a coxswain for a little club in New Zealand, and thanks to my coach I virtually do nothing. On the water he takes my job away from me and tells them to row instead of me and won’t let me make any calls. He doesn’t let me cox anyone through their 2k and he tells me that it’s not important if I don’t make calls during a race! I’m not a novice coxswain either but I’ve had virtually no training and I’ve taught myself everything that I know because he’s never helped me out! What do I do? 🙁

My initial thought is to say “find a new club”…

Have you talked to him about this? Do you notice or know if he acts this way with the other coxswains too? It honestly seems like he doesn’t know much about coxing in general if he’s telling you that it’s not that important to say anything during a race. I would ask him why he thinks that, not in an accusatory way but rather in a way that gets him to explain his reasoning for saying that. I’ve never experienced anything like this myself so it’s hard to suggest what to do. I’ve known two people that this has happened to though and both of them ended up quitting because being on the team had become pointless for them and it wasn’t worth the money anymore. Honestly, I think your best (and only) option is to talk to him (outside of practice) and figure out what his deal is and then decide from there if it’s worth it to stay on the team. If I was in your position though, I’d be looking for another team so I could actually do what I joined the team to do.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice (especially from personal experience!), I’d love to hear them so please leave a comment down below.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hey. I’m a 15 year old rower from Australia. There’s 2 girl’s crews in my year, 9/10s. The A crew recently got one of their friends to cox them, but she’s an average weight and height. I’m in the B crew, which is constantly changing rowers, the cox and seat order. I’m currently 148cm (4’10”) and I weigh 40kg (88 lbs). Two of the girls in A crew and myself think that I’m a good cox and I should be coxing A crew, but I never get the chance to cox them or any other crews anymore. What should I do?

Wow, you’re smaller than me and you row? That’s crazy (and impressive…).

Hmm. I assume you’ve talked to your coach about this? Not knowing anything about your skills on the water, my guess is that the coaches like what they see and want to keep an oar in your hands because despite being incredibly small for a rower, you’ve actually got some boat-moving ability. If you’re not getting injured from trying to keep up with your teammates and your coaches are happy with the girl that’s currently coxing the A boat, I can see why they wouldn’t want to mess around with the current dynamic. I’d say that, for now, just stick to rowing.

Quick PSA for everyone too: there’s a very, veeerrry fine line that you risk crossing when you tell someone who isn’t your current coxswain (or isn’t a coxswain at all) that they should be coxing the top boat, they’d make a great coxswain, etc. because even if it’s an offhand comment, you’re going to put ideas in their head that might be completely unfounded and/or implausible. Granted yes, there are always exceptions and a lot of them have been posted on here but if you’re a rower and a) aren’t injured in any way, b) have never coxed or have coxed very little (3 months consistently or less), or c) aren’t of coxing size (obviously important) … just don’t entertain the thought. What ends up happening is you start thinking “Oh, I could probably do this better than that coxswain. Pffft, I could call a power 10 better than that. Hmm, looks like she’s struggling with how to dock, no worries I’ll just tell bow four what they need to do because I could probably explain it better than her.” Don’t be that person. Seriously. It’s rude and annoying and can really mess with a coxswain’s head and the chemistry of a crew.

If you think you have the potential to be a good coxswain but aren’t currently one, first determine if switching to coxing is realistic (more often than not it isn’t but again, exceptions exist) and then if you determine it is, talk to your coach about it. They’ll either say “you know what, we actually do need another coxswain, why don’t we try you out in a boat next week” or “we have all the coxswains we need right now, I’d rather see you stay in the boat”. Other times they’ll just flat out say no and unless you’ve got a really, REALLY good reason not to, you should just accept it and stick with what you’re currently doing. Just like with everything else out there, “no” is not code for “convince me”,  “incessantly bug me about it until I cave and say yes”, or “search for loopholes so you can do what you want anyways”. You have to trust the fact that your coach does know more than you do and most of the time it’s unlikely that they’re just flippantly ignoring your request.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Hey! So I’m a coxswain, and my coach always puts me in the top two boats with another coxswain. We are very alike coxing wise. Our rowers like us equally and so do the coaches. I’m sure they are having a hard time choosing who to boat higher, but I think they are leaning towards him, so I am wondering: would it be OK to go up to him and tell him “I want this boat and I think I can beat this other coxswain for it. What do you think I should do?” (or something like that). Thank you Kayleigh!

I’ll tell you a secret: coaches love when their athletes make it hard for them to make a decision because it shows that everyone is doing what the need to do. If the decision is easy … man, you done messed up. This quote sums it up nicely:

In the end, the coaches aren’t the ones who made the decision on what boat you would be in this season. You did. You made the decision on whether or not you were going to that optional practice, or whether or not you were going on that run, or giving everything you had on that piece. YOU made the decision. YOU picked your split. You decided your limit and either you passed it or you let it ruin you.  Remember that the next time you see the line-up.

If you have a good relationship with your coaches, which it sounds like you do, I would talk to them privately before or after practice one day and say “I know you’re in the process of making the decision as to who’s going to go the varsity boat and I just wanted to reiterate that I really want to cox this boat and think that I could accomplish a lot with them.” Give one or two serious, well-thought out examples of why you should be the one they choose and then leave it at that. Don’t even mention the other coxswain because it really has nothing to do with them. When I hear coxswains say they think they can beat the other coxswain, even though I know what you’re saying, a tiny part of me questions if they want the boat because they really think they deserve it or because they just want to prove that they can cox them better. I’d rather you not even mention them and instead tell me about why you deserve it, what you can bring to the crew, how you can make them better, and how coxing them is going to make you better.

It’s unlikely that you’re going to say anything that’s going to make them completely question their decision but you might end up making a point that they hadn’t fully considered or considered at all. At the very least you’ll remind them why you’re in contention for the boat in the first place and that is never a bad thing.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hi! I have been a competitive rower for the last three years (lightweight), and I have been trying to get my coach to let me learn how to cox for the last two. I always have been in bow seat and have even bowed a straight four and every time I try to talk to her about coxing she has given me the runaround. The men’s team at my club is in need of a cox, but she still won’t let me try. I just don’t know what to do anymore because I keep getting injuries when trying to continue to row, but love my teammates and want to stay for them. Is there any way that I can convince her to let me cox? Our current coxswain is taller than me, and I only weigh more because of weight lifting.

This is my take on this, which I’ve said on here several times before: if you want to cox for another team, you don’t need your coach’s permission. All you need to do is give them the proper notice (2-3 days sounds reasonable) and say “I heard the men’s team needs a coxswain, I’ve spoken to their coach and they’re interested in having me join the team so I’m going to go to their practice on Thursday.”

I only really advocate doing this in situations where you’re not happy with your current team (and have made that known to your parents/coach) or are trying to cox but aren’t being given the chance. If your team has plenty of coxswains and the other team doesn’t or you feel that you’d get a better shot at coxing the boats you want with them, that’s also legitimate I think. It’s really a case-by-case thing. Randomly just up and saying “Yea so I’m going to cox the boys today and maybe for the rest of the season” doesn’t fly and your coach is well within their right to be pissed at you.

Although bowing a four/quad is a little different than coxing, it’s pretty similar and something that I think would probably be a could indicator to see how well someone could handle the coxswain role if they were to switch from rowing. If you’re rowing though and consistently being injured, that’s a different story. I’m assuming from what you said about being a lightweight and rowing bow seat that you’re probably pretty small, so I’m guessing that most of your injuries come from trying to keep up with the other rowers or compensating for height/strength differences. You’re not an effective rower when you’re injured so it seems counter-intuitive to make you keep doing it, especially when you’ve consistently expressed interest.

Assuming your teammates are also your friends, they probably know all the injuries you’ve had and the fact that you’ve been asking to cox for two years now so hopefully they’d be supportive of your decision to cox the guys if that’s ultimately what you decide to do. They don’t have to be happy about it but they should at least respect your decision.

College High School Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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My team is going to start a big/little program between the varsity girls and novice girls this spring. When we do the big/little reveal, we want to give gifts to our littles! Obviously this isn’t a sorority, so we’re not giving them paddles or anything like that, but do you have any suggestions for things we could put into gift baskets? Thanks!!!

That’s awesome!! We didn’t do this when I was in crew but we did when I was in band and it was so much fun. The big brothers/sisters would always write notes to our littles at band camp and before all our competitions, basically saying we were proud of them, making sure to touch on any big hurdles they’d overcome or major improvements they’d made, etc. It was one of the best traditions we had. I actually just found all the notes I got from my big sister from my freshman year and it was so fun going back and reading them and remembering all the silly inside jokes we had.

That could be something that all the varsity girls do for the novices – each varsity girl writes something for each novice and then you can compile them into individual book-like-things for each girl, that way they’ve got 10-15 (or however many) letters just for them. Keep it short, simple, sweet, and fun – let them know you’re excited to have them on the team, note something that you hope to see happen this year, recall a similar experience that you went through so she knows that she’s not the only one experiencing this issue, remind them that teamwork makes the dream work (or whatever other silly cliche phrase you wanna throw out there), etc. Bonus points for brightly colored construction paper, markers, stickers, and glitter. Bitches love stickers and glitter.

The other thing that we did that has been a tradition for like, 30+ years I think, is each new member of the band would get a brick. Our band was pretty big and with each member standing side by side we could nearly reach end zone to end zone during our shows. This resulted in our band being nicknamed “The Wall of Sound” (from Phil Spector’s wall of sound, if you know anything about music production/engineering) because when everyone would line up like that and then march forward it was a literal wall of sound coming towards you. Now, from that comes the bricks. Each member was considered a brick in the wall (a nod to Pink Floyd) in that without one of the bricks, the wall would crumble. So, during the summer after we’d started rehearsals, the upperclassmen would get together with a load of bricks, one for each freshman, and they’d stack them up on top of each other to create a wall-like formation. On one side they’d spray paint the band’s logo across all the bricks and then on the other side they’d paint each person’s name on an individual brick. We were then given our bricks by our big brother/sister and were “officially” considered to be part of The Wall. I still have my brick and consider it to be just as important as all the medals I’ve won from crew.

My point with that story is that you could also include something that shows them that they’re “officially” a part of the team. For us, it really drove home the message of how it’s about the bigger picture and how that bigger picture can’t be achieved without the contributions, dedication, and passion of each person. It’s the same with crew.

Another idea is if you’ve got a parent who knows their way around a wood shop or you’ve got some artistically inclined rowers, you could make each rower their own mini replica blade, sort of like this. If someone can make a bunch of plain ones from wood then the varsity girls can paint them with your team’s colors and then present them to the novices. Alternatively, you can make them out of modeling clay too. (I’ve done it, it’s super easy). Just draw out a template, roll out the clay, use a X-Acto knife to cut it out, and then bake it.

You could include something that you wouldn’t have survived without when you were a novice. I remember talking about this with my friends once. One wouldn’t have survived without a really thick, warm pair of wool socks, another wouldn’t have survived without the granola bars her mom had waiting in the car for her after practice (because she was always starving), another said DVDs for the 5+ hour bus rides we took every week when we’d travel … stuff like that. I’d have probably given my little a bunch of Hot Hands and an ear warmer. If someone has a coxswain for their little sister, get them a notebook and a pack of pencils. (Hint hint nudge nudge, this is a great present for novice coxswains.) If you’ve got stickers or car decals with your team’s logo on them, throw some of those in there too. Another thing you could get if you could find them relatively cheap enough is water bottles, that way everyone always has one and you can minimize waste by not having plastic ones lying around the boathouse. Don’t count out the practical stuff either, like rubber bands for their hair, band-aids, cough drops, etc.

Last idea: a blanket! My warmest, most favorite blanket that I own is one that I got from crew. It’s fleece and is orange on one side and black on the other (our school colors). They are literally the easiest things to make in the world and don’t require any sewing abilities whatsoever. I’m actually shocked that mine is still completely in tact considering it went to every regatta, then to college, and then everywhere else I’ve gone over the last twelve years.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Are there rules about coaches making coxswains weigh in to check their weight? Obviously coxswains need to weigh in at certain regattas to make weight. I remember someone telling me that it was against some rule to have coaches require coxswains to report their weight, but I forget where I heard that/if it is actually true.

As far as I know there isn’t a rule that says coaches can’t require coxswains to weigh in and report their weight. When done correctly, I don’t think this is a bad thing. It’s when coaches go on power trips with it and try to shame the coxswains (and rowers) for their weight that I start having issues with it. I think it’s good though because it keeps you accountable and helps the coaches keep an eye on everyone (ideally for safety and general well-being purposes).