Category: Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 14, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

College Coxing Racing Rowing Teammates & Coaches

“Baseball bat!”

By readyallrow February 13, 2013

A few weeks ago I went to the What Works Summit coaching conference at CRI and one of the main things I was looking forward to was hearing Kevin Sauer of UVA speak. He was a huge reason why I looked at UVA in the first place when I was applying to schools so to get the chance to hear him talk was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.

He gave two presentations, one on how to make the boat move and then another as part of a roundtable discussion on championship programs. During the roundtable he told this story that, even now, just kind of blows my mind because it’s so awesome.

So, a bit of background to start. UVA won the 2012 NCAA Championship led by the 1st Varsity 8+, which was the first time they’d accomplished that. They’d won NCAAs previously but never with a V8+ win too. After graduating a good class the previous spring (2011), they were now tasked with putting together a boat that could match or exceed the skill level of the rowers they’d graduated. When they came to Head of the Charles in 2011 and won (in a time of 16:11.519, eight seconds faster than 2nd place Radcliffe), he was pleasantly surprised. They weren’t going against the national team since they were training for the Olympics, but they beat the other college teams, which is obviously who they needed to beat. Then, when they went to Princeton Chase and won there too, he started to realize this boat had something.

Now, looking at the competition, Michigan was solid last year. They killed it all season, basically just blowing the other crews they raced out of the water. They only lost twice on their way to a Big 10 Championship and 2nd place finish at NCAAs. When Coach Sauer was telling us this, he started talking about this race that Michigan had against Princeton.

Michigan got out hard and controlled the entire race, winning with a length of open over Princeton and two lengths of open over Brown. He called a team meeting and played this video for the girls, without saying a word from beginning to end. They silently watched it and at the end someone asked, “So, how are we going to beat them?”, to which he replied “I don’t know.” They started throwing ideas out there on what their race plan and strategy was going to be, how they were going to train for this, etc. Everyone’s contributing ideas and he just kind of blurts out “baseball bat”, to which the girls were all … “what??”. And he said “Baseball bat! We’ve just got to keep hitting them and hitting them and hitting them.” At the time, and still now, he said he had no idea why that was what came out of his mouth because it didn’t make sense to anybody, including him.

Part of their strategy was this move that they make at the 1000m mark but because they knew Michigan’s tendencies, he told his coxswain on race-day that if she needed to take it right at the beginning of the race to avoid letting Michigan get away from them, do it. The goal was to not let them get an inch of open water on them, otherwise it’d be all over. Coach Sauer and another coach were following behind the race in the launch and saw that, like they’d predicted, Michigan got out hard and fast. They started to walk, seat by seat, until they were six or seven seats up and he said he was thinking “come on, make the move, gotta go, don’t let them break away, gotta make it now…” and then all of a sudden they started seeing UVA walk until they were even with them.

The other coach in the launch said “You’ve got it. They (UVA) won.” and he said he was thinking this guy was crazy because they were only 750m into the race. BUT, they had won at that point because by making the move and walking on Michigan, they broke them. Michigan couldn’t and didn’t know how to counter it, presumably because it wasn’t something they’d had to deal with all season (which you can look at as either a good thing or a bad thing). UVA ended up winning and the rest is history.

When they got back to the dock, Coach Sauer went up to the coxswain and said “What did you do, what did you call? What’d you say to them to make that move?” and she said “All I said was ‘baseball bat‘.”

That is like … wow. This random thing that he’d blurted out during a team meeting, something that meant nothing to anyone at the time, is what they all internalized to help them win a national championship.

My point with this story goes back to what I was talking about in the question I answered this morning (linked above) but it also touches on a lot of other things too. The moves you plan aren’t always going to happen when you want them to – sometimes you’ve got to do something spontaneous to reap the maximum benefits. The calls you make are important, which is why I try and stress to you guys to say what you say with a purpose. When you’re talking with the coach or your crew, pay attention to what people say – you never know what is going to resonate with people. Baseball bat?? I mean, come on!! That’s such a basic, meaningless term but it became the rallying cry of sorts for this boat. It is your job to figure out what it takes to get your boat to move, so always keep your ears open – you never know when you’re gonna hear the call that changes everything.

Image via // UVA Today

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 13, 2013

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

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

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

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 11, 2013

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

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

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

Why am I doing this?

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

How committed am I?

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

What are my goals?

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

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

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

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

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

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

How To Teammates & Coaches Training & Nutrition

How to Avoid Getting Sick

By readyallrow February 7, 2013

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

I’ve had a really bad cold for about two weeks now and while I didn’t get it at crew, it got me thinking about all the times I have gotten sick while participating in sports or marching band or other activities. It’s not fun and puts a wrench in training and rehearsals but 20/20 hindsight reminds me that it’s almost always preventable.

Clean the equipment

Common sense, right? After a rower ergs, the first thing they should do is clean if off – the tracks, the slide, the monitor, and most importantly, the handle. Most boathouses will have a bottle of antibacterial spray lying around for this exact purpose. The handle should be obvious why it needs to be cleaned, but you should also clean the rest of the erg because sweating, coughing, bleeding, hacking up a lung, etc. can all lead to bodily fluids being spewed all over the place.

Don’t forget about the oars either, especially if you bled on them. You can easily clean these off after practice using water and bleach.

Minimize high-fiving

After a hard work out or an erg test there’s usually some high fives going around and I’m all for it but in the winter, especially post-erg, I’m all about the air-five … followed up with a generous amount of hand sanitizer.

Wear the appropriate clothing

There were numerous times in high school where one of my parents would say “you are not leaving the house wearing that!” in response to me wearing shorts and a t-shirt in late fall to marching band rehearsals or leaving without a coat in the middle of January (while it was snowing) to head to the boathouse. I rolled my eyes every single time because I knew I was either going to be inside the majority of the time (crew) or I’d get hot while on the field (with band) and end up shedding the extra layers anyways but regardless of what activity you’re doing, whether you’ll be inside or out, you have to wear the right stuff if you want to avoid getting sick.

Related: What to wear

If you’re inside and you want to wear your uni while you erg or lift, go for it but make sure you’re wearing something over it so you don’t freeze when you leave. The guys I rowed with in college would frequently wear their unis, a hoodie, and nothing else when going to and from the weight room and if you know Syracuse weather, you know that’s a bold choice between November and March. Similarly, if you’re going for a run during practice, wear the right stuff so your body stays warm. You’re more likely to catch a cold from being indoors where germs can fester more easily but keeping your hands, ears, neck, feet, and extremities warm will go a long way in preventing you from picking something up while outdoors.

Stay at home if you’re sick

Seriously, if you’re sick just stay home. If you didn’t go to school that day or you went home early, definitely do not go to practice. If anything, stay home out of respect to your teammates. No one wants a walking cesspool of germs walking around coughing, sneezing, and hacking on everything. Literally no one will appreciate you “toughing it out” and coming to practice if they end up getting sick as a result. If your body is fighting a cold, do you really think it’s in any position to do a 2k or lift weights? It needs time to rest and ultimately it’s better to miss an erg test and make it up when you’re at 100% than to do it when you’re at 50% and potentially screw yourself.

If you miss a few days of practice from being sick, yea, it sucks but your teammates will appreciate you keeping your germs to yourself and just getting over whatever you’ve got. Stay home, catch up on Netflix, eat your chicken noodle soup, and get healthy before you return to practice. Also, go to the doctor. Don’t prolong your illness (and waste valuable time) by not going.

All of this is common sense but it’s easy to get caught up in the rigor of training and forget or ignore these little details. The more diligent you are tough about keeping the equipment clean and taking care of yourself, the better off you and your teammates will be.

Image via // @jdcsss

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 4, 2013

What are your thoughts on oars? Who should bring them down to the dock and take them back up? Should it be a responsibility for each boat to make sure their oars are down or should the coxswain of the boat bring down oars for her own boat or even coxswains bringing oars down for the whole team … it’s kinda disorganized on my team and many times oars don’t get brought down. I want to fix this … what method do you think is best?

Coxswains aren’t responsible for the oars. They already carry their cox box, shoes, water bottles, etc. – you want them to carry the oars too? They’re not pack mules. Each boat brings down their own oars. The way I usually due it is stern 4 takes the oars down, bow 4 brings them back up. The following day, week, whatever … they switch. Sometimes I’ll do starboards vs. ports too just to switch it up.

If it’s really that difficult to remember who’s supposed to do what, make it a set responsibility – for the entire season, stern 4 is responsible for taking them down and bow 4 for bringing them up. If a boat’s oars don’t get brought down by the time I’m ready to go out, you’re literally just wasting everyone’s time. The fact that people would shirk the responsibility of bringing oars down blows my mind.

Give boats direct assignments as to who is in charge of taking them down and bringing them up and leave it at that. If they don’t get brought down, that’s the boat’s problem to figure out. They’re the ones that are wasting practice time. If you think of it as every second you waste of practice time is one second you’re NOT getting faster, people will get stuff done ahead of time.

Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 3, 2013

Hello! (I’m not going to give too much detail since there may be teammates who read your blog.) We’re in high school and the novices pranked us [it was an innocent one] and everybody is SO mad now, more so because they got one put over them. It’s high school, so I’m wondering, if my teammates can act like that, is it even worth it to be on the team with them?

That sounds really dumb – your teammates reactions, not the prank. What’s wrong with a little fun? As long as no one was directly hurt (physically, emotionally, whatever), what’s the problem?

It sucks that your teammates are displaying such a poor attitude but unless their attitudes are always like this, I wouldn’t do anything crazy like quit the team or something. If it’s really causing a huge issue that is having negative effects on the team and you’re in position where you can call a team meeting, I’d have one so everyone can just hash it out and be done with it. Even if you’re not in that position, recruit your team captain or coxswain to make it happen (preferably someone neutral to the situation). Nobody needs unnecessary drama on their team. Ask your teammates, is this making us faster? Is this good for team camaraderie? Is this helping us towards that Youth Nationals team trophy? The answers are probably “no”, which hopefully will help them realize how immature they’re being.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 3, 2013

I know you’re an amazing cox but have you ever been put into a situation where you’ve been bumped down a boat? Everybody said I was doing well and improving but my friend got switched from rower to cox yesterday and she’s so good she coxed varsity seat racing. I’m not trying to be mean, she’s my friend, but I guess I’m just bitter that she’s such a quick learner and varsity likes her better for it, I feel. I guess I just don’t know what to do…

Oh yea. When I was a junior in high school I coxed the lightweight 8+ … we went to nationals, finished 10th overall … it was a great year. Despite it being a great boat there were some people in it that I didn’t get along with at all. I mean, it’s high school – take the normal high school drama and then throw on eight girls trying to make weight every week. Luckily, when we were in the boat and practicing we were fine and never had any problems but off the water we definitely weren’t hanging out together or anything.

Senior year it was assumed that I’d be with the lightweights again. Something happened before going out for our first race (a combination of boat problems, coach problems, etc.) and I lost it on them. I was so over the over-talking and back-talking to one another, the drama, etc. and I basically told them to shut up, fuck off, and let’s just go out and race. I’d already maintained in my head that I didn’t think I wanted to cox them that year but the only other boat left was the novice eight, which on principle I wasn’t keen on because … they’re novices.

When we got back to the boathouse that week, they told our coach that they wanted another girl (someone who was actually friends with them) to be their coxswain, which really didn’t bother me that much but he went about making the switch entirely the wrong way. He put me with the novice eight but the way he explained it, it was more of a punishment than anything else. I was pissed … not really pissed, more so offended I think because I’m about to go to college to cox and you’re punishing me for not getting along with two or three people by putting me with a group of people who literally don’t even know how to row? Awesome. If I was furious with anything it wasn’t so much the situation, it was the decision in general because I was a senior coxing novices and he tried to make it out like the reason that happened was solely because I was a terrible coxswain when everyone, even the lightweight girls, knew that wasn’t the case.

Luckily, we had another coach who took us under his wing and pretty much exclusively coached us that year. He had issues with the head coach as well and spent many hours after practice and throughout the season calming us down after this coach would purposely do things to piss us/me off. He wasn’t shy about making it known either that he didn’t like our boat. What I know, for a fact, was that he didn’t anticipate this novice 8+ being as good as we were. They still are the best boat I’ve ever coxed – I’ve never seen a better women’s eight, even when I coxed in college. The one race we lost was the BEST race I have ever had in a boat. It was at the Midwest Championships and we lost by less than a bow ball after being in a dead heat with the winning crew for all but the last 5-10 meters.

Looking back on it, coxing that boat was hands down the best “punishment” I’ve ever had. We all got along, I never questioned their commitment, they worked harder than any crew I’ve ever had, and they wanted it. Some of the other crews on the team, I felt like they knew they were going to win so they started to get a little complacent about things. This crew, even when they were winning race after race after race (and setting course records while doing so) never had that attitude.

My coach also told me that one of the reasons why we were as good as we were was because of what I brought to the boat – they benefited from my three years of previous experience, my passion, and my get-shit-done attitude. I knew when to push them but most importantly I knew how to push them. There were times when I felt like I was slave-driving them but no one ever said they didn’t want that and that, I think, made all the difference. I wouldn’t necessarily say that bumping me down gave me a reality check, because I don’t think that I was ever complacent or anything about my spot in the boat beforehand to the point where I needed a reality check, but it did open my eyes to a lot of things and I am 1000% a better coxswain for it.

I wouldn’t be bitter about your situation. I was bitter for awhile but I quickly realized, unbeknownst to the head coach, that I was in a much better position now with this boat than I was with any of the varsity boats I’d coxed before (and I’d been coxing varsity since I was a novice). Yea, it sucks being moved around, especially when you think that someone who has less experience than you has the potential to be better than you are, but you’ve got to find something positive about being switched and use that to fuel you.

Instead of using your energy to be upset that your friend got moved up, channel it and your coxing skills towards making your new boat the fastest boat on the team. Shock the hell out of everyone. Trust me, there really is nothing like racing with your boat and looking over to where your teammates are on shore and seeing stunned looks on their faces because they had no idea you were this good.

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 3, 2013

I have a slight situation. I’m a 2nd year coxswain for a D2 college and I feel like I’m associated with the bottom boat because we are the only boat that practices frequently with the new assistant coach. I know I have a lot to improve on and I shouldn’t have that mentality that I’m a horrid coxswain but I just don’t know what to do when I try so hard during the pieces to increase the intensity (with rhythm calls, focus 5/10s, powers, imaginary scenarios, etc.) but there’s just a lack of ‘something’(will power? determination?) in my boat. It’s been especially tough this week. On Tuesday, we did 2X25’ 18-22-18. I drove the only 8+ with the other 3 varsity coxswains in 4+s. 8+s are definitely supposed to beat 4+s, no matter what, but we finished behind every time. We were started 2’ behind on the first piece, but even on the second one when we all started together, we still didn’t pass them. Coach had a talk with our boat after and gave them a chance to redeem themselves on Thursday, but he switched me and two rookie rowers out. The boat definitely moved and beat the 4+ on all the pieces. The lack of intensity happened again today though when we practiced with the novices, whom we also finished behind. I just don’t know what it is. One of my rowers said that if she’s in a shitty boat one more time she’s quitting, but I don’t think she means that my boat is the “shitty” boat (cause she’s been with novices lately), but at the same time it does lower my morale. Though she might not have meant that I drove the bottom boat, I feel like my other teammates do. I don’t know what to do anymore, or say anymore. Is it me? What can I do to change this?

Maybe the reason you’re with the “lower boat” is because your coach sees something in you that he thinks could resonate with those rowers. He thinks that you could be the key component in making them better. That’s a compliment, not an insult. Is that actually the case? Why knows, but it’s a lot more positive thinking that than it is “well, clearly I suck and that’s why I’m with this crew”.

If you’re curious why you’re with that boat, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask. You might find that there are certain parts of your coxing style that he thinks would help these rowers but there are other parts that he wants you to work on in a lower-stress environment than if you were with the first or second varsity boats. Maybe your vocal intensity and the clarity of your calls is something he really likes but your steering is something that needs a lot of work. You never know until you ask.

What’s your overall team/boat morale like? Are the rowers people you can depend on to show up (literally and figuratively) every day and give 100% or are they the type who are pretty “meh” about things? If it’s the latter, I don’t want to say they’re lost causes but there’s really only so much you can do. They have to be motivated to go out and row their best before they even wake up in the morning. If they’re not there’s nothing you’re going to be able to say that will help them.

If you know they’re committed, great. If they’re not, talk with your coach and get their take on things. Do they know that this is their attitude towards the team and it’s something they’ve accepted and found a way to work with or are they unaware about the lack of commitment from them? Either way, if it’s to the point where they’re going out and just rowing without a purpose or literally just going through the motions, that’s something that warrants a conversation with your coach. No one wants to coach people who are unmotivated or unwillingly to put the effort in and I know for me, as a coxswain, I cannot cox people like that. It mostly has to do with my already dangerously low levels of patience but also because I want to row with people who are just as fired up to be on the water as I am – if I can tell right away through your attitude or performance that you’re not excited to me there, it makes me less motivated to be with you, which then leads to me putting in less effort.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if your teammates think you’re the reason the boat performed one way or the other, it’s whether or not the coach thinks that. The only way to have any kind of definitive answer is to sit down and talk to them. I would also talk to the rowers in your boat. Ask them what felt different, why’d it feel different, what did that particular coxswain say that they think helped them move, how did she say it, what’s something she did well that they’d like to see you incorporate, etc. Also talk to that coxswain. I’m an extremely competitive person and would probably be really annoyed if I was in your situation because I would see myself to now be in direct competition with this other coxswain but experience (and maturity, obviously) has taught me that there’s a lot of value in using our competition to our advantage.

I mean “competition” in a friendly way too. If something she does can help you improve your skill set, by all means, interpret it to your style and incorporate it and vice versa – if she thinks that something you do would help her, tell her how you do it, let her interpret it in her own way, and go from there. Yes, personally, our goals as coxswains are to get better but the main point of our role on the team is the help make the boats move fast. If that means using something you learned from another coxswain who took out that boat one day then so be it. I’m trying to get away from the mindset of automatically shunning things because I disagree with how they’re done (because it’s not how I do them) or who the person is that originally did them and in doing that I’ve picked up a lot of great techniques that they’ve used but have been able to incorporate into my style and make my own.

Spend some time talking to your coach, teammates, etc. and get feedback from them. Use your coxing powers to do what you can to get people excited to be at practice. Maybe if they see that you are enthusiastic about being there and going out and you can get them fired up to row, regardless of who they’re up against, that’ll trigger something in them that motivates them to give it a little more when they’re on the water.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 30, 2013

I never want to be THAT coxswain whose rowers zone out and don’t listen. I feel like my rowers look out of the boat a lot and it affects the set and their technique. Do you have any posts/suggestions to make sure I’m on the right path?

I really believe that about 85% of the effort in staying focused in the boat HAS to come from the rowers – the coxswain has a job to do in that respect but they can only do so much. The best and most effective way to find out if you’re on the right track is to talk to your coach and your boat. Explain that you’ve noticed a lot of people looking out of the boat, etc. which causes all these different problems and you’re wondering if there’s anything you can do to help them keep their focus in the boat.

Get feedback on how you’re doing overall – can you be more aggressive at times or are you doing a good job wit that? How does your tone of voice resonate with the rowers – do you sound engaged, present, focused, etc. or are you pretty monotonous and flat with your calls? Do you sound like you’re in control and have a solid plan that you’re ready to execute or do you make your calls like you aren’t really sure of what you’re doing? The information you get from them will be way more valuable to you than anything else.

In my experience, rowers looking out of the boat and stuff tends to be more about them than it does you. Obviously you need to be doing your part to keep them engaged and focused but some people are just that ADD (literally and figuratively) and have a hard time staying “in the boat” when they’re just moving back and forth. It takes a lot of concentration to row which a lot of people, especially novices, don’t realize. If they’re looking out of the boat a lot, you’re right, it will definitely affect the set and technique. That’s something I constantly try and tell the kids I coach – even though it seems minimal, you turning your head shifts your body weight enough that it will offset the boat.