Category: Video of the Week

Coxing Q&A Video of the Week

Question of the Day

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Hi Kayleigh! Last week, I lost my voice after one of our fall head races. I was talking to my coaches and they said that your “coxing voice” shouldn’t come directly from the throat or something like that – it should come from deep breaths from your stomach or the bottom part of your throat. I am now officially confused and don’t know who else to ask! Help please? Thanks!

They’re right that the deeper voice you want to use when you’re coxing shouldn’t come from your throat, it should come from your diaphragm. Instead of yelling, you want to project your voice, which means using your core and diaphragm to “push” the sound up out of you instead of trying to just use the muscles in your throat to be loud.

Related: I’ve only been coxing for three years but I feel like it has changed my voice…do you feel like that? Like, I feel like I cant hit as many high notes when I sing in the car (haha) or is there something I’m doing wrong?? I lose my voice easily in races now, especially during the spring when we have like 3 races in a day. What can I do about this? Should I change the way I cox?

Sometimes this can be hard to visualize or understand but think about horror movies and stuff – what does every person do right before they scream? They take a huge breath and then sort of contract their torso as they yell, which always makes their voice way louder than if they’d just screamed from their throat (which always sounds really high pitched and not convincing at all). It’s the same way with coxing. You’ll know if you’re doing it “right” if you get out of the boat after a race and your abs are just on fire. (I’m convinced that’s at least half the reason why I had a semi-six pack in high school.) It’s also good motivation for you (and other coxswains) to do the core workouts with the rowers, especially during winter training. The stronger your core is, the less “work” you’ll have to do when it comes to projecting your voice.

Related: How to protect your voice

As far as losing your voice goes, check out the post linked above. Doing all of that combined with trying to project more than you yell will go a long way in preventing you from losing your voice again.

Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Inside the 1999 World Cup USA M8+

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I can’t embed this week’s VOTW so you’ll have to go here to watch it. It’s an archived video from World Rowing of the 1999 USA M8+ that raced in the A-final at the 1999 World Cup in St. Catherine’s. Make sure you read the interview below the video too but do it either before or after watching the video, not during.

The first thing I thought when watching the start was “holy shit“. The only way to describe the USA’s start was nothing more than downright furious power. Watch 1:48-1:54 to see what I mean.

Also watch the two coxswains at the front of the screen between 2:19-2:25. See how the GBR coxswain in lane 6 (closest to the screen) is sitting down low and isn’t being jerked around by the movements of the boat? Now compare that to the RUS coxswain in lane 5; notice how he’s sitting straight up and is mimicking a bobble head with his upper body and torso movements? That’s how you get lines of bruises all along your back. You can’t feel how the boat’s moving if you’re letting your body be thrown around with the ebb and flow of the shell.

I liked what the commentator said at 4:09 about crews who aspire to overturn the United States. He said that they have to stay in touch otherwise they’ll be in real trouble. That’s so true, regardless of whether you’re fighting for 1st or 5th. Where they’ll be in trouble isn’t necessarily physically either, it’s mentally. If you give a crew a chance to break you, they’re gonna do it and mentally you will be weaker for it, which is why maintaining contact and then feeding off of that as you climb back to the front is so important.

6:10, “this is the first time a British crew has been in a winning position since 1912…” Haha, what?? Seriously?!

7:49, I love how after big races Pete jumps out of his seat and gives his stroke the biggest hug ever. It’s not a wimpy bro hug either, it’s a solid hug. Love it.

Something that stuck out to me that Bryan Volpenheim (bow in this crew) said in the interview below the video is this: “Power to me is technique. If you are able to put in the power at this part of the race (the finish) then that’s technique.”

And finally, my favorite part of the video, 11:43 … something Pete and I have in common is that no one will ever question our role in the boat. We’re that short.

College Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Harry Parker Memorial

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In the beginning of the video you hear the commentator talk about the “Rude and Smooth” crew, which was the varsity crew from 1974 and 1975 that went undefeated and were the unofficial national champions. Chapter 7 in The Amateurs is about them. (You can read part of the chapter here. Scroll down just a little more than halfway and you’ll see it.) Sports Illustrated also wrote about them in 1975 and is sometimes credited with giving them the “rude and smooth” nickname, even though it had been around before the article was written. Here’s another good article on them too from The Crimson from 2003.