I had a (required) meeting with my coach yesterday. She suggested that I record myself and that’s what I did today. Do you think I should email her to set up another meeting where she can listen and critique? Or does that sound like I’m “sucking up?”
That’s definitely not sucking up. If a coxswain emailed me and asked me to critique their recording, I’d be thrilled. Even if I told them to record themselves, the fact that they’re asking for feedback shows that not only did they listen to my suggestion but now they want to know what they can do to improve. That’s huge in my opinion and really indicates to me that you’re someone I should be considering for my top boats.
I would email her your recording and ask her if she’d mind listening to it this weekend and then find a time next week to sit down and meet with you to discuss it. You should also listen to it this weekend and critique yourself, that way you can go into your meeting with some notes of your own. If she asks you why you made this call or decided to make that move during the piece, you’ll know exactly what she’s talking about and can explain your thought process.
Personally I wouldn’t want to be there when my coach is listening to my recording for the first time. I’m very critical of my coxing and always seem to find a million and twelve things that I’d do differently as soon as another person listens to it. I’d rather us listen to it separately, then compare notes and if necessary, listen to bits and pieces together during our meeting. If you’re comfortable being there while she listens to it, go for it. I think that giving her the weekend to listen to it though will give her more time to gather her thoughts, which means she’ll be able to give you a more thorough critique when you meet up.
