Hi! I’m a cox from PA. We don’t have very many people on our team so my coach told me I’m going to row for the spring season too. I’m 5’2 100 pounds. I’m not sure what 1k and 2k times I should be trying to get! My best 1k is 4:21! Also, I’ve been debating for a while whether or not to completely quit crew altogether. Trust me, I’m not a quitter, but I feel like my team hates me, and being around them 24/7 doesn’t really help my self-esteem. Some guys on the team always tell me I’m a worthless cox and that I’m useless to the team. It really hurts. I try to be the best I can be but I just don’t feel like it’s good enough. I’ve already gotten injuries 3 times this season due to poor training from my coaches. My mom says if I get another that I have to quit anyways. Next, being the lightest person on the team doesn’t help my case. I pull less than them and I’m just smaller in general. I can hardly contribute while carrying the boat down. Crew is also affecting my school. On top of all the stress I have from crew, I have honors classes to pertain to. I’m not sure what to do, but I’d really like your intake on my situation! Thanks!
This is another pet peeve of mine, when coaches make coxswains actually row. Yes, coxswains should get experience in a boat and they should know how to row but actually having coxswains, especially tiny people like you, row in races and stuff makes no sense to me. Like you said, you pull higher splits than them and you’re smaller in general so there’s no way you could possibly stack up to the people who are actually built to row. Coaches have to recognize that. Instead of sticking coxswains in boats to row, maybe they should make more of an effort to go out and find rowers. Shocking concept. I’m a firm believer that the role of coxswain and rower are not interchangeable and it really grinds my gears when coaches treat them like they are.
I hate telling people to walk away from rowing, but I did it at one point so I’d be a hypocrite if I told you to stay with it even though it was making you miserable. If you’re not enjoying it, your teammates are assholes (and yours sound like they are), other more important responsibilities are falling to the wayside, you’re frequently getting injuries, you don’t feel like you’re contributing even when you’re making the effort, etc. then I would sit down with yourself and seriously ask yourself why you’re still there. I’m not a quitter either – I absolutely hate people who quit things – but sometimes there are legitimate reasons that warrant it and you have to swallow your pride and accept that.
When I was in school, I didn’t put anything above rowing. In high school I could put all my efforts into crew and still get good grades, so that’s what I did. In college I had to put all my efforts into crew and it screwed me, both mentally/emotionally and with school. Now that I’m done with all that (and maybe this is just attributed to 20/20 hindsight and being a few years older and wiser) I realize(d) that nothing should be put ahead of yourself and school, while you’re in it. I know we tend to act like crew is the be all, end all but it’s not. If you don’t have school to consider, you at least have to consider the effect it’s having on you. You have both school and yourself to think about and right now, both of those sound like they’re being negatively impacted.
It’s not even crew itself that I think is the problem for you, I think it’s more your coaches and “teammates” … and I say that with quotations because they don’t sound like what teammates should be, thus they don’t really deserve the title in my opinion. In the end it’s your decision, but you’ve got to make sure you look at the situation rationally and consider the effects/consequences on all the things I just talked about if you stick with it.
