Hey! I’m a novice coxswain for a high school men’s team and we’re approaching the end of the season. We have one race this weekend, and after that, we have championships in May. I have been told that I improved a lot this year, and for that, I’m grateful. We were just told who would be going to championships, and I was relieved to find out that I had been chosen. However, I have been having some paranoia that when it comes down to the actual race this weekend and at champs, my calls will be the same as they were for every other race we’ve had this season. And that’s definitely not what I want. I want my calls to be unique and to stand out amongst the pool of coxswains that have been chosen. Boatings haven’t been made yet, and along with working on execution and steering, I want my racing calls (and practice calls) to be more defined and more unique. I was wondering, since you’re an experienced coxswain, how do you mix up your calls in the boat? Thank you.
So, my theory on coxing, like most things, is that if it’s not broken don’t fix it. I completely understand wanting to step up your game and come up with “new” stuff for these bigger races but fight the urge to completely change your style or what you say. Your rowers have most likely become accustomed to your calls and, unless they’ve specifically said they’re over them and don’t get anything out of them anymore, will be listening for them during your race. Rowers are creatures of habit in my experience. If you want to incorporate several calls that are boat-specific (calls only your crew would understand), that’s fine (and advisable!) as long as you talk it over with your crew first and determine what they want/need to hear, where they want to hear it, etc. (You should be doing that anyways.) Your coach already chose you – they’re not going to change your mind just because you cox the same way you’ve been coxing all season. The reason they chose you is most likely because the way you’ve been coxing all season is good and the coaches see the rowers responding to you. That’s something that should make you proud, not paranoid.
In terms of how I mix my calls up, like I said, unless the rowers specifically ask me to call something differently or make a call for this thing at that spot during the race, I don’t really change up what I’m saying that much (outside of the 2-3 variations I tend to use). That’s not to say that I have a script or anything that I follow each time I go out, what I mean is that if my call for clean finishes is “accelerate, squeeze” I’m not going to suddenly change that to something else because I run the risk of the rowers not knowing what I’m saying or why I’m saying it. Granted, my current boat is made up of rowers who have been rowing for 20+ years so they basically know what all the variations of each call means but not all crews are that savvy so it’s not something I necessarily advise doing unless you have plenty of time to get them re-acclimated to your new calls.
If you find that you’re getting bored with a call, first ask yourself why you’re getting bored with it (are you repeating yourself a lot for some reason?) and then ask your boat if they feel the same way. If they say yes, find a new way to say what you want to say. If they say “no, I like that call because…” don’t change anything. The call might be stale to you but if that’s the one that kicks the ass of even one person in your boat, you don’t want to mess with that.
