I saw one of your other posts and I thought that maybe you could help me as well. I’m 4’11 and in 7th grade. I really want to start rowing so my parents are finally letting me in the spring. I have researched all the positions and a lot of other crew related things and everything is a jumble. Is there anything that you think I should know about my appearance (clothes) or practice? Most importantly am I too big to be a coxswain? I have tried looking up the requirements for a coxswain but there is only answers for high school coxing.
You are definitely not too big to be a coxswain – I’m 4’11” too and have never been too big for anything in my life. The only requirements (to start with) are being the right size to fit in the seat and be close to racing weight, which for junior coxswains is 110lbs. (Since you’re only in middle school I wouldn’t worry too much about that right now though.) Whatever you read about high school coxswains applies to you though too – you all fall under the same “junior” umbrella.
Related: The Five Mandates of Coxing
When you’ve got some time to kill, check out the “defining the role of the coxswain” tag too. There’s tons of stuff in there that should help you get up to speed on what’s expected of you in just about every imaginable facet. Don’t get too overwhelmed though, you’re only in 7th grade so it’s unlikely that everything in there will be applicable to you but it is all good info to keep in the back of your head. As far as what to know about practice, check out that post linked above on the five mandates of coxing since you’ll want to be doing each of those things every day once you’re on the water.
When it comes to what you should wear, there’s a whole tag dedicated to that too (check it out here). I’d stick with stuff from this post, this post, this post, and this post most days depending on whether you’re on land or on the water and what the weather’s like. This is what I wore when I raced at HOCR this year but it also tends to be my go-to outfit most of the spring and fall as long as the temperatures aren’t abnormally warm or cold.
