Tips on teaching new coxswains? So far I’m trying to let them make as many decisions by themselves (i.e pick a side to touch if we want to turn & if its wrong they can just change rather than telling them) & explaining why we do specific calls, but beyond that I’m not quite sure what to say to them. I don’t want to be too demanding but I want them to be really confident moving the boat too!

With regards to picking a side to touch, you should be telling them which way to push the strings if you want to go one way or the other because it’s a huge waste of time if they have to constantly keep adjusting their point because they went the wrong way. It’s never “just” changing, there’s a lot that goes into it. Steering as a novice can be hard and trying to process how to fix it, especially if no one’s told you what to do in the first place, is a recipe for disaster or at the very least, a really irritated and overwhelmed coxswain. This isn’t to say that you should be holding their hand and telling them what to do every step of the way every time you’re out on the water, but you do need to thoroughly go over everything with them before you go out and then once you’re out, remind them every so often for the first week or so if you notice they’re doing the opposite of what they should be doing. Letting them make and learn from their mistakes is fine but they need that initial bit of instruction to go off of.

I’d suggest writing the basics down, photocopying it, and then distributing it to them to read before the season starts. How to get the boat on and off the water, how to steer, the calls you use, etc., that way they can start to learn the stuff before they get on the water. I find it’s better to get acquainted with that kind of stuff before you have to use it vs. trying to learn it as you do it. Give them small tasks to do that lets them test the leadership waters – run warmups, supervise a certain 8+ being loaded onto the trailer, etc. so they can get comfortable leading groups of people. Observe them and then tell them what they did well and what they can do better on next time – i.e. speak louder, give specific people specific tasks, be more confident when giving instructions (no stuttering or stammering), etc.

Something that’s also important is to explain their role in the boat and on the team. I don’t mean the “you’re the short person that yells and tells people what to do” version, I mean the “as the leader of the crew, the rowers rely on you for technical feedback and encouragement, the coaches rely on you to be the ‘middle man’ between them and the rowers, and the team relies on you to be a leader who is able to delegate, foster cooperation, and be a ‘jack of all trades’ to do whatever is needed to ensure the team’s success” version. If they know right off the bat that these are the expectations of them by their coaches and teammates they can start to “buy in” to the position a little bit faster than if they just went through the motions of making calls, telling people what to do, and being loud.

I would caution though that unless you’re a coach or a varsity coxswain, try to avoid telling the novice coxswains what to do. From observation and reading a lot of the emails and messages I get, novice coxswains tend to find it confrontational, intimidating, and not helpful when rowers start telling them what to do. When you’re on the water, the only person who should be talking to the coxswain is the stroke (and coach, obviously) and even then, the stroke needs to issue restraint and not butt in too much.

Tags: coxswain novice qotd