Hi, I recently was asked by my coach to cox again this season like I did last season and I am really excited. My dad however thinks that coxswains don’t even do anything and they just sit there and yell at people. I keep trying to explain that it is a lot more than that but keep messing up. Do you have any ideas for how to explain what a coxswain does to my dad? Please help! Thanks!
This annoys me, like almost to the point where it’s irrational how annoyed I am. I get it if it’s your friends who say stuff like that but your parents?? You’d think they’d be a little more supportive than to just assume you spend 12+ hours a week (at least) “not doing anything”.
Anyways, read the post linked below and/or send it to your dad to read. (Personally I’d do both.) That person asked the exact same question so what I said to them applies here as well.
I’m kinda over defending what coxswains do to people who clearly don’t want to understand the role and it’s responsibilities. I was talking about this the other day with someone and we both agreed that there’s a time when it’s necessary to defend it and we’ll do that no matter what but we’re not going to get into some random argument with someone who already has their mind made up. If they genuinely ask me what the role of a coxswain is then obviously I’ll talk about it with them because it can be really fun talking about what you do with someone who isn’t familiar with it but if they ask in a high-and-mighty kind of way and is clearly already resolved to thinking that our job is unimportant then it’s not worth my time. It’s VERY easy to tell those two people apart though so it’s not like you should just assume that every person who asks about coxing is a jerk who just doesn’t get it.
Something that I think is important to remember is that you can’t let your self-worth as a coxswain be dictated or defined by what other people think of you. As long as you’re doing what you need to do, contributing to the team in a positive way, and your coaches/teammates understand your value then all other outside opinions don’t matter. Does it suck that these outside opinions are coming from your dad? Yea, obviously, but hopefully after explaining some of the stuff in that post I linked he’ll have a better understanding and be more supportive.
