Tag: calls

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I’ve noticed a lot of the coxswains in your recordings liking the “hook, send” call. What exactly is meant by this?

“Hook, send” is a two-part call that you make at the catch (hook) and the finish (send). Every coxswain kinda tweaks what the meaning of “hook” and “send” are for their crew so I’ll tell you my definitions of them. The hook part refers to that upward “J”-like movement you make to put the blade in the water. Since the goal at the catch is to go straight to the water, I’ll say “hook” to remind the rowers of that sharp, quick move they have to make to get a good latch on the water. The send part means exactly what you’d think it means – you’re sending the boat when the blades are out of the water. If you’ve heard the term “run”, it means basically the same thing. When I say “send” I want to feel a good, clean snap at the finish when the blades are released and feathered (watch the GIF in that link to see what I mean) and then I want to see and feel the boat run under us on the recovery. Getting a good amount of run can only happen if you have a good catch, solid drive, clean finish, cohesive swing, and a balanced boat. “Hook, send” focuses on the first three of those things.

Sometimes you’ll hear “kick, send” too, where “kick” refers to the pushing-off movement you make against the stretchers once you’ve got the blade in the water.

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi! In a race, when you call a power 10, do you call it two strokes ahead (Power 10 in two, that’s one, two,) or do you just call it?

I say it’s up to you, what you’re comfortable with, and what you see. With younger, less experienced crews you almost always call it in two because they need that “warning”/prep period a little more than an advanced or elite level crew would but as you start working with advanced high school crews, college crews, etc. you can almost always call it “on this one” if you choose to.

I tend to go back and forth with how I call it. If I can see another crew making a move or we’re running out of water to make our move, regain seats, walk away, etc. then I’ll say “on this one” because I don’t feel like I can afford to waste those two strokes where you’d normally say “one, two”. If we’re in a good position and I want to keep building on that then I’ll say “in two” or something similar because I think that it helps to maintain the pace that is (hopefully) already working for you and it doesn’t give that sense of immediate urgency that “on this one” does.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Any tips on being clear and concise with calls during race pieces? I tend to get a little overwhelmed by everything going on around me and I sometimes trip over words or get too wordy.

Tripping over words is gonna happen. It’s just one of those things that you can’t get defeated by, especially if you’re just starting out as a coxswain. Out of all the recordings I’ve listened to I’d say probably three of every five have some kind of flub in them. It’s not that big of a deal though and most of the time if it’s just a quick stumble the rowers won’t notice it, especially if it’s during a race. If it becomes a frequent thing and it’s causing you to get flustered and lose your focus, then it’ll start becoming a distraction to the rowers, which you don’t want.

The times I have the most issues with this is when it gets really cold outside and my face is so cold that my lips are numb. Numb = not moving very quickly = my brain is stringing together calls faster than my mouth can spit them out. Most of the time I just stop, shake it off (I literally shake my head), refocus, and pick up where I left off. All that happens in about a split second so it’s not like you’re taking five strokes to recover. Acknowledge that you slipped up but remember that at the end of the race, you’re most likely going to be the only one that remembers and/or cares.

One thing that can help with being too wordy is to plan out your calls ahead of time. I don’t plan out my races word for word but I at least have a general idea, based on previous races, practice that week, and talking with the crew, of what I want/need to say. You can make it easier on yourself too by putting a post-it note near your cox box with a list of calls on it so that you can see the calls that you need to start incorporating into your vocabulary. That way on race day you’ll already have them in your brain and won’t have to worry so much about getting tripped up over trying to come up with things to say. It also helps you avoid being too wordy because you know these are the calls you need to make at some point based on everything I already mentioned, meaning the rest of the time should be filled with anything you see about their blades right now (as a crew or individually), where you are location-wise, where the other crews are, etc.

Related: HOCR: Race plan “hacks”

Before you work on your calls though you need to figure out what’s overwhelming you about races. Is it just because you’re not the only boat out there or because everything’s happening so quickly or …? As soon as you determine why you’re getting overwhelmed then you can take the necessary steps to work on that during practice so that in future situations you don’t feel that way. If it’s because of the other boats being around you, put yourself in between two other crews while you’re doing warmups or something and don’t pay attention to them. Keep an eye on the distance between the blades so there aren’t any clashes but other than that, pretend like they aren’t there. Focus on your crew, their technique, and what they’re doing.

Since you’ll likely need to look at another crew during a race to see their position, practice doing this by pacing yourself throughout your row – try doing it every 5 strokes to start. All you’re doing is giving them a quick glance too. The longer you look at them the greater the chance that you’ll get distracted. Everything that’s going on around you should be secondary to what’s happening in front of you. Keeping the focus on what your crew is doing and not getting distracted by the other crews around you is a matter of discipline, plain and simple.

Coxswain recordings, pt. 16

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 16

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Sacramento State Start Lake Natoma Invite

This is a short clip that gives a good example of how to call a start. I’m not a huge advocate of counting down the strokes unless it’s two or three strokes leading into a move or stride (i.e. “let’s shift in three … in two …  in one, now…”) but that’s beside the point in this particular recording. The takeaway here is her tone and how she delivers her calls – sharp, quick, and concise.

Bucknell Men’s Novice 8+ Grand Final ECAC New England Championships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=d14Y4JzmsRM

Overall this is a good recording for a freshman/novice race. He starts off the first 500 by spending a lot of time noting their position on the other crews, which on one hand is good that he’s giving his boat that information but there’s definitely a better way to present it. You don’t want to put all your energy into talking about the rest of the field because that takes the focus away from your boat, which is the number one priority. You want to make sure you’re throwing down a clear, established rhythm right as you settle to your base pace and then once you’ve got the boat running and swinging well, that’s when you can start shifting your focus to how the race is evolving around you.

At 1:25 when he’s building into their upcoming move, it feels super frantic when he yells “get the bow ball ahead”. I get what he’s going for but I think this could have been executed a little cleaner. The subsequent calls though are good.

As the race goes on, he’s doing a great job of telling the crew where they’re at on the rest of the field … which I know is contrary to what I said earlier but the difference is that now is actually the appropriate time to be making all those calls. You hear him talk about how close they are to Michigan and Ithaca right before and right after they cross the thousand – that would have been the opportunity to shut them down with a move. When you’ve got crews that are half a seat or one seat off of you, you’ve gotta shift your priorities from whatever you’re currently doing to putting them in your rearview mirror for good. You don’t want to be on the losing end of that seat race once the other crew finally decides they’re sick of you guys sitting on each other.

Last thing to point out – look at the courses of each of the coxswains as they’re coming down the course. Trinity was swerving a bit in the last 250m or so, which probably/definitely cost them a seat or two. You can see Bucknell and BC doing the same around 5:00 and in the last 10-15 strokes, respectively.

Other calls I liked:

“Our race to win…”

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Coxswain recordings, pt. 15

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 15

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Cal Berkeley 2001 Pac 10 Championships

I tend to think that likening coxswains to jockeys is kind of a lazy (and not totally representative) comparison but this is the first recording I’ve listened to where the visual I have in my head is of the coxswain just whipping his racehorse(s) the whole way down the course to make sure their nose is in front at the end. I know this in your face, brute-ish style of coxing isn’t for everyone but I love it. His style is very crisp, powerful, and determined – you can hear that when he’s talking to the individuals in the boat (which he does frequently) and when he’s making calls for “the Bears”.

Information-wise, you hear him give consistent updates on the time and splits, in addition to the specific time when he’s going to call their next move. I hadn’t heard that before listening to this recording and thought it was an interesting strategy – it’s basically just a different (better?) way of saying “in two”.

The other thing I liked was his tone in the lead-up to their moves. 2:20 is a good example of this. He’s very measured in his tone, the calls are simple, and then at 2:28 you can almost feel the surge in power when he says “NOW!“.

Other calls I liked:

“Quick and light…”

“Sit up tall, breathe deep…”

“Bears are gonna move…”

“5 more, break ’em…”

“Coming into the last 15, this one’s gonna hurt ’em, kill ’em now…“

Ohio State University Women’s 2V8+ and V8+ 2013 NCAA Championships

There’s not a ton of audio to listen to in this video (it contains clips from the 2V8+ and Varsity 8+ races) but one thing I wanted to point out is the clip at 2:41 when she says “Ohio State Buckeyes are out in the lead! We are out … in … the lead.”. It’s a super simple call but the way she says it is confident as fuck. I also like the call at 3:18 – “they’re making moves back, they will get nothing out of us…”.

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 14

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 14

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Three Rivers Rowing Association 2013 Head of the Ohio Women’s Varsity 8+

Something that I’ve talked about before and talk about a lot with the coxswains I’m coaching is knowing when to call things in three, in two, “on this one”, etc. At 1:47 where she wants to increase the pressure she calls for them to do it “in two”. Now granted, during a head race you’ve got plenty of room to execute your moves and you don’t have to worry quite so much about running out of space like you do during a 2k but some things, like calling for an increase in pressure, don’t need that “prep period” that those two strokes give you. Instead it should be an immediate thing where the coxswain says “let’s increase the power with the legs, on this one … leeeegs chaaa … leeeegs chaaa” … or something like that.

Also, make sure you’re giving your crews regular updates as to your position on other crews (especially if you’re making a lot of calls about pushing them back, walking away, etc.), how far into the race you are (either distance-wise, if you know and/or time-wise since you have a timer on your cox box that you should have started at the beginning of the piece), etc. We just did evaluations with our coxswains last week and this was one of the most commonly made “requests” by the rowers so just keep in mind that little things like this are important for them to hear throughout the race and it requires absolutely no effort on your part to give them that. 

Ultimately I liked her intensity and general tone throughout the piece but she was way too wordy and said a lot without saying anything at all. There weren’t many calls of substance and she got repetitive with a lot of them as the piece went on, in addition to like I said before, not giving any updates with regards to their position on other crews or the course.

University of Texas 2013 Conference USA 1N8+ Grand Final

The race starts at 4:00. Overall this is a solid piece. She does a good job executing the race plan, telling the crew where they’re at on the rest of the field, and maintaining her focus and energy throughout the race. She’s a little aggressive with the rhythmic coxing (in the sense that I feel like she’s really overdoing it), which prevented her calls from having a good flow to them, which I tend to think is a lot more effective in helping to establish/maintain rhythm.

I liked how at 9:08 she said “we’re gonna win this if you do what I tell you”, which is a pretty ballsy call that I think would really only work if your crew had complete and total trust in you as their coxswain.

Other calls I liked:

“We’re at the thousand, new race, sit the fuck up, get your blades the fuck in, and we’re going now…“

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi! I just started coxing this fall, and towards the end of the season my rowers told me that the calls I was making during our race pieces were good but that I should work on being more controlled with my voice. I think it’s because I’m nervous about being silent for too long so I rush everything out but then I also run out of things to say. I also think I need to work on being less repetitive and have a little more intensity to my calls. However, we went off the water right after that. Is there any way I can work on this over the winter? I really want to work on these things and I’m bummed I won’t really have a good opportunity the whole winter. I cox the guys on the ergs but it’s very different than being in the boat. Right now I’m just listening to tapes when I have spare time and taking notes, but is there any way to actually practice this before spring?

One thing you can do in the winter to increase the variety of your calls is get together with some other coxswains, listen to some recordings (including each others), and start creating a list of calls for … everything. Catches, finishes, drive, recovery, making a move, sprinting, etc. Everything. Google Sheets is a good way to keep it all organized. With each call you write down, make sure you understand where it should be called (meaning where during the stroke and if necessary, where during a race or piece), what its purpose is, and how it should be said (tone of voice, intonation, etc.) – all good things to write down next to each call.

Another thing you can do is get some video of crews on YouTube (or your own crew, if you have some) and watch it with no sound while practicing your calls. The coxswain’s view of races would be a good way to practice this. This allows you to practice making the calls at the correct spot in the stroke, as well as work on your intensity, tone, control, etc. during the more “frantic” parts of the race. It’ll also help you work on your pacing so you don’t use all your calls up right at the start of the race. I’d recommend doing this with the other coxswains so that you can critique each other and get feedback on everything.

When you’re coxing the guys on the erg, make sure you’re coxing everyone and not each individual, if that makes sense. Normally when you think of coxing people on the erg you think about standing behind them giving them power 10s. What I’m talking about is talking to the entire group of rowers and making calls similarly to how you would in the boat. Make individual calls if/when necessary but the majority of what you’re saying should be directed towards everyone. Forget about the 5s, 10s, etc. and focus more on making general reminders about the bodies and helping them visualize being on the water with an oar in their hand. Take calls from the list you’ve been creating and try to incorporate 3-5 into your vernacular every few days until they become a regular part of your vocabulary.

It’s great that you’re going into the next few months knowing exactly what you need to work on. It can be tough working on the audible part of coxing in the winter but it’s definitely possible if you get creative.

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hey, so I am the 2V coxswain and we almost always practice with the 1V. Our coach usually starts us a length ahead (or something like that), but the 1V always comes back up. I was just wondering how I can keep the rowers calmer and still take great strokes as they walk on us (and if that happens in a race situation).

If you know that the 1V is going to come back up on you, a point should come where it doesn’t phase you (and/or the crew) anymore. Ideally you should also get to the point where instead of watching them walk on you, you start trying to hold them off and/or push them back. That’s the only way both crews are going to get better.

Related: My girls really like when I cox off of other boats, even if we’re just doing steady state. I’m in the 2V boat so they all want to beat the 1V at ALL times. I find it easy to cox when we’re next to another boat/in front of it. However, I never quite know what to say without being negative and annoying when we’re CLEARLY behind another boat. Yesterday afternoon we were practically three lengths behind the v1, and we STILL didn’t catch up even when they added a pause. What do I say at times like these? I always end up getting rather quiet since the overall attitude of my boat is pretty down. I feel like whenever I call a 10 or get into the piece at this point it does absolutely nothing, since my rowers have practically given up.

Something you can do is to tell them what the margin is like when you start, watch your time, and see how long it takes for the 1V to get bow to stern or even with you. Then, on the next piece say “it took them (whatever amount of time) for them to get even with us, I want you to hold them off for 10 more seconds on this one”. Give them something small like that to work towards and then when they hit the point where the “10 more seconds” kicks in tell them this is where they get tough, now push them back. Once the ten seconds are up, see how long they can maintain their pace and/or splits before it starts to fall off and the 1V walks up. Keep doing this each time you go out and keep increasing the time, strokes, whatever that you want to hold them off.

Point out things the other boat is doing too, like having sharp or sloppy strokes, and use that to help drive your crew. If their catches are sharp, say something like “they’re getting their blades in, let’s clean it up over the next five to match them”. If their catches are sloppy, tell them “they’re shortening up, this is where you make ’em work for it, show ’em how it’s done…”. Unless you are straight up doing a race piece where the goal is to see who crosses the line first, your goal here should be to get better (with a slight undertone of beating them obviously because … who doesn’t want to try and beat the 1V?). If your only goal is to beat the other boat, you’re not becoming better athletes.

Both of those calls are incredibly motivating but in completely different ways. Typically the top boat is one that everyone else strives to be in, as well as the boat that everyone looks up to, so you if you can point out what they’re doing well and help your rowers emulate that by pointing out what they can do better with their own technique, you’re not only helping them row better and stronger as a crew but you’re also helping them individually and preparing them a bit more for when they make that jump to the 1V. You’re also helping your coach by creating a deeper pool of athletes to choose from when he creates the 1V lineup.

Here’s a really random analogy that I just thought of  that I think conveys what I’m trying to say in maybe a slightly easier way to understand. You know how when you’re growing up, you reach a certain age (like, 10 or 11) where your parents start to give you more responsibility and trust you with things in the hopes that you’ll start to mature a little? If you rise to the occasion, that’s when people start thinking you’re older than you are because your level of maturity, responsibility, self-awareness, etc. is a bit higher than your peers. On the flip side, if your parents only ever treat you like the age you are, don’t push you or put you in situations where you need to maybe be more mature than you are, your development stays a little stagnant and you don’t really “grow” or mature at the same rate as your peers who are being put in those situations. With your boat, you want to be the parent that treats your kid like they’re a 1V rower even though they’re in the 2V. Don’t let them assume that just because they’re in the 2V that means that they have to accept being passed by the 1V all the time just because they’re the 1V. Push them and force them to mature so that when they are being challenged by the 1V, they can challenge them back and make everyone say “Wow … that’s the 2V?”.

To keep them calm, there’s only so much you can do. If they’re relying solely on you to prevent them from freaking out because omg there’s another boat, you’ve got bigger issues to address. They’ve got to be able to suck. it. up. and be mentally tough themselves instead of expecting you to be the mentally tough one and project that onto everyone else. Like I said in the post I linked to, the other boat is irrelevant. This also goes back to them maturing mostly on their own but with a bit of help from you. They have to figure out how to not let another crew walking on you flip the “panic” switch in their brains (as individuals) and then communicate that with you so that if/when you are in a situation like that, you know exactly what to say to them to keep them in the moment and focused on what your boat is doing.

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 13

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 13

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Purdue University 2012 SIRAS Women’s Varsity 8+

The race starts around 2:40. Right off the bat, the only thing I noticed when I was actually watching the video (vs. just listening to it) is how the stroke seat is looking a solid 90 degrees to her left the entire race. Her rowing is pretty unimpressive too – she’s missing a ton of water at the catch because she’s rowing it in nearly every stroke. Even though the coxing was pretty good, I just couldn’t get past this. You have to be paying attention to the bladework and call the rowers out on that (especially when it’s your stroke/stern pair). She does say something at 4:41 about getting the heads in the boat but a couple strokes later the stroke is looking out of the boat again.

At 6:20, I liked how she started the second ten of that twenty with “10 to start off the third 500”. Since that’s usually the hardest part of the race, phrasing it that way kinda gives you a renewed sense of focus and motivation to make those strokes good.

Make sure when you’re saying finish/recovery calls, you’re not calling them at the catch (and vice-versa). She did this with the “send it” call at 6:45. It’s fine to say something like “send it now” with the “send it” part at the catch and the “now” emphasized at the finish but just saying “send it” at the catch is incorrect.

When she calls paddle at the end I was nervous because from it doesn’t look like their bow ball was through the line yet. Even if you hear the horn you should always, always, always row through the line, meaning you don’t call paddle until YOU, the coxswain, are through the line. It’s extra security, just in case.

Other calls I liked:

“Move this boat…”, with regards to keeping the heads in the boat

Purdue University 2013 Men’s Lightweight 8+ vs. Notre Dame JV8+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=zEIWL8p280E&NR=1

This coxswain actually emailed me this video a couple months ago to listen to so below is some of what I sent her.

“Overall, this was really good. Your aggression was good but I could see what you meant about it not being as intense had you been in a closer race. When I first started coxing and had leads like that with my boats, I let my intensity come down a little too. After a couple of races I shifted how I did things and instead of “cruising” the rest of the way I completely stopped paying attention to the other boats and focused solely on my crew. Even though you’re beating the other boats handedly doesn’t mean any of the intensity has to go away. If anything, you almost want to get more intense to keep the rowers in it. They can CLEARLY see they’re beating the other crews so it’s easy for them to start to power down but it’s up to you to make sure they stay at 100%.

It’s not so much about “proving” you can win, it’s more about the psychological mindset that it puts the rowers (and us, to an extent) in. If they know that all they have to do is get ahead before you ease off of them, that is what they’ll start to look forward to each race. If you can keep the intensity and aggression in your voice for the whole 2000m they’ll continue to push for the whole 2000m. It’s all psychological. When it comes down to that one race where you have a crew that’s pushing you down the entire course, you’ll be better prepared to fight them off if you can mentally go 2000m instead of 750m or 1500m. Make sense? Obviously there are exceptions, like if you’re in a qualifying race and all you’ve got to do is place to advance. At that point  you want to conserve some energy so you can go all out during the final. If you’ve got a lead on a crew like you did during this race, it’s OK to back off a little as long as you don’t completely turn the gas off and let the other crew(s) come back on you. When that happens it turns into a frantic situation that results in the rowers expending more energy than they otherwise would have needed to.”

At 1:23 they take a 10 after the start, which is an odd/unnecessary move (literally and figuratively). If you notice you’re even with another crew and you want to make a move, use the settle to walk. After the start (high stroke rate and settle) you want to give the rowers a chance to get into their rhythm. If you go straight from the start into a power 10, especially one that doesn’t have a direct end goal, it makes things slightly frantic again and doesn’t give them a chance to actually settle into the rhythm they just tried to establish.

When she tells them at 1:58 that Notre Dame had moved over a lane, that would have been a good point to take a 10 or 20 to capitalize on their coxswain’s steering error. Coxing is the ultimate form of psychological warfare – when another coxswain gives you the opportunity to take advantage of their mistakes, take it.

Jumping ahead to the end of the race, when she says “last few strokes” they actually took 17 before they crossed the line. If you say “last few” they’re most likely going to assume that means 5 or less. Try and be specific. If you don’t know how many strokes are left, guess, but don’t say something general like “last few”.

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Navigating the starting chute at a head race

Coxing How To Racing

Navigating the starting chute at a head race

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The start of a head race is different than the start of a sprint race because you’re rowing into it instead of starting from a dead stop. Most regattas will have the crews hanging out, sort of, in a waiting area a few hundred meters above the starting line before calling them down by bow numbers. As you row into the waiting area, you’ll want to find crews with the bow numbers immediately ahead of and behind yours and situate yourself between them. From here, you’ll want to use use your bow pair or bow four to slowly move you up the queue with the other crews.

Most larger regattas have what’s called a “chute” right before the starting line. (Smaller races might just do one single file line.) This is what everyone in the waiting area is funneled into before they cross the line one by one.

As you come into the chute, odd numbered bow numbers will line up on one side and even numbered ones on the other. Where you should go is marked by three buoys — a red one, a yellow one, and a green one. At HOCR, the odd numbered crews will line up between the red and yellow buoy (red = port) and the even numbered crews will line up between the yellow and green buoy (green = starboard).

By this point you should be rowing all eight, slightly above paddle pressure. You’ll row down towards the line in a staggered pattern and then cross at 10–15 second intervals. There will be officials on the water telling you to ease off or go to full pressure depending on how close you are to the crew in front of you. They’ll definitely tell you when to go to full pressure but if you start too early they’ll tell you to back off so you aren’t too close to the crew ahead of you when you start. By the time you cross the starting line you want to be at full pressure and at least 2–3 strokes into your starting 20 or whatever you do at the start of your race. At this point, you’ll hear an official say “on the course!”, which you should then communicate to your crew.

Coming across the line, you should already have your starting sequence figured out (and have practiced it many times) so that should be fairly self-explanatory. I called the five to build into full pressure when the officials on the water told us to bring it up and then we usually crossed the line somewhere around the second or third stroke into our high 20. From there it’s coxing as usual.

I think it’s important to not say a lot before the race because there’s going to be a lot going on and many things for you to be listening and paying attention to, which can be difficult to do if you’re trying to actively cox the crew or carry on a conversation. Same goes for the rowers. Things happen fast in the chute and it’s imperative for the rowers to be ready to go as soon as the officials/coxswain call for it.

Image via // Rowing Upriver