Tag: calls

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 16, 2013

I’ve just joined a varsity program and we have been doing a lot of long pieces in preparation for 6K season. Whether it be ‘racing’ pieces or ‘technique’ pieces, I do find myself stumbling on things to say. I’m not quite clicking as much as I did last year (maybe it’s because last year during fall season we were still learning how to actually row – this is my first year on varsity). Do you have any tips to coxing longer pieces without being annoying? And also – do you have an advice on how to steer while keeping it close with other boats that we’re practicing with?

I’ll tackle the steering question first. The first thing you’ve got to do is communicate with the other coxswains. Ask them where they’re pointing when you’re on straight bodies of water and adjust your point accordingly. Do this before you start rowing. When you’re on a river that has bends and curves, make sure you know when to start turning depending on whether you’re on the inside, middle, or outside and then tell the other coxswains when you’re starting your turn. This will help you prep for head races when you might have to turn while passing or being passed.

In addition to communicating with one another, the next two most important things you’ve gotta do are not oversteer and not freak out because of how close another crew is to you. I’d say anywhere from 5-6ft. is enough room to have between the two sets of blades. Any more and you’re probably taking up too much of the river. Any less and you’re probably going to clash blades (unless you’re really good at keeping a point). When I first started coxing I was a chronic oversteerer. I got much better over the course of my freshman year but would still fall back into bad habits when having to steer next to other boats.

Trusting other coxswains is one of the hardest parts of the job for me and being really close to them always made me nervous. Whenever we’d do pieces with other crews I’d volunteer to be the one in the middle so I could force myself to become more comfortable with crews on either side of me. It forces you to be even more aware of the adjustments you’re making and how big they are vs. how small they need to be. If you get jittery because another crew is close to you and then overcorrect by throwing the rudder to one side, you’re going to end up doing a fishtail-pinball like maneuver that’s going throw off you, the rowers, the other coxswain(s), and your coach because of the potential that they’ll have to stop the piece so you can get your point again or so the crews can untangle their oars.

The TL;DR of this is to communicate, pick a point and stick to it, maintain your composure, and make small adjustments when necessary.

With regards to coxing longer pieces, as long as you’re not saying the same thing over and over and over expecting something different to happen, speaking in a monotonous tone, and/or saying a bunch of nonsense, you won’t be annoying. Check out the post linked below – I think there’s some good info in there that’ll help you figure out things to say throughout the pieces.Also, check out the recordings I’ve posted for some ideas of things to say and how to say them. (Don’t just pick out things that sound cool either – know why they’re being used and understand the purpose behind them.)

Don’t put too much weight on the “varsity” label. I see it far too often and it’s annoying. Yes, being on varsity is a step above novice (or JV) but there’s really nothing special about it. You’re doing more work and pushing yourself harder but that’s the point. Congratulations, you leveled up and have now reached Level 2 in rowing. “Varsity” is just a word that people put on a pedestal because they think it means all these things that it doesn’t. The only difference between being on varsity and not being on varsity is that on varsity you’re expected to have a slightly better understanding of the concepts you learned the previous year, just like in school. Keep doing what you know how to do, make an effort to learn what you don’t, and always work to make small improvements when you’re out on the water. That is what being on the varsity team is about.

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 12

By readyallrow September 12, 2013

Hobart University 2011 Head of the Charles Men’s Collegiate 8+

I like how she starts out the piece with “let’s get us moving”. Notice how coming out of the bridges she’s hugging the buoy line? That’s how you wanna do it.

At 1:19, she tells them where Notre Dame is and that’s where they started but it’s not going to be where they finish – that’s a good call to make to give your crew something to work torwards in the early parts of the race instead of going out and just rowing. Pick a boat in front of you, put a target on their back, and go after them. Notice how she’s still hugging the buoys pretty tightly as they start coming around the turn? She’s taking a great course. Remember, your oars can go over the buoys but the hull can’t.

The twelve seconds of “hook, send” from 1:54-2:06 was a little excessive. Normally you don’t want to say the same thing more than two or three times in a row because after that you get tuned out. The over-repetiveness of some of her calls was already driving me crazy and then I realized they’re only at Riverside. It seems like the only thing she’s comfortable saying are calls with “hook” in them. If you’re listening to your audio and notice a similar pattern, take that as a sign that you need to broaden your vocabulary. Your calls should be varied enough that you aren’t saying the same exact thing every 2-3 strokes.

I like that around 5:48 she tells them that she wants to stay up on the boat behind them because she wants the line on Weeks – that’s definitely something you need to communicate with your crew coming into the turns, especially Weeks and Eliot. In order for you to have the cleanest and sharpest line, you’ve got to either hold off the crew that has the potential to pass you until you’re at least through the bridge or make your move now so that you can pass the crew in front of you before you get to the bridge (as opposed to trying to do it under the bridge).

Her course coming into Weeks is great and she does a good job telling the crew exactly what she needs them to do while giving them a bit of confidence (“you guys are going to make this boat fly”) as they get closer to the bridge. I would definitely recommend watching her turn several times through because she nailed it.

At 9:38, “little headwind, swing deep” is a good call. Being able to read the wind and telling the crews how to respond to it is a sign of good coxswain because it shows you’ve got a good technical understanding of the stroke.

Post-Anderson it would have been a good idea to tell them where they are on the crews in front of them. She made a bold statement early on in the race about Notre Dame but hasn’t said anything about them since. Regardless of whether you’ve gained on them or they’ve walked away, you should be letting them know where they are on the competition. They can see the crews following them but they can’t see the crews you’re chasing. Even if you’re out there solo and you’ve got the whole course to yourself, tell them that and then take a move to take advantage of your incredibly lucky situation.

Coming around Eliot she calls for the starboards to give her pressure for three strokes but then ends up needing pressure from them for about 10. It’s always better to overestimate how many strokes it’ll take to do something than to underestimate it because as you can hear, there’s a momentary second of panic in her voice where I bet she was thinking “shit, we’re not going to make it”. In situations like that if you have to keep calling for pressure from one side, help them out by calling the other side down. Other than that she did a great job coming through the bridge. Coming around the Belmont dock you can see how close the hull is to the buoys, which means she set herself up really well for that final turn. One thing that she does particularly well during the race, other than steering, is telling them where they are on the course. I think she pointed out a fair amount of the landmarks, as well as some really important meter-marks. Make sure you look at a map before hand and know where all those things are.

At 15:12 she says she’s got the point for the finish line which is a great thing for the rowers to hear because it means there’s no more steering, they’re in the home stretch, and the ONLY thing all five or nine of you are focused on is driving towards the line. In the end here though, especially within the last 20, you have to stop with the technique calls. This is where all your calls should be about where they are, where the other crews are, how far they are from the line, and any other motivational things you can think of. Hot take here but after Eliot, the technique is either going to be there or it isn’t, and if it’s not it’s going to be really hard for you or them to fix it at this point. This is where all your calls should be about where they are, where the other crews are, how far they are from the line, and any other motivational things you can think of.

Overall I’d say this was pretty good. I would have liked to have heard more variety in her calls but I think she makes up for it (only a little bit though) with her awesome course.

FIT 2011 Head of the Charles Men’s Champ 8+

This coxswain starts out relatively calm but is still sharp (so sharp) and intense with her calls. At 2:51 she does a good job of telling her crew that they’re about to pass MIT and she’s moving to the outside. It might seem insignificant but that’s a good thing to tell your crew (see what I said about using your steering as motivation up above), despite her move here being a little early considering they were still behind them through the Powerhouse. Remember though, you don’t have to pass on the outside. If you want the inside line, the coxswain of the crew you’re passing has to give it up.

I like her call at 7:14 – “it’s time to move through them” to let them know you’re both sitting on each other and it’s time for us to make a move. Same goes for the “I’m taking Weeks before them” call at 7:56.

Coming through the turn, the angle definitely could have been sharper and that’s mostly on the ports to help the starboards out there by backing off so they can bring it around while the coxswain is on the rudder. Ports. I beg of you. When your coxswain says “ease off”, “back off”, etc. DO IT.

At 15:55, she called that shift well – the build into it was calm and then the call for “we’re going for it” was a great way to start the final stretch. I also liked the “now we move” call a little bit later. Overall, well coxed, well steered.

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

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 4, 2013

Hi! I have a couple of questions. I recently switched schools and I’ve noticed that my new team doesn’t check pitch and spread. Is this weird? And if I were to say something like “and send!” would I call that at the catch?

Are you in high school or college? If you’re in high school I wouldn’t think it’s too weird. I don’t think I ever saw my coaches do anything with the rigging (although it’s possible they messed with it when we weren’t around). I know some high schools that pay way to much attention to that kind of stuff for the level their kids are rowing at and others who don’t pay any attention to it. It couldn’t hurt to ask your coach just out of curiosity. If you’re in college and they don’t check it, that’s probably a little more rare since you’re starting to row at a level where those minor changes can actually have a big impact on your stroke.

With “and send” you would say “and” at the catch and then “send” at the finish since that’s when the boat actually sends. Instead of saying “and” though, make a call for the catch. “And” doesn’t really do anything, even though I get why you do it. If you say something like “jump”, “press”, or whatever other words you can think of, that has the ability to initiate a stronger response from the rowers which in turn will make the drive more powerful and the run a little longer. You want to say as few words as you need to in order to get your point across but the key to doing that is making sure every word means something. If you can eliminate the useless words and replace them with something more likely to elicit a response, you’ll be a more effective coxswain.

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 11

By readyallrow August 13, 2013

George Washington University vs. Navy

At the start, make sure you remind everyone to bury their blades. 7-seat was only about 3/4 of the way in during the countdown. You can really see it at 2:17 how everyone’s blades are just under the surface but his is peeking out a bit. You can also see it on his first puddle, there’s a lot of whitewater compared to everyone else’s deep, dark ones.

Similarly to the previous GW recordings I posted, the tone, annunciation, etc. of the calls are spot on. A couple examples here include the “jump and send” at 3:13, the intensity at 5:32 when he says “I’m on bowball”, and the actual calmness in his voice when he says “first 500m move, nice and calm” at 3:42. If you’re calm when you tell them to be calm or aggressive when you want to see/feel the aggression, you’re going to see and feel that response on the next stroke.

I was paying more attention to the coxing than the actual rowing but I noticed that it looked pretty unset at times, like they were on a different side every stroke for multiple strokes at a time. You’ve gotta remind them not to settle for that. Small adjustments, get it right at the finish coming around the corner, stabilize it coming into the catch, lock on, send; stabilize, lock, send. Also, compared to the rest of the piece the slingshot 10 at 5:48 looked sluggish. For a move like that, make sure you’re preceding it with calls to stay light on the seats, stay up tall, keep the catches quick and the finishes tight, etc.

George Washington University 2013 IRA Freshman 8+ Petite Finals

One of my favorite things about Connor’s coxing is that he has managed to find that perfect balance between being calm and aggressive. Coxswains that can find and perfect that balance are the kind of coxswains I would give everything for as a rower. Another thing I like is everything that happens after the race is over. He tells them exactly where they were on the other crews when they crossed, congratulated them on a great race and season, and really just made it evident that he loved coxing this boat regardless of the outcome of the race. You don’t say “that was fun as fuck” unless you mean it, trust me. You can also hear one of the guys say “we gave ’em a run for their money” in reference to Princeton (“fucking Princeton”, to quote that person) and they did – they finished 0.8 seconds behind them.

Between 2:58 and 3:03, listen to how he calls their position on Princeton. “Holding our margin … even with Princeton … one seat up on Princeton.” In five seconds he told them their location on another crew three times with minimal effort. All it takes is one quick glance over to see where you’re at. I also like how he calls their position on Wisco a little earlier at 2:26 – he just says “up Wisco”, which is a quick and easy way to say you’re up on a crew while in the middle of making more important calls.

At 4:18 he says “we gotta move, we can’t sit” which is a good call as long as you follow it up with an actual move. Not doing that just kinda leaves the crew hanging and you can lose a bit of that motivational momentum that comes with a call like this.

Again with the tone of voice, the 20 seconds between 4:39 and 5:00 is another good example of how to build intensity with your voice and evoke a response from your crew.

Other calls I liked:

“Get ready to fuck them in two, that’s one, and two, fuck the lightweights!“

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

Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 23, 2013

I rowed for three seasons and I have been asked to help cox a crew for a race thing in the beginning of September. A lot of the people haven’t rowed much/before and we are allowed 12 on-water sessions before the race. The coach has said that I need to coach more since I can sometimes see more from the coxswain seat than they can see from the coach’s boat, except I’m not experienced enough with coxing to know what to look for other than obvious timing issues etc. Do you have any tips?

First thing I’d do is go talk to your coach about what she specifically wants you to look for. Ask for two or three things and then talk with her about what you should be noticing about each of them and what it looks like when it’s right vs. wrong. Bring a notebook so you can write down what she says instead of trying to remember everything. (Trust me, you’re not going to remember, especially if you’ve never coxed before.)

Second thing is to talk to your coxswain or other coxswains at your club and ask them about some of the basic things they look for. If they say something different than what your coach said, ask them the same follow up questions you asked your coach about what you should notice, what it should look like, etc.

Related: So, what did you see?

My suggestions of things to look for are timing at the catch, like you said, catch angles, and how clean the finishes are.

Timing

This is the easiest thing to notice as it’s fairly obvious when someone is catching before or after the stroke. Instead of making an ambiguous call like “watch the timing” to the entire boat, be specific about what needs to happen and who needs to do it. “Bow pair, you’re a little early, let’s match the hands away to stern six and swing together…” or “4, you’re half a stroke late, get the body set a bit sooner on the next one…”. Make sure that if they get off with their timing to wait at the finish and come in on the next stroke instead of waiting at the catch or the middle of the slide, which some novices will do. (Why the finish instead of the catch? Because the boat is more stable when people are at the finish and less stable when they’re compressed at the catch, so it’s less likely to throw off the set of the boat if someone comes in at the finish.)

Catch angles

It can be hard to diagnose the bodies when you can’t see them, especially as a novice coxswain, but looking at the catch angles is a good alternative. You want everyone’s angles to be relatively the same and matching the angles of stern pair to ensure that they’re fully compressed and maximizing their leg drive. If a rower isn’t fully compressed the shaft of the oar will be more perpendicular to the boat whereas if they’re over compressed their oar will be more parallel to the boat in comparison to the stroke’s oar. You might have to turn your head to look at stern pair’s oars since it’s easy to look directly over them and only see bow 6’s. If you see someone either going too far or not far enough, you can point it out by reminding them to get to where their knees are over their ankles and no further.

Clean finishes

If the finishes aren’t clean and people are washing out you’ll see a lot of white water splashing forward, almost like a mini tidal wave. It’ll also be kinda noisy. If the blades are buried too deep on the drive they might get stuck at the finish, especially if the boat isn’t set, which could lead to a rower catching a crab. If you see someone washing out, tell them to accelerate the blade through the water (meaning the stroke should get stronger as you approach the finish), hold the blade in for the entire stroke instead of tapping the hands down before you’re all the way to the finish, and pull all the way into their body before tapping down (thumbs should just brush their stomach before the hands go away). Before you start rowing make sure you remind everyone to bury the blades too. If someone’s blade is only buried halfway instead of entirely when they go to take a stroke they’ll wash out.

Don’t try to look for everything the next time you go out with your boat. Pick one or two things to focus on during practice, then the next practice pick two more things, and then two more after that. Once you’ve got an idea of what everything should look like, start to focus on all of it in the practices leading up to your race. If you get overwhelmed, go back to just watching one or two things. Don’t just watch whatever you think is the easiest to spot though because that won’t help you or the rowers. Make an effort to look for all the little details that you might not otherwise notice. Take notes on what you see either when you’re not rowing or once you get off the water and review them the next day before you go out. Communicate with your coach too about what you’re seeing, if you have questions, etc.

Coxing Novice Rowing

The worst coxswain calls

By readyallrow July 19, 2013

I tend to interrogate people about their coxswains a lot. What do they like, what don’t they like, what do they do well, what’s something they can improve on, what do you think is their most effective call, which call will you pay them to never make again … stuff like that.

By the time we get to the “what’s the worst call” question, everyone starts rapidly chiming in and it almost becomes a contest to see who’s coxswain made the most-agreed-upon worst call ever. It’s funny to see how these conversations differ when you have them with men vs. women too. Guys tend to be pretty straightforward with what they don’t like but also a little sympathetic at the same time, usually because their coxswain is their bro and dude you don’t just throw your bro under the bus like that or their coxswain is a girl and hell hath no fury like a female-coxswain-of-a-men’s-crew scorned. Women tend to be (sorry girls) straightforward behind other people’s backs. For whatever reason, saying “I didn’t like this” to another girl’s face almost always results in some Miranda Priestly-esque pursing of the lips and eye rolls. I mean, I get it, I hate being told that something I thought was great wasn’t as well received by everyone else, but at the same time … suck it up, take it, and adapt, not only for your own benefit but for the good of the crew as well.

Inevitably everyone has seen the lists of “things your coxswain should never say” but satire or not, they are so not helpful. I’ve actually seen coaches cite this when teaching – “teaching” – novice coxswains what to do and it pains me to know that some coaches think that list is genuine. The problem I have is that rowers and coaches complain about the calls a coxswain makes but they make little to no effort to talk to them about why it’s a bad call, why they didn’t like it, why it wasn’t effective, etc. Rowing is a sport that is pretty deeply rooted in communication – if there’s no communication, the boat won’t function like it should. Goofy lists like those ones aren’t going to cut it.

The question of “what’s the worst thing you coxswain could say” was posed on a Reddit thread the other day and that, combined with what I’ve heard recently, gave me the idea to come up with a new, slightly better, more informative list. Some/most of these I’ve probably mentioned before (and can be found strewn about in the “calls” tag) but for the sake of having everything in one place, here’s a short list of “things you should never say”.

“Row faster and/or harder!” Classic rookie mistake. Never say this if you’d like your vocal cords to remain on the inside of your body.

Anything about you working harder than them.

“I know it hurts!” No, you don’t. Even if you’ve rowed before, no.

Anything involved the word “oops” followed by nervous laughter or “oh shit”.

Any call that the crew has repeatedly said does. not. work. for. them.

Calls that separate you from them. Nothing should be “you guys”, it should be “we”, “us”, “let’s”, etc.

“X” number of strokes left when there is blatantly not that many strokes left, meaning you say “last 10” and it’s actually the last 23. (This is actually something you should practice but never attempt until you’ve got it down cold.)

“You’re losing!” How motivating of you.

“Almost there!” If this is said anytime before the last five strokes of the race, you’re wrong.

“You’ve worked harder than this before, come on!” In theory, I get why people say this. I’ve said this. But, there are things to consider in relation to the “before” you’re comparing them to. What were the conditions? What was the wind/temperature/current like? What did the rest of the workout up to that point consist of?

“You can pull harder than that!” Technically there’s nothing wrong with this call but if you just say this with no follow-up, that’s where rowers get pissed. Most likely they’re already pulling as hard as they can. If you’re not feeling the power though, figure out why and tell them what needs to change. Are they missing water, washing out, not connecting with the legs…? If you’re not feelin’ it, you should be calling them out but don’t just automatically assume that it’s because they’re not giving 100%.

Anything that isn’t true. Just don’t. Rowers know when you’re lying to them.

“Don’t die on me!” Well, yes, that’d be nice, but you’re most likely saying this at a point in the race when they wish they were dead. Saying this is just going to make them wish for it more.

“Power 10/20!” …over and over and over again. Bursts are strategy moves and 95% of them shouldn’t be straight for power.

Dead silence, either for an entire practice or during a race.

Anything that might make the rowers laugh and/or lose focus. Keeping the mood light is fine but in the middle of a race, it’s just not appropriate. So many rowers I’ve talked to have said that they appreciate what the coxswain is trying to do but it takes them out of the zone, which once you’re out of is hard to get back into.

What are your “nope” coxswain calls? Why was it bad and what about it made it not work for you? What would you have preferred your coxswain to say instead?

Image via // @rorycruickshank

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 13, 2013

I’m doing a rowing camp at Yale and my coach there told us coxes to count at the finish rather than at the catch. It’s hard to find time to make calls to bring intensity to the drive as such, and I feel like the rowers have weaker drives when I talk calmly to them during the recovery about slide control and “easy catches”. Do you have any suggestions concerning counting at the finish, or possibly any recordings?

I’d talk to the coach and say that you’re used to calling them a different way and you’re curious as to why they like for them to be called at the finish vs. the catch. Do not be that person that says “well, that’s now how we do it on my team” – I swear, that type of rower/coxswain is at the top of most coaches shit list and once you’re there it is hard to get off it. Tell them that it’s a little awkward for you because you’re not sure how to make certain calls and do they have any advice that might help you out. Also tell them what you’ve noticed about the weaker drives, etc.

If you can, talk to the rowers you’ve been with before you talk to your coach and ask them what they think. How are they used to having things called, in their experience do they think one works better than the other, have they noticed anything (either good or bad) from calls being made at the finish instead of the catch when you guys have been out, etc. Take all that info and talk about it with your coach. It’ll be good for them to know too because it’ll help them know what to focus on during practice.

These camps are meant to teach you something and this is a great learning opportunity that you should definitely take advantage of. Asking questions is part of your job and something you should be doing anyways if something comes up that you don’t understand. Don’t be nervous to talk to the coach about it either. They’ll most likely appreciate the initiative and willingness to understand and learn how to do something that you’re not used to doing.

It’s hard to know what recordings I have where the coxswain calls things at the finish. I don’t think it’s anything I’ve really paid attention to. If there’s video with the recording it’s always easy to see where they’re called but it’s obviously tougher with just the audio. Plus, calling things at the finish is rare, at least in my experience. Like I said in the question I linked to up above, I only do it when I really want the focus to be on something at the front end of the stroke.

My suggestion again is to talk to your coach and get some advice from him/her and then try to apply what you talked about with them in the boat. It’s definitely going to require going out of your comfort zone a bit but you should be in the habit of doing that regularly anyways. Talk to the rowers and say that it’s something you’re going to try so they know why things might be weird for a bit and then get some feedback from them after practice. Keep talking about it with your coach(es) and ask them on the water after you’ve called a power 10 or something what they thought, how was that, etc.

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 10

By readyallrow July 12, 2013

George Washington University 2013 SIRAs Freshman 8+ Grand Final

Connor recently sent me a bunch of his recordings to listen to and they. are. all. so. good. I’ll be putting them all up in future posts so keep an eye out for them – there’s a ton to take away from each one, from execution to tone to calls and everything in between.

Something he does really well is using his tone to compliment the calls. A good example is at 0:47 when he says “get ready boys, shift in two, one, ready, two, SHIIIFT, BOOM…” and at 1:12 when he says “lengthen out half a beat … on this one, looong there…”. That transition between the high strokes and the shift to base was also flawlessly executed so if you’re trying to work out a good way to call that, that’s a great example of how it’s done cleanly and clearly.

At 1:30 he says “we’re gonna go off their move…”, which is cementing how invaluable you are to your crew if you can recognize when another coxswain is about to call a move and then capitalize off of it by making a counter-move that the other boat doesn’t know is coming.

Sometimes when coxswains say “this is our race” and it can sound really cheerleader-y and frankly, stupid, but his tone at 2:33 when he said “I’m on 3-seat, this is our race…” communicated a confidence that really made me believe that this was their race. Sometimes when coxswains say that they say it in that loud, aggressive voice that makes me question if they’re saying it because they believe it or because they think it’s what the crew wants to hear. If it’s really your race you should be calm and confident because you know you’re in full control and all you have to do from here is keep executing things right.

Between 3:18 and 3:36, everything. about this. is perfect. The build-up with his voice during the countdown followed by an appropriately-aggressive “slingshot, engage“…awesome. Same for 4:00 when he says “I got bowball!” – after saying “I’m on bow deck but I need more” at 3:46 this is a brilliant response to what the crew did when he asked for more.

I’m debatable about the “it’s gonna be an easy win” call at 4:51 but not because I don’t like them. On the contrary, I think they can be a confidence boost for the crew but the one time I said this to my boat, the crew that we’d just annihilated with a move at 750m to go (we’d gone from me sitting on their 5-seat to having a full seat of open water), our biggest competition in this particular race, made a huge move on us during the sprint and came within about four seats at the finish. After that I never said any race was going to be an easy win ever again, regardless of how much open water we had on the field. My advice is to be cautious with this call – it can definitely give you a false sense of security sometimes.

Last thing – at 5:42 he says “sprint for those shirts, sprint for the win, that’s it, take it…” This is an infinitely better way of saying “how bad do you want it, show me you want it, etc.”.

Other calls I liked:

“Pryyyyyy through…” The tone is great, as is the addition of “through” at the end since “pry” on its own is kinda awkward.

“Go now, break away…”

“5-seat’s getting his blade in for UVA, you’ve gotta get yours in too…”

“5 to breathe and swing”, particularly the fact that he called it when they were 1500ish into the race

George Washington University 2013 Freshman 8+ vs. Georgetown

At the start he says “can’t lean to starboard otherwise we’ll turn…”, which I think is a really important thing for rowers to understand. If there is ever a time for you to not be moving around and constantly adjusting your weight, it’s at the starting line when your coxswain is trying to get a point. You have no idea how frustrating it is trying to get a point, especially in windy conditions, get it, and then have to go through the whole process again because someone off-set the boat and it turned. Please, do your coxswains a favor and sit still during and after the period of time where they’re getting a point. Coxswains, you can also help them out by giving them some “adjusting time” (dependent on how much time you have between getting locked on and the start of the race) before saying “OK, I’m getting a point now”.

At 4:06 he calls for “five for relaxation”, which I think can be beneficial after you’ve made a big move and gained something significant on an opposing crew. It helps to bring the focus back in between your gunnels, relax the bodies, breathe, and sharpen up the strokes while still maintaining the level of intensity that got you where you’re at in the first place. This is also especially good if you’re planning another big move soon after.

“You see them now, you don’t let them walk back one fucking inch…” is a great post-walk or post-move call when you’ve just gotten through the other crew. Remind them that they’re in the commanding position and it’s up to them to keep you there. Don’t give anything back. Same for 5:18 when he says “oh yea, now we’re moving away” and at 6:02 when he says “you gotta work for it”. Notice how he said they still had to work for it after telling them they’ve got 3/4 of a length of open? You can’t get complacent when you open up a lead like that because you never know what that other crew has left. It’s your responsibility to remind them of that. Do the work necessary to get you ahead and then keep doing the work to keep you ahead.

At 5:31 he says “this is where we died last race”, which I think can have one of two effects on a crew. For me, I use calls like this as a challenge. Last time this is what happened but the difference between then and now is we’re better, we’re stronger, and we’re smarter – it’s not going to happen again. The two outcomes are that they’ll either remember this is where they fell apart last time and their brains will give into that and they’ll die again or the brains will respond with a determined “fuck that” and will rise to overcome the challenge. In order for this call to be effective and come off the way you want it to, you have to understand the brains of the eight people in your boat. If there’s even a question of the mental vulnerability of any one of them, you can’t use this call.

Other calls I liked:

“Fuck yea, I’m on their 3-seat, get ready to break them and crush their fucking dreams…“

“Through and through…”

“Blackout 10 motherfuckers!”

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

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 6, 2013

Hey there, I have a question about coxing. I’ve been coxing for a couple years now and just realized that I call my calls on different times. I mean, for power 10’s I’ll call the numbers when they are half way through the drive to the finish. But for starts, I will call the numbers at the catch such as (1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full, full) as well as 10 highs at the catch. I don’t know if I’m doing this right, but I’ve always done it this way and my crew goes with it. How do you personally do it?

Everybody does this a little differently. If something’s been working for you and your crew, don’t feel pressured to change it. I was taught to call everything right at the catch so regardless of whether I’m calling starts, power 10s, etc. I always call everything as the blade enters the water. The only exception is if I’m trying to get the the rowers to focus on their catches or something else that happens up at the front end, I’ll say sharp one, sharp two, sharp three…” or something to that effect instead of saying the number first. Saying “sharp” kind of loses its power if you’re saying it halfway through the drive, which I noticed was happening when I’d call the strokes right at the catch.

The reason I don’t call things in the middle of the stroke is because I found it always caused people to rush into the next stroke … and it’s just sloppy. When I was a novice (and probably the first time I ever called a power 10) I did this and my coach corrected me on it immediately. From the launch he could see the rowers rushing up the slide to match their catches to when I was saying the stroke number so after that he explained why calling things right at the catch was more appropriate/effective and that’s the way I’ve done it ever since.

I try to be really consistent about when I call things and when I made the adjustment to calling the numbers at the finish in these instances my eight definitely noticed. I explained why I was doing it though and they thought it made sense. The key is to just keep them in-the-know about what you’re doing if you decide to change something. Like I said though, if you’ve been doing something that’s been working for your boat, even if it’s slightly unconventional, don’t feel pressured to change it. If you want to try doing it a different way, tell them that ahead of time and then let them know if you decide to revert back to what you were doing previously or if you decide to stick with the new way.

Coxing Novice Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 3, 2013

As a novice coxswain I still really struggle with the technical aspect of practices. This summer I joined a boat club and spent two weeks out on the water learning to row, hoping that the first-hand experience would help me understand how to fix some common problems. Now that I’m coxing again, I still get really confused when something is wrong with the set. I don’t know what other advice to give other than handle height suggestions and counting for catch-timing, especially when it doesn’t seem to be up or down to one side consistently (like rocking back and forth with every stroke). I was wondering what advice you would give to your rowers in a situation like this, and how you can recognize and remedy some common technical problems.

There are a lot of things that can mess with the set and all of them are exacerbated when the rowers you’re coxing are novices. The most common and obvious thing is handle heights and that tends to be what coaches point out the most, so it’s natural for that to be the go-to thing you call for when trying to get the boat to set up.

Calling for catch timing, even though it does cause the boat to go offset, doesn’t do anything to help with the set (at least in my experience) because it takes the focus away from one problem and puts it on another. People start rushing up the slide because they’re behind the count or sitting at the catch and waiting because they’re ahead of it. Any inkling of thought about handle heights goes out the window, which in turn can end up making the set even worse.

When the boat goes off set and I’m coxing, I usually…

Tell the side it’s down to to lift their hands. If that doesn’t work after a stroke or two I’ll tell the other side to lower their hands a bit.

Change how I say “set it up”. If you say “set the boat” too often it’ll start to lose it’s meaning and people will stop listening, so in addition to tell each side what to do I’ll say “stabilize it”, “level it out”, etc.

Remind them to adjust their handle heights only at the finish. Coming out of the turn at the finish is the only spot where their hands should move; too many people try to make adjustments in the middle of the stroke and that ends up throwing the boat way over to the other side (and pissing off the rowers who just had their fingers smashed on the gunnels).

Remind them to shape the finishes by pulling in to their targets and giving themselves room to tap down. So many people either pull into their laps and lift their hands up immediately after the finish or pull in too high and come away at the same height … and then wonder why the boat’s not set.

Make sure their weight is centered in the middle of the boat and that they’re not moving around unnecessarily while they’re sitting out.

Usually I’ll make general calls for technique and the bodies unless I hear the coach point out something specific, in which case I’ll try to focus my calls on that and incorporate the feedback they’re giving into my rotation of calls. For example, if they say something to 3-seat about getting the bodies set early so they’re not rocking over mid-recovery and diving down with the shoulders at the catch (resulting in their blade going up in the air, which leads to a litany of other issues), then I’ll make that (and 3-seat) the focus of my calls for a few strokes until the boat levels out.

As far as recognizing other general technique issues, that comes with experience, paying attention during practice, and hearing/seeing what your coach is pointing out. If you hear them tell someone they’re washing out, look to that person’s oar and see if you can see it. (If you don’t understand what washing out is, for example, ask.) From there, listen to see what the change is that the coach wants them to make and then watch their blade to see if they actually make that change. See if you can spot the differences between before the change and after. Remember what the boat felt like during the “wrong” strokes so that in the future when the boat feels like that again you can look to see if anyone is washing out and then make the necessary corrections from there.