Tag: calls

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 26, 2015

How do you deal with running out of things to say in a long head race (4000m+)? I don’t know what to say so I either repeat myself endlessly or go quiet and then say something stupid…

As long as you have a plan I honestly don’t think that running out of things to say is possible. If you look at the race as one 4000m piece instead of several 500m chunks filled with landmarks, technical focuses, individual reminders, etc. then yea, you’re going to make things a lot harder on yourself. Breaking it down into more manageable sections though lets you focus on different things which ultimately makes it easier to plan out what you’re going to say. Keep in mind that “plan out” doesn’t mean the same thing as “script”. You can not script a race and think that you’re going to be able to recite everything you came up with on the land once you’re on the water. It’s just not possible. My goal whenever I’m racing is to have a handful of calls that I know I want to incorporate based on recent stuff we’ve done at practice, things we’ve talked about as a crew, etc. and then the rest of the race will be filled with the basics – landmarks, positioning, time, and general stock calls – that I’ll call on the spot as the race progresses.

If you feel like you’re going to forget something then write a brief outline of the race on a Post-It note and tape it to the boat. I’ve done that for the last two HOCRs just as a backup in case I need it and even though I haven’t had to rely on it too much it’s good to have in case you get caught up in something outside of the boat and need to quickly re-focus to what’s happening inside the boat.

As far as saying something stupid, I think we’ve all been there. The thing you learn though is that very rarely does anyone in the boat remember the things you said that you thought were stupid. It’s very, very rare that the crews I cox have been able to remember much, if any, of what I’ve said during a race once we’re back on land. The only reason we remember it is because we’re the ones that said it so it sticks with us longer. It’s really not that big of a deal though. If you thought it sounded stupid just remember that for next time and work on finding a better way to communicate whatever it was you were trying to say. If you need inspiration, check out the coxswain recordings I’ve posted. There are a lot of great calls in there, most of which I’ve tried to point out.

Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 29

By readyallrow February 19, 2015

Capital Crew 2014 San Diego Crew Classic Men’s Junior 8+ Grand Final

One thing that I think every coxswain can always work on is being calm when they’re down on other crews. He does a really good job of just telling the crew where they are without freaking out about it. This is one of the things I really like about the George Washington recordings too – he doesn’t let the place they’re sitting in phase him or have any kind of effect on the delivery of his calls. Keith, the coxswain in this recording, is the same way. Having a coxswain like that is a huge advantage for a crew because if the coxswain is calm, the crew is calm and when the crew is calm they can be downright dangerous.

Right off the bat, I really like how he calls the first few strokes of the start. It’s very rhythmic which is great because it helps the crew establish the boat’s rhythm almost immediately vs. the start just being an all out clusterfuck and the crew not getting into any kind of sustainable rhythm until 20-30 strokes in. You shouldn’t be saying anything about the other crews during your high strokes though (like he does about 20 seconds in). Focus on your own boat and tell them where the other boats are once you’ve finished your entire starting sequence (start and settle to base pace). Telling them anything before that means nothing because it’s all moving so quick that who’s up and who’s down can literally change every other stroke. Give it at least 200m before you say anything.

At 1:18 he makes tells them that they’re “sitting in 6th place right now…”, which … not that sitting in sixth in the grand final is bad or anything but it’s always good to try and spin it positively so the rowers don’t get discouraged or frantic or whatever. If you’ve got contact on all the boats a call like “sitting in sixth, we’re in this…” is always a reliable go-to. Similarly, one like this also works well: “Sitting in sixth right now, [position on crews X, Y, and Z], we got plenty of water to work with, plenty of time to walk into these guys. Let’s relax and focus on getting our catches in one stroke at a time…”

I’m a huge proponent of calls where you’re calling out a specific rower and saying “you lead this”, which is what he does at 2:20 when they take a five and he tells one of the rowers to lead the send in the boat. If your 3-seat has been working on being direct to the water during practice and you call a five for sharp catches, tell your 3-seat to lead that five. Make the connection between who’s been working on what during practice and incorporate that into your calls. Same goes for power – if your middle four has some nasty ergs, call on them to lead the charge and use their 6:10s or 5:50s or whatever to move the boat.

Overall this is a really good piece. I like how he uses his voice, mainly by smoothly changing his volume and/or tone to fit the situation, and how he uses the rowers and almost gets them to work off of each other by saying “you lead this”, “X, pass it up to Y”, etc. He also does a really good job of keeping the crew informed of their position on the course and against the other crews. I can’t say this enough guys, do not underestimate the importance of your crew knowing their location at any given point during the race. It’s like free motivation, so you might as well take it and use it.

Other calls I liked:

“Gimme give together … smile … and light ’em up…”

“Get hungry boys…”

Oregon Rowing Unlimited 2003 San Diego Crew Classic Men’s Varsity 8+ Grand Final

He does a good job at the beginning here of instructing the crew (mainly “Ben”) in a clear, calm voice. At the start when you’re getting your point you want to make sure that your instructions are concise and easy to hear/understand. Save the “uh’s” and “um’s” for later. Don’t get antsy if you have to keep making small adjustments either – you don’t want to inject that kind of nervous energy into the boat before the race even starts.

Overall their starting sequence between 1:38 and 2:27 is pretty solid. You could argue that he’s counting a little too much but I’ll give him a pass because his tone and clarity is spot on.

At 2:39 they’re about sixty seconds into the race and probably have about 1700m of race course left so “get ready for our move to keep us in contention…” isn’t really a call you need to be making that early in the piece. Being three seats down is still in contention because, as I said, you’ve probably got three-quarters of the course left to work with. Don’t get freaked out if you’re dead even or ahead after your start. If you really feel the need to tell your crew your three seats down on everyone, at least say something like “3 seats down, that’s alright, we’ve got plenty of time to reel them in…”. Keep it positive and then go right into coxing them. You’re right in the pack so you’ve got plenty of things happening around you that you can use to your advantage and to help get your crew going. Focus on that and less on the fact that you’re down a few seats.

Of all the things you can could or should take a ten for, timing is absolutely not and never will be one of them. He calls for this at 2:50 but all he does is count the strokes. In general, if you’re not going to add anything to the burst you’re calling, just make it a silent one or better yet, don’t call it. If the timing’s off, make an active call to correct it and do it on this one.

3:57 when he says “you’re in a battle for third place right now” was a missed opportunity. If you’re gonna say that to your crew, follow it up with a move. Saying “you’re in a battle” and then not going after those other crews with a ten or twenty is like a pretty good example of “stopping short” in crew. If you’re gonna say that, go all the way with it. Also, “you’re” not in a battle, “we’re” in a battle. Stop separating yourself from the rest of the boat.

One of the things that he does well is build the intensity with his voice throughout the race. In the beginning he starts out fairly chill (maybe even a little boring) but by the time they get to 1000m and are even-ish with the lead crews, you can tell he’s really getting into it. You don’t have to always been at 100% during a race and frankly, you shouldn’t be because that doesn’t leave you anywhere to go when you actually need to ramp up the energy and intensity. It’s better to start high, back off a bit, and then slowly build towards the end, that way your calls are actually punctuated by something rather than being one-note the whole race.

By this point (6:35) I think they’ve take four or five bursts for timing. STAHPPP. There’s no excuse for that unless you’re a novice crew. If your crew’s timing is off you better be able to say “catches together now … catch chaaa, catch chaaa” and have them immediately respond to it. It’s like a snap-of-the-fingers kinda thing, it should be an automatic reaction. It really shouldn’t take more than two or three strokes max to get it back.

Another thing he does well is tell them where they are on the other crews. He consistently says “2 seats down, 1/4 seat up, 1 seat up, 2 seats up, etc.” which is exactly what you should be doing when the race is close like this. Don’t assume that just because you’re beside a crew the rowers know where you’re at.

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

Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 27

By readyallrow December 23, 2014

Chelsea Lucas 2008 Junior World Championships Team USA W8+ Grand Final

If this recording doesn’t give you goosebumps, check your pulse. This is one of the best recordings out there because it checks all the boxes – execution of the race plan, tone of voice, communication with the crew, etc. She does such a good job of telling them their location on the other crews throughout the race, specifically where they are seat-wise. The rowers could be blindfolded the entire race and still know exactly where they are – that’s what you want!

Once they get out of the start and settle into their base rhythm she shifts her down to a more relaxed tone (still intense, still focused, just a little more chill) but at 2:07 you can sense it starting to shift back up before she hits you with that next level of intensity at 2:14. She demonstrates a lot of vocal control through those first two minutes, which is definitely something worth practicing since that can be a hard part of the race for coxswains to maintain their composure in. As they start walking through crews she continues to do a really good job of telling them they’re moving and by how much with each stroke.

At 3:09 she calls for five to use the hips and then says “hips five, hips four…”, which is a good example of what I’ve talked about in the past with regards to knowing when during the stroke to say the numbers (if you say them). “Hips” is obviously a front end call since you’re engaging your hips at the catch as your press through the drive, thus it wouldn’t make sense to stick with the regular convention of calling the numbers at the catch, which is why she flips to calling them at the finish. Also, notice how all of her calls are “let’s”, “we”, etc.?

Another thing I’ve talked about a lot recently is motivational calls. “Make them remember this” at 3:51 is a great example of a good motivational call. (Her tone building into that call is flawless too.) Notice too how they’re progressively walking through Germany and up on Romania? She’s constantly telling them their position, which is also hugely motivating, especially in races that are tight like this one is. Even though there isn’t video of this race, you, the person listening, should still easily be able to plot out where the United States, Germany, Romania, etc. are based entirely on the positional updates she’s giving her boat. If you can get excited about where they started vs. where they’re at now just based off of listening to her calls, imagine what it’s like for the rowers who are actually in the boat. They don’t have to worry about where they’re at or what’s going on around them, all they’ve gotta do is focus on one thing, which is moving the boat and that is one of the most motivating things a coxswain can do for their crew.

We gotta talk about 4:44 too … if that isn’t the most motivating, most savage fucking call you’ve ever heard, what is?? There’s a reason why you hear so many coxswains nowadays use that and say it the exact same way.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll realize that between the start of the race and 5:10 they went from being 4 seats down on Romania to 5.5 seats up, which makes her call of “we’re 500m away from a world championship” at 5:10 so much more epic. Another example of a brutally motivational call. This is one of the ones you keep in your back pocket though for the big races – we’re talking grand finals at IRAs, last 250m at Henley, etc.

The ending is crazy frantic but it’s the right kind of frantic. It’s energetic, it’s electric, it’s just … hard to put into words. If you’ve been in a race like this then you know you can’t really describe it because even though you’re 100% in the moment as it’s all happening, as soon as you come off the water you’re like … what just happened??? Anyways, this is just a great recording and one of the very few that falls under the “gold standard” umbrella. Definitely a lot to be taken away from it and incorporated into your own coxing.

Other calls I liked:

“Lay it on…”

“Let’s close this gap, baby…”

“Stand up!“

“This one’s gonna be close guys, time to sit up and show ’em who we are…”

Steve Young USA Men’s 8+ Practice

This is a super short recording from inside the USA men’s 8+ during one of their steady state practices in the lead up to the 2013 World Cup. Right off the bat I love the “find that confident finish” call and how he immediately responds to the coach telling them to go to 3/4 pressure. How he builds into that 18 – “three quarter press 18, we’ll come up one beat … on this one” – is exactly how you wanna call a shift in rate, not just in terms of response time between when the coach calls it and when you actually do it but also in how he communicates it. Very succinct, no extraneous words, just where they’re at and where they wanna go.

The other call I like is the “long arm stretch” call near the end. I think that’s a good basic call to make to remind the rowers to get the arms out first before swinging over with the bodies.

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

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow November 18, 2014

Hi, this is a great resource, thanks for devoting so much time to it. I’m coxing a 5km head race in the UK in a couple of weeks. I’ve raced it before, and am feeling quite confident. One thing I’m unsure of is how best to call the end of a power twenty. Our race plan is to push for twenty at the end of each kilometre. I don’t want to call down pressure at the end of the push, to avoid a sharp drop off in boatspeed, but neither do I want not to call anything, and have my crew pushing for longer than the twenty I’ve asked for. Any help you could offer would be great – thanks!

My suggestion is to not aim to call a “power” 20 at the end of each kilometer, rather call it for something and don’t necessarily make everything 20 strokes. During HOCR this year, which is also about 5km, I only called one 20 and it was at the start of the last kilometer.

At this point it’s very rare that I actually call something for straight power but when I do I remind them to maintain this as soon as we finish the burst, usually in the form of “yea that’s it, now let’s maintain it, we’re sitting at 1:46 right now, stay on it with the legs and accelerate through the water…” and then I go right into calling a couple strokes for acceleration, giving them position updates, and coxing them like normal. It’s not like I’m calling the end of the burst and then completely falling off with my calls, tone, volume, etc. If you do that then yea, there will be a sharp drop off in speed but if you maintain your voice and immediately jump into like what I said up above then you’re more likely to, you know, actually maintain whatever you just did. If the crew is falling off with pressure immediately after then a) you’re not doing your job, b) their endurance is awful, and c) someone needs to clue them in on the concepts of pacing and flying-and-dying.

As far as having your crew pushing for longer than the twenty you asked for … the phrasing of that is bugging me. I really can’t put my finger on which exactly of the five reasons I’ve come up with for why it’s bugging me but there’s something about how you said that that’s just … off. I’m probably/definitely over-analyzing this but just keep in mind that they should be pushing themselves regardless of what you’re saying and you shouldn’t be calling them up or down. Whenever coxswains say stuff like that I imagine them coxing the race like they’re on a roller coaster, going up and down with the pressure and their voice and whatever else and it makes me wonder how they can possibly think that that’s effective.

If you continuously call for 20s to push (and I’m going with the standard definition of pushing in this context to mean “more pressure”) then you will be coxing a roller coaster race and it’s not effective because the crew will likely do what I said before, which is fly and die each time. If you give each burst a specific purpose, limit the number of 20s you use and instead incorporate in some 5s, 10s, etc., and remind them to maintain whatever feels good during those bursts then you’ll be able to have a much more efficient and evenly-paced race.

Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 26

By readyallrow November 13, 2014

Brookline Boys V4+ vs. Duxbury and Arlington-Belmont

This coxswain recently emailed me their recording so below is part of my reply to them. If you’re coxing bow loaders, take note of the first paragraph. Like I said, it’s a one-in-a-million chance but keep in mind that for the work you’re doing, your body isn’t necessarily in the most efficient position and forcing it to do even more unnatural stuff (such as making your voice way deeper than it needs to be) can lead to less-than-pleasant outcomes for you.

“I like the way you called your start and the intensity that you had. The only thing I’d recommend here is to be a little more natural with it and try not to force your voice to be super deep, particularly if you’re in a bow loader. I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago who said that while he was coxing his four over the summer he actually developed a stress fracture from tensing up his torso too much and trying to force out a voice that wasn’t natural for him. It was so bizarre but I can see how it’s possible – you’re laying down and essentially doing a crunch every time you force the air out to make your voice deep like that, which puts a lot of strain on the muscles around your rib cage. Something like that happening is probably one in a million but it’s definitely something to be aware of. Doing that also wastes a ton of oxygen and energy which just ends up causing you to become tired and out of breath early on in the race.

At 2:05 when you say “bow pair, what are you doing for our boat right now…”, I would caution against calls like that because it comes off like you’re saying you don’t think they’re doing anything or that they’re not pulling as hard as the stern pair. Even if that’s true, you don’t want to make it seem like you’ve lost confidence in literally half your crew. Instead, I would eliminate that part entirely and just say something like “bow pair, let’s channel your power into the next five finishes … squeeze it through and send the boat … ready, on this one“. That way you’re getting them to think about harnessing their power, you’re giving them a specific part of the stroke to target, and you’re putting a bit of responsibility on them for the next few strokes to really make the boat move. Ideally you’d follow that up with some positive calls during the five (“yea bow pair…”, “that’s it…”, etc.) to maintain the momentum and motivation too.

You’re doing a great job of telling the crew where they are on the other crews. This is where a lot of coxswains fall short and you’re nailing it. Great job.

At 2:39 when you tell Kyle to get his seat ahead of another crew “before this bridge”, in the future I’d just throw in how many strokes there are until you reach the bridge since that’s obviously something you can see but they can’t. I’d say something like “Alright Kyle, we’re 15 strokes out of the bridge, I want you sitting on their bow ball when we come out the other side – you’re leading this 10, ready, GO…”. Again, it gives that person a bit of personal responsibility while letting them know exactly what you want and how many strokes they have to do it in.

If you find that the splits are starting to creep up towards the end, instead of saying “get them back down” or something equally as vague, relax your voice and just talk to the crew. Take all the tension out of the air and get them to relax. They’re tired, they’re in pain, they can’t breathe, and they just want this to be over but you’ve still got 400m left … what are you gonna do? Take 5 to breathe, 5 to relax the shoulders, 5 to refocus, and 5 to recommit and reestablish the ratio. Focus your calls specifically on only those things when you’re calling for them. When you’re calling that last five, remind them to lengthen the recovery, power through on the drive, swing together, and feel the rhythm. From here you should be able to go right into the build for your sprint.

Last thing, when you’re calling for them to get the rate up, remind them to get it with power on the drive, that way everyone is going after that higher rate the same way at the same time.”

Winter Park High School 2014 Bertossa Cup

This style of coxing is perfect for pieces (5x5min, for example) during practice. There’s a good balance with the calls and the tone is just aggressive enough. During a race I would probably want her to be a little sharper and more concise with the calls (vs. dragging them out a bit here) but for practice pieces this is totally fine. Definitely give it a listen though because it’s just another example of good coxing and you really can’t ever have too many of those.

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

Coxing Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow November 4, 2014

Hello! Sorry if this is a dumb question but I was wondering, what does it mean when coxswains say “cha”? Thank you!

Definitely not a dumb question. I didn’t know what this was for the longest time in high school.

“Cha” is just one of the words we use to help set or re-establish the rhythm in the boat. Some coxswains actually say “cha” or “ja” and really enunciate the “ch/j” sound whereas others say “ssshhhh-uh” and really build into the final “uh” syllable. If you’re trying to actually say that, you don’t say “shh” then “uh” like they’re two separate words, rather you say it as one word with a really sharp, aggressive kick at the end when you get to the “uh” part.

All in all though it’s exactly the same as saying “kick send“, “jump together“, “legs squeeze“, etc. I’m not a huge fan of using it myself (I’m more of a “ssshhhh-uh” person than a “cha” person anyways) but on the rare occasion when I do incorporate it (usually during hard pieces or long steady state rows) I’ll say something like “legs [at the catch], ssshhhh-uh [through the arms + finish]”, which usually gets blended together and comes out as “leeegssssshhhh-uh“, or if I’m calling a five or ten then I’ll say “1 ssshhhh-uh, 2 ssshhhh-uh, 3 ssshhhh-uh…” if I really want them to think about the rhythm. I also use it if I need something to say but don’t know what to say, can’t think of anything, and/or want to break things up if I feel like I’m starting to get repetitive.

I’ll also use it if I’m trying to focus on the bladework to figure out if I need to make a technical call but don’t want to put too much effort/brainpower into making actual calls while I’m trying to focus on/analyze something else. Normally when I use this though I never call it for more than three strokes in a row at most (unless I’m only calling a five, like I talked about in the post linked above), which is pretty standard for me with the majority of my calls.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow October 2, 2014

Calls to control rush? There’s only so many ways to say “control the recovery” and “slow the slides.” Thanks!! 🙂

I’m a big fan of “patience”, “looong“, “relax”, “feel the recovery”, etc. When we’re paddling I’ll usually say something like “Guys, there’s not a lot of slide control right now and it’s causing us to [do X and Y]. We need to focus a bit more on [doing A and B] and [staying patient] on the recovery as we come into the catch.” Usually whatever call I plan on using (usually one of the ones I said at the beginning) I’ll say where it says [staying patient], that way they hear me saying it and understand what I’m referencing vs. me just randomly saying “patience!” during a piece with zero context whatsoever.

From there I’ll combine that call with whatever “A” and “B” was and get a more combined call that addresses all the issues instead of just part of the problem, if that makes sense. So, if the lack of slide control was causing a few people to row it in because they weren’t giving themselves enough time to get the bodies set, I’d say something about body prep, control coming up, and locking on for probably two or three strokes to help them get the rhythm and ratio back. Starting at the release and as the hands come away, “pivot”, as they start the roll, “patience”, as they lift the hands into the catch, “lock”, and then finish it out with a powerful “send” before repeating that again for another stroke or two. “Pivot, paaatience, lock, send…“.

Obviously this is a little easier to do at steady state rates (18-22ish, maaaybe up to 24) and less so at the higher rates but if you can work calls like this into your warmups, steady state pieces, etc. (both when there is and isn’t a rush problem, just to reinforce the message) then if you experience rush at the higher rates you can simplify the call to something that won’t take as much time to say, like “patience, send” or whatever. As long as you’re consistent with the terminology you use, breaking it down into a shorter call like this can/will still get the message across because they’ll be able to reference the longer call you made before. Sometimes at higher rates when I do this (during practices, not so much races…) I’ll say “Starting to feel a little rushed, let’s get that rhythm back we had the other day. Pivot here … pivot here. Now relaaax into the catch, loose in the legs, LOCK and send … LOCK send…“. It’s spread out over the course of 3-4ish strokes (I try not go more than five, max) and that one long call is broken down into two shorter ones.

Does that make sense? Basically what I’m getting at is that it’s easier to maintain a rhythm with how you should be saying the first call at lower rates than it is at higher rates. If you try to say “pivot, patience, lock, send” right now it’s going to sound more controlled when you say it slowly, which is what you want if you’re trying to get the rowers to exert more control on the slides. Trying to say all of that in the space of however much time a stroke at 30spm takes (…I guess that’d be about two seconds, wouldn’t it…) is a little harder because you won’t have as much control and rhythm in your voice because you’re trying to get out a lot of words in a really short period of time, which in turn is going to negate, in a sense, what you’re trying to communicate to the rowers about being more patient and relaxed. So, at the end of the second paragraph, even though I’m saying more words than I was before, the actual calls that I’m making are shorter so that I can still say them with the proper inflection and rhythm.

Hopefully that wasn’t too convoluted and you can kinda see what I’m getting at. It’d probably make a lot more sense to hear me say it than to read it so whenever I’m out next I’ll try to record myself so you can hear what I mean. Also, check out the posts in the “rush” tag, you might some ideas for what to say in there too.

Coxing How To Racing Rowing

Race plans for practice pieces

By readyallrow September 23, 2014

Last week I was going over some audio with one of our coxswain’s from one of the race pieces she’d done during practice the previous week. On Fridays the two varsity eights go head-to-head, sort of, in a 7k race that begins at the 2k starting line in the basin and finishes at the HOCR finish line. One of the things I asked her was if she had a race plan going into the piece or if she just kind of “went with it” and coxed them without one. She said she just went with it, which I kind of figured based on her audio. I suggested putting something together for this week’s piece so that it would have a more organized and focused feel to it, rather than the focus of the entire 7,000 meters being on catching/beating the other crew that went out first.

Having a plan for races is important, obviously, but so is having a plan for the pieces you do during practice. They don’t have to be meticulously planned out or even be that similar to the plan you use during actual races – just as long as you’ve got a couple specific things to focus on throughout the piece other than just beating the other crew. What’s down below is what I detailed to our coxswain as to how I’d do it if I was doing one of those pieces.

What I’ve laid out is obviously going to be different for you since it’s unlikely you’re doing 7k pieces on the Charles but the goal is to get you to look at the pieces you are doing and thinking about how you could break them up into smaller, more manageable chunks. The way I broke up this piece, as you can see, is based entirely on the bridges. Remember, landmarks are your friend.

Starting line → Mass Ave. (1000m)

One of the other things we talked about was how to start this piece since they’re rowing right into it with just a few strokes to build into their rate (vs. taking a “high” 20 and a “settle” 10 to come down to their base pace). If you’re doing something like that, I’d treat it similar to a head race and do something like 3-5 to build to the line, 20 at rate, and then 5 or so to lengthen out and settle in. For the next ~750m your primary focus should be on establishing a rhythm.

Mass Ave. → BU (1500m)

This section should focus on making general technical calls to the entire boat based on what you’re seeing/feeling and working to incorporate some of the technical drills/changes that you’ve been working on over the last week. You should also be making calls that reference the rhythm you established in the first section.

Powerhouse Stretch (2000m)

Coming out of final 1000m of the 2k course, where you’ve just been talking to your crew as a whole, I would start to break down the boat and talk to the individuals (or if you don’t want to go person by person you can break it down to pairs). Here I’d spend 15-20 seconds per person (adjust the time to be a little longer if you go by pairs) and point out what I’m seeing with their stroke (good and/or bad) and remind them of any technical changes that they’d been working to incorporate over the last week. If your coach spoke directly to them when you were on the water about something, try to repeat what they were saying to reinforce the message.

If you aren’t seeing anything that needs correcting, let them know that their stroke looks strong/solid/consistent, great job backing up [whoever is sitting in front of them], I like that aggressive finish, etc. Positive reinforcement like that works wonders on a rower, especially when you’re doing a long piece. Normally I wouldn’t recommend doing something like this (talking to the individual rowers) during a “race” piece but because this one is so long and you’ve got the time/space available, I think it’d be beneficial. Plus, for those of you that have trouble coming up with things to say, this would help solve that problem.

Weeks → Anderson (500m)

This chunk right here is actually made up of two smaller sections; pre-Weeks and post-Weeks. Pre-Weeks is the first 100m of this section and is just for the coxswain because they’ve got to make sure they’re putting themselves in a good position to come through the bridge. And yes, I think out of the 7,000 or however many meters you’re rowing, the crew can spare a measly 100m to let you do your own thing. One of the things I was telling another of our coxswains was that you shouldn’t/can’t be afraid to take a few strokes off when necessary if you need to direct your attention to something else. If you’ve demonstrated that you’re in this just as much as the rowers are and have been coxing them accordingly up to this point, they’re not gonna care.

The second part of this, the post-Weeks section, is where I would call for the crew to take five strokes to sit up, recommit out of the turn, and mentally prepare themselves to start racing the other boat. (You’ll notice that up to this point I haven’t said anything about the other crew that’s out there with you – nothing at all about racing, telling your boat where they are, etc. Trust me, I did this for a reason.) During the second half of this part, as you’re coming into the bridge, is where I’d be telling my crew where they are on the other boat, how far ahead/back they are, and what your goals are for the rest of the piece in terms of where you want to be in relation to the other boat as you cross the line.

Anderson → Finish line (2000m)

This last 2000m is all about racing and where your tone should noticeably change from “practice” to “race” mode. This is also where you can start actively taking power bursts in the forms of 10s and/or 20s. Before this I’d recommend sticking to 3s and 5s since the primary focus from the start to Weeks is largely technical. Remember though, just because you can take them here doesn’t mean you need or have to. It’s a judgement call on your end so be smart and don’t dilute their effectiveness by overusing them.

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t say anything about racing until you get to the final 1/3ish of the race. Here’s what I think … I don’t think you should be trying to race from the very beginning (unless your coach explicitly says “treat this like a real race”) because you’re either going to be playing catch-up or keep-away the entire time and not actually using the time to focus on the adjustments you should be implementing from practice. I also think that if the rowers go into it thinking they have to race for 7,000m then they’re just gonna hulk on the oar the entire time and not think as much about their technique. The first 2/3ish should have a largely internal focus, meaning you and the rowers are concerned only with what’s happening inside your boat. The final part of the piece is where you should be maintaining the good rowing from earlier and incorporating the changes from earlier as you shift into pure race mode.

It’s important to know that during the earlier part of the piece, your tone shouldn’t be casual like it is during a regular practice when you’re calling warmups and drills. You want it to be firm enough that the rowers know this is a hard piece but not so aggressive that you forget the purpose of the beginning of your race plan. On a scale of 1 to 10 you should be at about a 6.5-7.

The final important thing to keep in mind are the goals you give your crew for the end of the piece – make sure they’re realistic! Don’t say “I want to catch them by the end” if they’re five lengths away and you’ve only got 1500m left. It’s likely not going to happen, your crew will probably see the whole piece as a failure because you didn’t catch them, and then they’ll get pissed at you. Just avoid all of that by being honest about where you are and where you wanna be. If you can reasonably catch the other crew in front of you and cross the line even with or ahead of them (or continue to hold them off/walk away if you went out first at the start) then tell the crew that’s what you’re shooting for.

If they’re far enough ahead that you don’t think you can catch them but you know you can definitely close the gap, tell them the goal is to close the gap from five lengths of open water to two lengths. Don’t go by seats because that’s too small for them to picture and you to visualize when the gap is that wide. It’s not a realistic unit of measurement unless you’re actually within a length of them and will be overlapping with them at the finish. You can also go by time (which you should be able to see because you started the timer on your cox box at the start … right?) and say “we’re X minutes into it, let’s try to break Y” or “they started 15 seconds ahead of us, let’s get that gap down to six…”.

Hopefully all that makes sense and you can easily apply it to the pieces you’re doing while preparing for head race season.

Image via // @rowingcelebration

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 24

By readyallrow September 16, 2014

Resilient Rowing 2013 Head of the Charles Youth 8+ Crash

This is just a short clip of one of the men’s youth eights from 2013. I’m mainly sharing it because none of the other videos showed a crash and the whole point of HOCR is to see which youth eight is going to have the best crash. (That is the point of the regatta … right?)

At 2:04 when he says “I can’t get through, coxswain, yield…” I guar. an. tee you that no one past his like, 7-seat heard that. If you want another crew to yield you need to and yell loud and project. your. voice. Don’t assume that just because you’re talking into a microphone that anyone outside your boat can here you. I honestly think that if he’d just stayed directly behind Duxbury and then had the starboards hit it hard they would have been fine and not collided but youth eights = inexperience so there’s not much you can do. The “fuck you Duxbury” comment though from one of the rowers was pretty unnecessary and definitely would have/should have earned a penalty if an official had heard it.

Middlebury College 2013 Head of the Charles Men’s Collegiate 8+

The start of this piece was pretty sloppy in terms of telling them when to build, where they’re at on the build, etc. I also feel like I would have been confused as a rower because they did two builds … one way before the start and right right before the start. Their stroke rate was a little wonky too. I think the build was supposed to be to a 33 but they were at a 31 and then did a “build” under the bridge to get to a 33 … but then a few strokes later she said “32, good”. It was just all over the place and not as “on point” as it should have been.

As far as when to build, you’ve kinda gotta base your pressure off of the crews in front of you. You don’t want to get closer than a length of open but you don’t want to fall back more than that either (because that’s just more ground you’ll have to make up on the course) so you’ve really got to be paying attention to that while you’re in the chute. You want to be at full pressure by the time you hit the upstream corner of the BU dock since the starting line is the middle of the dock so you should start your build as your bowball passes the last group of trees on the shoreline before the boathouse – to give a reference point in the video it’d be around the 23-24 second mark. Another reference point is the buoy with the yellow flag on it off of the starboard side at 0:24.

Through the first two and a half minutes I’m already tuning out because all I’m hearing is the coxswain embracing her inner cheerleader and making a lot of “you can do it!”, “let’s go!”, “show them what you’ve got!”, “here we go!”, etc. calls. There’s also a lot of “build in two” calls to get the rate back up to a 33 because it keeps falling down to a 31.

The turn at Weeks could have been sharper – she had room – but she started it about three strokes too late. If you wait until you’re under the bridge to tell your starboards to power it up, you messed up. You’re going to end up taking the turn really wide and then having to snake back over to get a good line through Anderson, which ultimately adds unnecessary seconds and meters to your course.

When she says “don’t let them walk” at 9:45 … I mean, it’s going to happen. It is happening. Make the other crew work for it and focus on pressing together, maintaining your rhythm, holding a solid line, etc. Stop talking so much about the other boat though and focus on your own.

When she calls under 500m to go (from the Belmont dock to the finish line) at 15:20. It’s more like a little over 800m. Also, that is not what half a length of open looks like. A length and a half maybe but not half a length.

Ultimately his one wasn’t the best coxed and wasn’t the best steered. Of all the races you go to in the fall, HOCR is not the one you want to be a cheerleader at (unless you’re on land, in which case … cheer away). Have a plan, know your plan, and try not to make the same calls over and over throughout the race. Don’t spend so much time focusing on other crews either. Your head has to be on a swivel, obviously, but at the same time you’ve also gotta keep your head (and focus) in your own boat.

University of Wisconsin 2013 Head of the Charles Women’s Champ 8+

The audio is slightly out of sync with the strokes so don’t let that throw you off as you’re watching.

Right off the bat, I like how she calls the pressure up and perfectly times “half, three-quarter, full pressure, you’re on” with when their bow crosses the starting line. Something that caught my eye too that I wish she would have made a call for what 6-seat coming out early every stroke. Make sure you don’t get so focused on executing your race plan that you forget to check the blades and make little reminder calls when necessary. Obviously this is harder to do in a four but in an eight there’s no excuse.

At 2:16 she says “we’re right on the buoy line, starboard side…”, which is good for informational purposes but it can also be a strategic motivational call too. This is something I talked about with all of our coxswains when we went through their evaluations last week. Use your steering as quick little bursts of motivation for the rowers. If you’ve got a good line, your riding the buoy line, etc. tell them. Let them know that you’re nailing the course right now so let’s capitalize on that and focus on XYZ. If they know you’re taking care of your responsibilities as far as steering a good course goes, that’s one less thing they have to worry about and more focus they can give to just rowing their asses off. If I’ve learned anything from my own coxing experience and coaching coxswains for the last two and a half years, few things matter more to rowers than their coxswain’s ability to steer a good course. If you’re doing that, don’t be afraid to say so and use that to keep your rowers engaged and on their game.

If you’ve got a SpeedCoach, a call like “we’ve got a 1:58, we’re gonna push it to a 1:55…” is a great way to work the splits into your calls. Make sure you know what splits you’re going for throughout the race too. Holding a consistent split probably isn’t realistic for a lot of crew so know what parts of the course will be a little higher (i.e. the turns) and which parts you can really get after it (i.e. the straight shots through the Powerhouse and after Anderson).

Throughout the rest of this section before Magazine Beach she does an awesome job of telling her crew where they are on the other crew (“we’re walking”, “two lengths of open behind and closing”, etc.) and how they’re doing (“right on rate”, etc.). Keep an eye on her course throughout the whole race too – she nails it.

If you notice them starting to row it in a bit, just make a quick call like she did around 6:57ish (“blades in on this one, GO“) to sharpen things back up. Don’t waste 5-7 strokes by calling for 5 to get the blades in or something like that when you can sharpen it up on this one, particularly if you’re an experienced crew. If you’re a high school crew then go ahead and take a couple strokes to get that focus and sharpness back but college crews … you guys can get that on one stroke. I also liked her call at 7:12ish – “hold your fucking blades in now” or something like that. A coxswain after my own heart.

At 7:31 she tells them that whoever is in front of them is “moving away” and she follows up with “…and we’re responding right now“. That is how you get your crew going. Telling them another crew is walking away from them isn’t a bad thing – you should do that – but THIS is how you follow it up so you can get competitive with that other boat again. She immediately calls for a five for something (I couldn’t hear what) and then finishes it off with “1:49, that’s what I’m talking about!”. Perfect perfect perfect.

Her line coming into Weeks is gooorrrgeousss. I also like how she preps her starboard side (“alright starboards, get ready…”) and then counts it down (“here we go … that’s 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … on this one“) before bringing it around. She started her turn about three strokes too early, which is why she said she needed “even” for a couple but it didn’t hurt them at all – the overall execution and calls to the starboard side throughout the turn were pretty much flawless.

College coxswains, this is the A-standard. Hands down one of the best college HOCR races I’ve listened to.

Other calls I liked:

“Bigger fucking puddles…”

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

Coxing Drills Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 11, 2014

Heeey so at the moment we’re doing a lot of work on the finish and the release but I am struggling to come up with calls that really work. I have a few basic ones but not many so I find myself repeating them over and over and over and over. Do you have any calls for technique at the finish and release that I could borrow or modify to suit my crew?? TY x

Good question. First thing (or first two things, rather) I’d do is talk with your coach about what he/she is specifically trying to achieve with the work you’re doing on the finish/release. Usually they’ll have at least one or two things in mind that they’d like to see the rowers improve on so find out what those are and as you’re listening to your coach explain them, write down 2-3 of the key things he says about each one (these should be short phrases, 5-7ish words max). From there, you can either use exactly what he said as a call or come up with a call on your own based off of his explanation.

For example, let’s pretend I had this conversation with my coach: “What I really want to focus on with these finish and release drills is making sure the guys are setting themselves up to have a good recovery and follow that up with a sharp, clean catch. If their posture is poor as they come through the finish it’s going to be hard for them to maintain the pressure with the outside hand that’s needed to tap the handle down and extract the blade from the water. That’s one of the reasons why we’re doing those pause drills at the release, to get them to think about staying up tall throughout the entire stroke and not slumping down into their hips as they lay back and draw through the finish. The other thing I want to focus on with the finish is making sure they’re continuing to move the handle consistently through the back end of the stroke and not giving up any of the speed from the front end.”

There’s a lot of info packed in that paragraph but that’s a good thing because it gives you plenty of inspiration to draw from. Something I did when I was in college whenever I’d try to get my biochem professor to explain something to me was I’d take my recorder and record our conversation so I could go back and listen to it later and pause it at the spots I thought were particularly important. This gave me a chance to actually process what was being said and compare his explanation to the notes I had from class vs. trying to recall everything he said a few hours later and forgetting half of what I asked him. I’d recommend doing this if you know you’ve got a specific question that (hopefully) has a long-ish answer, that way you can go back and review it later.

So, from that paragraph this is what I’d take away and what call(s) I’d create from it.

Take away: ” …making sure the guys are setting themselves up to have a good recovery and follow that up with a sharp, clean catch…”

Call(s): This is where I’d appeal to the coach’s good side while also communicating what we’re doing to the rowers. By repeating what he said to you shows you were listening and actually absorbing the information he was giving you. Even though this isn’t a specific finish/release call it achieves the same thing. “OK guys, as we go through this next minute let’s make sure we’re always thinking ahead to the next stroke and setting ourselves up for a smooth recovery. How good our catches are will be determined by how committed we are to having strong finishes and clean releases…”

Take away: “…poor posture through the finish = hard to maintain pressure with the outside hand…”

Call(s): This is where you have to do some work and think about what the finish should look like when they’re rowing with ideal posture. What does that “ideal” posture look like when they’re in the finish position? You should be able to come up with … I’d say five or six things easily that you can then use and direct to either the entire crew or to individual rowers if you know they have a specific issue with something posture-related at the finish. (I know I’m not giving you anything specific here but … that’s the point. I want you to do the work and come up with this stuff on your own!)

Take away: “…pressure with the outside hand that’s needed to tap the handle down and extract the blade from the water…”

Calls: Remind them that just the outside hand should be used to extract the blade (younger rowers in particular tend to try and use both) and make a few calls about having a relaxed, flat outside wrist with the elbow up and out (find a happy medium between T-Rex arms and chicken wings…). Keeping the elbow up will help them maintain a flat wrist position which in turn will help them exert the right amount of pressure on the handle to get the blade out. Don’t be afraid to tell them to look out over their outside shoulder to see if their elbows are up or to have them glance down at their wrist, particularly during a finish pause, to see what if they’re flat or a little hunched. Obviously that’s not something you can see with anyone other than your stroke (and even then it can be tough sometimes) so telling them specifically what to look for and what to change (if necessary) is what you have to do in situations like this.

Take away: “…purpose of the pause drill = to get them to think about staying up tall throughout the entire stroke and not slumping down into their hips as they lay back and draw through the finish…”

Calls: I would say exactly this since sometimes it isn’t communicated well or isn’t clear to everyone why you’re doing certain drills. In cases like this I would also talk specifically to that one person in your boat who consistently has shitty posture (there’s always at least one) and say “Dan, we’re doing these pause drills for you. Through these next five strokes I want you to think about staying tall all the way through the drive and not losing any height as you finish the stroke.” This puts some personal responsibility on Dan and gives everyone else something to think about too. Another thing I like to do when I’m doing pause drills at the release is let them take 2-3 normal strokes and then on the third pause say “OK now everyone sit up…”. You will magically see everyone get an inch or two taller. Once I say “go” I’ll tell them to stay tall into the catch (said on the recovery), drive with the cores (said at the catch), and support it here (said as they come through to the finish). Basic reminders like this are a good way to get them to think about what they have to do at each point during the stroke in order to have a supported finish.

Take away: “…making sure they’re continuing to move the handle consistently through the back end of the stroke…”

Calls: For simple things like this I like to keep it basic and say “squeeze” (my most common finish call), “draw through“, “pull in high, snap at the finish…”, etc. Sometimes I’ll also say “keep the handle moving through the back end” on the drive and then say “snap” or “here” right at the finish as the arms draw through.

Take away: “…not giving up any of the speed from the front end…”

Calls: I was just talking about this with the walk-ons the other day. One of the most important things to remember at the finish is that in order to maintain your speed and give the end of the stroke a little extra “oomph”, there has to be a flawless transition from the momentum that’s been created by the leg drive to the draw through with the arms. The arm draw is responsible for taking advantage of the momentum created at the front end and carrying it through to the back end, so in order to do that there has to be consistent pressure exerted on the face of the blade as you come through the finish. I like to appeal to the musculature here and make calls like “squeeze the lats”, “elbows and triceps up”, “press back with the shoulders”, etc. Other times I’ll just say what I said at the beginning – we can’t give up any of the speed we got with the legs so keep the transition between the legs and body smooth and sharp. Another thing I’ve said is “don’t cheat the speed”, meaning don’t get lazy at the finish and expect the boat to do all the work for you.

The other thing I would do is talk to the rowers and find out what they want/need to hear. Some have individual things they’re working on, others are looking for more general reminders … find out what all those things are and make note of them. A lot of times they’ll say “if you could say something like X if you see me/us doing Y…” which is usually a good starting point for you to go off of and build your calls from there.