Tag: communication

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 14, 2013

When during a 2k race should you make a call for ratio? What characteristics/flaws should tip you off that ratio is the necessary adjustment?

Ratio calls aren’t necessarily something that should be part of your race plan. Like, the way you say “we’re taking a 10 at the 500m, 1000m, and 1250m”, you don’t say “we’re taking a ratio shift at 800m”, if that makes sense. The times when I’ve called a ratio shift during a race are usually somewhere between 750m and 1250m. That’s an easy spot for the rowers to get frantic, especially if they’re being passed, or let the effects of fatigue cause their technique to get sloppy. The third 500 is another spot to watch for this and make that call if necessary.

Ratio shifts are just that – they’re shifts to adjust the ratio back to what it should be (2:1) so you shouldn’t call for one unless you have to. This is why communication with your stroke is important because they can feel when the ratio is off since they’ll be getting thrown up their slide. Sometimes you can see it and/or feel it (it’ll feel very obviously like you’re spinning your wheels) but for the coxswain to feel it it’s got to be bad. My stroke and I have a one-word communication system too for when we need to get it back on track – she says “ratio” and I make the call. Simple as that.

For more on ratio, check out the “ratio” tag.

Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 1, 2013

Being a novice cox, I can’t wrap my head around this. A varsity cox switched with me so she was coxing one of the novice boats and they went faster and harder than ever! I feel like my intensity is ok … but it’s different with her I guess, can you explain it? Thanks!

This is totally normal. I coxed the novice 8+ when I was a senior and part of the reason why I think they were able to go as hard as they did is because I knew how, what, and when to say things to them that a novice coxswain wouldn’t have known to say or do. It’s not that you’re doing anything wrong, it’s just that she has more experience and has her voice more “developed” than you do. She’s also got a better technical eye so she can pinpoint things easier which means she can make the calls to fix them faster.

Intensity is only a small part of being a coxswain. Don’t focus so much on how much better your crew did without you and with her – instead, talk to her and ask her what she said, what she did, what she saw, etc. Pick her brain, take notes, and then the next time you go out with them, use everything you learned to help make whatever changes they made while rowing with her stick.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 1, 2013

You’ve posted before on calling rowers out in practice for what they’re doing wrong (e.g. “Three, you’re late”). Does the same count for technique? For example, my bow seat always opens with his back. Is it appropriate for me, when talking technique, to say something like, “Keep your knees over your ankles so you don’t over-compress and open with your back – that means you, bow seat,” even if I can’t see it actually happening, or does that sound antagonistic?

Yea, correcting technical issues is 98% of the reason why you call a rower out. Unless I’m just joking around with my boat I’d never actually say “that means you” though unless I’ve been calling for this change for awhile and the rower isn’t responding … and even then, I’d probably try to phrase it a different way. If I’m calling out someone in my boat with regards to technique, 95% of the time it’s because I’m seeing them do something that directly warrants the call so I’ll say “Sam, keep the shins vertical at the catch…”.

If you’re just making general calls because you don’t want to call someone out directly, it’s not hard to see how they’d be annoyed if you follow it up with “that means you” when you could have just not wasted time in the first place by telling them directly that they need to make a change. Like I said though, I’d probably phrase it differently and say something like “Come on Sam, that’s you…”.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 26, 2013

Can I just flat out ask my coach for a coxswain seat race? How do I go about asking such a question?

If you wanted to, I don’t see why not. Before directly asking for one I’d first talk with your coach to find out why you and the other coxswain(s) are in the boats you’re in. Assuming this is a “I’m in the 2V but wanna get in the 1V” type of situation, I’d get their thoughts on what they think makes you a good fit for this boat and/or what’s keeping you out of the other boat – i.e. what areas could/should you improve on that would make you more competitive and give you a better shot of getting in there.

The key is to talk yourself up instead of talking the other coxswain down. Explain why you are the best person for this boat and why your coach should consider giving you a shot at coxing it. If you’ve been working on a particular skill and feel like you’ve made some good improvements, tell them. If you think you can get in the boat and make it faster because of XYZ, tell them … but also show them by doing those things with the boat you’re currently in.

Coxing How To Novice

How to Make Improvements as a Novice Coxswain

By readyallrow February 21, 2013

Previously: Steer an eight/four || Call a pick drill and reverse pick drill || Avoid getting sick

How a novice coxswain improves is really the same as how any level of coxswain improves – it’s all about goal setting and purposefully reflecting on those goals throughout the season.

I’ve talked about setting goals before but in addition to outlining some objectives for your season, here are a few other tips on how to continually improve your coxing prowess.

Be a student of the sport.

The thing with sports (or any hobby) is that you first have to learn their nuances before you get good at whatever it is. With crew, the best way to learn is to become a student of the sport. Listen to your coach (intently, purposefully, and diligently), learn the techniques they’re teaching (how they’re executed, their purpose, etc.), and get on the erg and practice. One of my biggest pet peeves with rowing is coxswains who don’t know how to row and worse, won’t make the effort to learn. In my opinion, you should be one of the most technically proficient people in your boat. Why? Because if you’re telling the rowers what to do and critiquing every minuscule movement they make you should be able to replicate what you’re telling them to do and do it pretty damn well

When you’re in school, you expect to learn from the best, right? What’s the point in learning differential equations or organic chemistry from someone who can explain it but can’t solve the equations or create the reactions themselves? I’ve had professors like that and my confidence in their abilities to teach me was pretty nonexistent. I and my classmates really suffered for it too. You don’t want your rowers to feel that way about you so developing a thorough understanding of the stroke, the drills, how things should feel, what it should look like, etc. will help you get better at communicating with your crew and invoke a sense of confidence in you from them.

Improvement #1: Instead of just “showing up”, learn everything you can about the sport – the more you do outside of practice, the more you’ll benefit during practice.

How to do it: Study. Look online for examples of things you don’t understand. Talk to your coaches. Listen to them when they’re coaching. Ask questions. Practice the drills you call on the water. Figure out what makes sense, what doesn’t, and how you can explain it better.

Exude confidence.

I’ve talked about this more times than I can count – at least in 75% of the questions I get related to coxing I say something about confidence – so to avoid belaboring the point, I’ll just say this: a confident coxswain is a trustworthy coxswain. There’s a big difference between being confident and cocky though so don’t get the two confused.

In talking with numerous novice coxswains, confidence is their biggest concern. Your boat has to believe you know what you’re doing, as do you. Establishing control the moment you step in the boat allows the rowers to focus solely on rowing without having to worry about whether or not you know what you’re doing. Your only option is to step up and rise to the occasion.

Improvement #2: Be confident.

How to do it: Regardless of how good you actually are (or aren’t), go out every day and cox your boat like you’re the baddest bitch on the water. Speak up and provide input to your coach or crew on a regular basis. Accept your responsibilities. Tell yourself you can do this and then do it. Congratulate yourself on a job well done and let mistakes go (but commit to learning from them).

Open and maintain lines of communication.

Communication is one of the many things that fall under the “#1 Responsibility” category. It’s important that you develop a relationship between not only you and your crew but also with you and your coach(es) and you and the other coxswains. The more communication there is between you and each of those groups of people, the better and smoother your practices will run, which results in greater efficiency all around. It also just makes the team environment a lot more tolerable for everyone when the coaches and coxswains aren’t pissed at each other for something that could have easily been cleared up if some had just said something.

One of the most satisfying things for me as a coxswain is when I tell my boat something during a drill or piece that I know our coach would say and then the next time we stop, our coach says exactly that. It’s great for you in terms of building your confidence but it’s also great for the boat because they hear you and your coach reiterating each other’s points, which means you’re both on the same page, which means the rowers don’t ever have to “choose” who they’re going to listen to.

Improvement #3: Communicate.

How to do it: Talk to your coach every single day. Find out what they expect of you, how they want you to do things, how they do things, why they do things a certain way, etc. Also talk to the other coxswains about where you’re meeting up if you’re going out together, where your points are when you’re doing pieces, how practice went that day, etc.

Record everything.

In school, we take notes and record our lectures so that when we’re studying for exams, we can go back and refresh ourselves on everything we’ve learned up to that point. We see the mistakes we’ve made on math problems and learn how to not make those mistakes again. We read about what strategies worked and didn’t work during times of war in our history classes. We study and study and study so that when the time comes, we’ve made the necessary tweaks and prepared ourselves to execute everything perfectly.

This is why coxswains (should) record everything. You have a recorder so you can hear the calls you make and the drills you do and you’ve got a notebook so you can write down lineups, the practice plan, what worked, what didn’t, etc. Combine the two and you have everything you need to make your crew the best one on the water.

Listening to your recordings gives you the opportunity to be your own best critic. It allows you the chance to hear yourself and then go out the next day and experiment with something new while continuing to do what you know works. Experimentation with your calls is critical; if you don’t practice it, you can’t execute it, and if you can’t execute it, what’s the point? Keeping a notebook gives you space to elaborate on what your thoughts were during practice and lets you go back and study what you’ve done in the past to determine what needs to be done to fix things in the future.

Improvement #4: Get a recorder and keep a notebook.

How to do it: Go to the store and buy one. Keep them in your coxswain bag and bring them with you to every practice/race. While on the water, make quick notes of things that are or aren’t going well by talking to the recorder and then once you’re off the water, spend some time elaborating on the details in your notebook. Share your recordings and notes with your coach on a regular basis. Get their feedback on your recordings and advice on how to deal with any issues you’ve made note of in your notebooks.

At the end of the day it’s up to you to identify the areas where you can improve (either through your own objective observations or through conversations with your coach) and then actually take the steps to get better. It’s one thing to say you want to get better, it’s another to actually commit and do it. Talk the talk, walk the walk, etc.

Image via // @david_herren

Coxing Q&A Recordings Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 16, 2013

I had a (required) meeting with my coach yesterday. She suggested that I record myself and that’s what I did today. Do you think I should email her to set up another meeting where she can listen and critique? Or does that sound like I’m “sucking up?”

That’s definitely not sucking up. If a coxswain emailed me and asked me to critique their recording, I’d be thrilled. Even if I told them to record themselves, the fact that they’re asking for feedback shows that not only did they listen to my suggestion but now they want to know what they can do to improve. That’s huge in my opinion and really indicates to me that you’re someone I should be considering for my top boats.

I would email her your recording and ask her if she’d mind listening to it this weekend and then find a time next week to sit down and meet with you to discuss it. You should also listen to it this weekend and critique yourself, that way you can go into your meeting with some notes of your own. If she asks you why you made this call or decided to make that move during the piece, you’ll know exactly what she’s talking about and can explain your thought process.

Personally I wouldn’t want to be there when my coach is listening to my recording for the first time. I’m very critical of my coxing and always seem to find a million and twelve things that I’d do differently as soon as another person listens to it. I’d rather us listen to it separately, then compare notes and if necessary, listen to bits and pieces together during our meeting. If you’re comfortable being there while she listens to it, go for it. I think that giving her the weekend to listen to it though will give her more time to gather her thoughts, which means she’ll be able to give you a more thorough critique when you meet up.

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 11, 2013

Hi! I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to cox rowers who seem to not be willing to push themselves? I cox the novice girls and there’s this one really tall girl who I know has great potential and probably tons of power in those long legs of hers but she just doesn’t seem to try at all during erg pieces. How do I help her live up to her potential?

As a coxswain I’ve always thought (and heard my coaches say) that each rower has to already be motivated when they get on the erg or in the boat, otherwise how can you be expected to motivate them? If you’re not going to motivate yourself first and I can see that you’re happy with settling for mediocrity, there is a 99.9% chance that I’m going to just shrug my shoulders and be done with it.

Looking back to the times in college when I had to do things that I wasn’t been totally thrilled about, I’ve asked myself the following questions:

Why am I doing this?

Is it because I have to do it (i.e. someone’s making me, it’s required, etc.) or because I wanted to do it? The answer to this usually dictates my level of enthusiasm for the activity. If it’s something I have to do then I’ll do the bare minimum to get by and get out of there but if it’s something that I want to do, I throw myself into it, heart and soul, if you want to be cliche. I’d start by asking your rower the same thing. Why did she join crew? Was it at her parent’s behest or was it something she wanted to do? If she wanted to do it, why did she want to do it? What persuaded her to sign up?

How committed am I?

When I sign up for something, I’m automatically committed 100%. It’s like a rule I have for myself. If I don’t want to do it at the end of the semester, month, year, or whatever that’s fine but until that specific time period ends, I have to stick with it and give my best efforts. If I’m not going to give at least 100%, the question then reverts back to the previous one – why am I doing this in the first place? I like to assume that there is always someone depending on me, even if no one is, thus I can’t quit. With crew, there are at least four or eight other people depending on you at any given time. You have to assume that they are giving 100% at all times and are counting on you to do the same. The next question I’d ask your rower is how committed she is – is she willing to give her all or is she just trying to make it to the end of the season?

What are my goals?

Goals are a requirement of crew. I really believe that it is just not possible to be a part of crew and not have personal and team goals. Ask your rower what hers are. If she doesn’t have any, ask her why and then maybe help her come up with some. Maybe the reason she’s not trying hard on the erg is because she has nothing to try hard for. If she doesn’t have a goal of pulling 7:45 on a 2k she’s certainly not going to try just for the hell of it. Help her figure out a goal or two and give herself something to work for.

I’d also tell her that she has potential and you can see it but are sure of what it’s going to take to make her see it. I don’t want to say that you should say that in a guilt trip-y kind of way but I know for me, I always hated when someone would say that they can see my potential, why can’t I? That was always motivation enough for me to get my ass in gear if need be. At the coaching conference I went to last week, something I heard that I know will stick with me forever was: “At the beginning of every season, the best thing a coach can say to you is ‘you have a tremendous amount of potential.’ At the end of the season, the worst thing a coach can say to you is ‘you have a tremendous amount of potential’.”

Talk to your rower one-on-one, somewhere away from all the noise of the boathouse. Sometimes just taking an interest can make her want to try a little harder because she knows that there’s someone on her side rooting for her. Figuring out why she’s there, what she wants to get out of it, and how hard she’s willing to work can be of huge help to both you and her.

When I was in high school I had a similar situation and looking back on it, if the girl I was coxing had had a personality different from mine, this wouldn’t have worked at all, but knowing that we were fairly similar I relied on the fact that I knew if someone did this to me, I’d go balls to the wall on whatever we were doing. She was doing a 2k and I knew she could go harder than she was going. I was pissed because she was in my boat so I went up behind her and yelled “harder” every. single. stroke. She’d take a stroke and I’d say “NO, not good enough, HARDER“…”NO, you can do better”…”NO, I’ve seen you give more than this”…”NO, more“…until she was pulling what I knew she could pull. When she reached that split, I’d say “YES, do it again”…”again”…”again“…”AGAIN”. I was right in her ear at every finish. After half-assing the first 1000m she kicked it into gear for the last half and ended up pulling a pretty decent time (and when you can do that and still end up with times that are up there with the fast girls on the team, you know you can be good if you just try).

After she’d cooled down (physically and mentally) we went outside and sat for awhile and talked about the piece. I told her that I never wanted to have to cox her like that again because I knew what she was capable of and more importantly, so did she. She was tall, strong, athletic … everything you want in a rower … and it shouldn’t take me yelling at her to pull harder for her to get a good time. For the next two months, her 2ks were some of the best on the team and she said that whenever she felt like quitting she’d imagine me yelling in her ear “NO, harder”, “NO, you can do better”, etc. Sometimes the motivation someone needs is as simple as a little tough love.

The best thing you can do is just talk to her. Let her know that she has potential and you want to know what you can do to help her reach it. I think framing the conversation that way is a lot more effective than pretty much anything else because it lets her maintain some control over the situation without feeling like she’s being pressured or guilt-tripped to give you an answer about why she’s not doing better.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 27, 2013

As a coach, how do you approach the quiet ones? You know, those kids who always just kinda smile and nod? I can figure out almost all my rowers personalities but I don’t know how to make the one open up. She’s a hard worker and listens, I just feel like she tenses up around me. Perhaps I frighten her? Or is she maybe just a quiet kid?

I’ve coached and coxed a few people like that. One of my “things” as a coach is that I try to not act any differently around the kids than I do with anyone else. I feel like some coaches put on a front when they get to practice and act as though they have to make it known that they’re in charge, which tends to put a lot of people off, especially the shy ones. I don’t change how I act or my personality or anything like that – in my experience when coaches or professors have done that, it makes them way less approachable, so I just try to avoid doing that. I have a really dry, sarcastic sense of humor too so I tend to make a lot of jokes and stuff when we’re on the water that ultimately ends up loosening everyone up pretty quickly – even the quiet ones.

Over the summer when I was coaching new people every two weeks, I’d try and spend some time the first day getting to know everyone and assessing their personalities. I knew almost immediately who the tough ones to crack were going to be so when we’d do stuff on the erg or when we’d get out in the boat, I’d ask them questions or point out something they were doing well and get really enthusiastic about it if they answered or demonstrated whatever we were doing correctly. Not like, fake enthusiastic, but genuinely excited. Sometimes hearing or seeing that they’re doing something right was all they’d need to break out of their shell.

On the other hand though, maybe being quiet and shy is just an inherent part of their personality, which means it’s something you’ve just gotta roll with. If they’re quiet and reserved to the point where it concerns you, I’d pull them off to the side after practice and ask them if everything is OK. I had to do this once over the summer and it was honestly so heartbreaking because the kid (almost to the point of tears) said that they didn’t want to be there, they wanted to be at a math or physics or … something like that … camp at MIT, but their parents said they had to play a sport so they’d been shuffling them to all sorts of sports camps all summer. The kid was absolutely miserable and there really was nothing I could do to make them enjoy being there so I just had to be as polite and upbeat as possible and accept the fact that this wasn’t something they were interested in. The only thing that really helped in that situation was if we were just standing around waiting to go out I’d ask them about what they were actually interested in. That got them talking and semi-happy, at least for a few minutes.

Another thing you could do if you know who her friends on the team are or if you see her parents regularly before/after practice is talk to them and ask if she’s normally this quiet. Getting some insight from people who know her well can help you get to know her better and figure out the best way to interact with her. That helped me over the summer – normally it’d be the parents approaching the coaches instead of the other way around, but either way it helped us a lot in getting to know the kids. The biggest thing is that you treat her like you do everyone else – don’t pay less attention to her just because she’s less outgoing than her teammates. Eventually/hopefully if she sees you’re making an effort to get to know her, she’ll open up.

Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 24, 2013

Our coach had the novice 8+ row with two varsity 8s today. Coach focused on the two varsity boats and paid no attention to our novice boat. My rowers were really frustrated because she told them they can’t mix with varsity rowing until they know how to row but they feel like if there’s no direction and if they can’t row with the varsity they won’t learn anything. My opinion is that the coach wants them to know what it feels like to do the varsity workouts 1st. From a coach’s point of view, what do you think?

Interesting situation. I get what your coach is saying but I don’t understand why she’d take you out with the varsity and then completely ignore you. That seems counter-productive. Based on their frustration, it sounds like a chat with your coach might be in order. As their coxswain, it’s your job to act as the go-to person between the boat and your coach, so I’d talk to her either before or after practice and explain that the rowers are frustrated/confused/whatever emotion best describes them because they felt like they were totally ignored when they went out with the varsity boats and they feel like when they’re not getting any instruction, their rowing isn’t improving. Hopefully she’ll be able to give you some insight into her thought process.

I’d also ask her if there are days when she wants you to go out with the other boats but knows that her focus will be on the varsity, can she give you a workout to do on your own and then she can come check up on you intermittently throughout practice. That way the rowers can still feel like they’re accomplishing something without the coach being around. That would also make you look good too – every coach loves a coxswain who takes initiative.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 17, 2013

Going off a previously asked question, in your experience if you called a specific rower out then after practice went and made sure you two were OK/on the same page, do you think that would help them not be as pissy about it?

It depends on the situation. If I can tell they’re in a bad mood because of it then I might say something just because it can help minimize any bad feelings there might be on their end. If it seems like they’re getting frustrated at me because I’m calling them out then I’d take them aside after practice and make it clear that I’m not “calling them out” for any reason other than it’s purely part of the job.

I’ve definitely coxed and coached people that I really did not like but as soon as I got in the boat I tried as hard as I could to neutralize any personal feelings I had for them so I knew that when I called them out, it was rowing related and not personal. I might apologize if it seemed like I was focusing on them more than any of the other rowers but I certainly wouldn’t apologize for pushing them or staying on them to make the changes that I or the coach are asking for.