Tag: coxswain

Race skills: Calls for when you’re behind

By readyallrow July 14, 2016

Today I’m sharing one of my two articles that were included in the first issue of Coxing Magazine. The first article is on calling the start and the second is this one, which is on calls to make when you’re behind. To see more of what’s in the first issue, check out the website here.

When you’re behind in a race (let’s assume “behind” = one length or more of open back) there are three things you can/should do to get back into it and none of them involve invoking some sort of “magical” call. That call doesn’t exist. There are of course great motivational calls that you can have tucked away but you can’t rely on them to be the game changer when you’re down by open water. Skipping the process outlined below and resorting to spouting platitudes for the rest of the race is akin to putting band-aids on a bullet wound – they’re not going to stop the hemorrhaging.

Fix the rowing

If you’ve fallen off the pack then it’s safe to assume that the quality of the rowing has fallen off too. Your first task is to re-unify the crew by getting everyone to take the same stroke at the same time. Presumably you have a solid understanding of technique and the stroke your coach teaches so apply your knowledge of both to what you’re seeing and feeling in order to get the rowing back on track.

“900m in, one length of open back on Columbia. Let’s tighten up the timing and complete the strokes – we got this guys! The race starts right … NOW! Squeeeze through … squeeeze through – that’s it! Hold the back ends and breeeathe through the recovery … now. In our rhythm … let’s accelerate and swing together. Squeeeze swing … hands out together now … hands now … hands now … accelerate swing – there it is … accelerate swing…”

Match the speed of the crews in front of you

It’s hard to move on a crew who’s moving away from you at the same time so before you can start closing the gap you first have to stop them from advancing further. This is where you need to watch the rate and make sure you’re at the pace you want to be at. One tactic I’ve used in the past is raising our rate a beat to match the other crew(s) if it looks like they’re (effectively) rowing higher than us. The risk-reward here is very high so you have to make a quick assessment (mainly, can you raise the rate without spinning your wheels and then sustain that speed/pace for the next few hundred meters) and then commit to executing it.

“1100m in, time to shut ‘em down. We’re at 35 right now, we’re taking it up to a 36 … pick it up together … on this one! LEGS commit, LEGS 36 – right here, stay in this rhythm now and attack … legs loose … legs loose … get stubborn now, hold on to them … legs yea middle four! Trust our rhythm, trust our speed … holding our margin now, that’s it…”

Make your move

The second you sense that the margin is holding, you have to capitalize on it and go. You can’t waste time or meters because by this point you’re probably well into the 3rd 500, which means you’ve got time for maybe one last 20 before it’s time to sprint.

“Four seats of open back now guys, let’s close that gap and make contact over the next ten … ready in two … in one … commit NOW! One go! Two go! Three commit! Load together send … that’s it, WALKING! Two seats back now … it’s yours, take it! Hit it harder with the legs, together in two … one … two, GO NOW! Legs go! Legs go! Do not sit, do not quit … together go! Bow to stern now, bow pair, reel it in! Six bend ‘em! Seven break them! Eight break them! Nine last 500 … ten stay on it!”

If you find yourself falling off the pace of the other crews, evaluate the situation, make a smooth transition to your “Plan B”, and aim to keep the energy high. Making a successful comeback might not always be possible but at the very least you should aspire to cross the line with pride and the calls you make are your best resource to help facilitate that.

Coxing Teammates & Coaches

Qualities of a Varsity Coxswain

By readyallrow July 13, 2016

Previously: Part 1

Coxing Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 12, 2016

Could you explain lunging a bit more? Such as what it looks like on an erg, and how I would be able to tell that say, four seat, is lunging? I know that rushing the top quarter of the slide and skying blades is a sign of lunging, but how do I know for sure that they’re lunging and not just rushing/not controlling their hands?

This video should start at the right spot but if not, fast forward to 2:30

I rely a lot on what I know about the tendencies of the people in my boat and what I’m hearing the coach say to inform the calls I’m making when it comes to technical stuff like this. When I’m on the water I’m not usually trying to diagnose a problem with 100% certainty, rather I’m addressing what I’m seeing and then either discussing it with the rower/coach during water breaks or after practice, or I make a note to watch them on the erg to narrow down what it is they’re specifically doing wrong so that in the future I do know that they’re doing X instead of Y.

If I think they’re lunging based on what I’m seeing then I’ll make a few calls that address posture, getting the bodies set earlier in the recovery, maintaining level hands into the front end, etc. and see if that fixes it. If not I’ll make a quick call to that rower in particular and then when we stop or paddle I’ll elaborate a bit more and say “Graham, it looks like you’re lunging a bit right before you put the blade in. Keep the hands steady and make sure you’re getting the body set early and then hold that angle the rest of the way up, don’t try to go for more reach right before the catch. Right now it’s making you miss a little bit of water because you’re skying the blade and then getting it in on the recovery instead of just being direct to the water as the wheels change direction.”

This gives them a couple things to think about, not just in regards to their technique but also in how it’s affecting their rowing. (I think rowers tend to process corrections better/faster if they know exactly how their rowing is affected vs. being expected to just blindly do something different without really understanding why.) As they work on it throughout practice I’ll watch them and point out when I see them make a change or when I see that their stroke looks better. Sometimes I’ll be watching other stuff and I’ll just notice later on that they’re not doing X with their stroke anymore so I’ll say hey, that looks better, what’d you change and they’ll say that they focused more on their posture and pivoting from the hips rather than their low back or they tried to get their upper body set sooner so they wouldn’t have to get all their length at the last second.

Another thing that sometimes happens with our guys is they’ll come off the water and get right in the tanks so they can see for themselves what they’re doing. This also lets the coxswains see them from the side which can then obviously give them a bit more insight into what’s actually happening, which in turn will let them make more specific calls the next time we go out.

So tl;dr, you might not always know 100% for sure that XYZ is happening but there’s almost always a lot of “clues” you can use to help you pinpoint what’s going on. Obviously if your coach says “Stephen, you’re lunging…” you know he’s lunging but if you don’t have that immediate outside confirmation then you’ll have to rely on your ability to relate what you’re seeing with the bladework to what that means about the rower’s body position, mechanics, etc. in order to make the right set of calls. From there, it’s all about communication with the coach and/or rower to narrow it down further.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 12, 2016

Hi, I just wanted to know how you think the style of coxing differs between the US and the UK. I’ve been coxing in the UK for a couple of years and the calls made during races seem to be made in a more rhythmic and fluid style (if that makes sense, probably not), whereas in the videos I’ve watched of US crews there seems to be a lot of counting with stuff thrown in between each number, which I think is a bit cluttered. Of course this is only based on a couple of videos I’ve watched but I might be going to the US for university, so would I have to adapt my style to the one I’ve seen? Thanks.

This is a really good question. I don’t think you’d have to completely abandon whatever you’re used to but you will probably have to adapt a little bit. I wouldn’t say that’s uncommon though – my style changed a little when I went to college but I’d probably classify it more as evolving rather than adapting to an entirely new way of coxing. I mean, there was some adapting but not a ton. There were definitely things I had to do that were different than how I’d done it for the previous four years but a lot of what I did differently was a result of just realizing there were new (not better or worse, just new) ways of doing things that I hadn’t been exposed to before. If I were you that’s the attitude I’d have going into this if you do come here for college … I think it makes the idea of potentially doing things differently a lot less daunting.

To make a really bad comparison/analogy, think of it like learning to drive on the other side of the road. You’re still doing all the basic driving “things” the same, you’ve just gotta get used to being on a new side (of both the car and road). It’s the same with coxing. The core of it is all the same, it’s just the nuances of it that might be different than what you’re used to.

As far as US vs. UK style, there’s absolutely no way I can give an unbiased opinion or breakdown on this since the US style is what I’m most familiar with. To me personally (and sorry if this is offensive), the UK style is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. There is no style of coxing that I dislike more than that super rhythmic, roller coaster-y style of speaking. If I close my eyes and listen to a recording I actually feel like I’m on a roller coaster that is just continuously going up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down. It’s so distracting! I’ve asked friends to listen to the audio to see if maybe it’s just me but we all tend to feel the same way and agree that the biggest difference between the two styles comes down to our speech patterns and how we say things. For the most part I think we’re communicating the same things but the US style is more to give a constant stream of information so that the rowers know exactly what’s going on at any given point in the race whereas the UK style tends to have periods of silence before interjecting occasional updates about whatever they’re seeing/feeling or their position relative to whatever else is going on. I wouldn’t say the UK style is fluid at all, if anything it’s as terse as you can possibly get … but that’s obviously based on the handful of UK recordings I’ve listened to and my preconceived notions about that style based off of what I’ve heard, know, and like (or dislike, rather).

Now that you’ve posed the question this is definitely something I want to explore more. I’m curious to know how much, if at all, international coxswains have adapted their style when they come to the US for college. If anyone knows a coxswain here in the US who “grew up” coxing a different way, have them email me. Feel free to comment too and let me know what you think.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow July 12, 2016

Hi. I’ve coxed girls for a year now and I’m changing to guys. I’m not sure how to cox guys as I’ve heard it’s quite different. Any tips? Also they want me to motivate them in the gym and I don’t know how to apply my coxing in the river to a gym session.

Per usual, the best advice here is to just ask them what they’d like you to say or what the best way to motivate them is. Normally when we’re doing circuits in the winter the coxswains aren’t doing a lot of motivating, either because we’re off in the lounge doing something or because the guys have the music turned up so loud that trying to yell over that would be a pointless effort. If I or one of them is keeping time then outside of calling when to switch stations, the only things we’re saying is one-on-one stuff as we walk around the room. Usually it’s something really basic like “that’s it Clay…” or “good job guys, keep it up…” or “yea Pat, get after it…”. There’s nothing (or very little) from their coxing on the water that they apply to stuff that isn’t erging and even if/when they’re coxing them on the ergs, there’s still a pretty large degree of difference between that and what they do in the boat.

Coxing Drills Technique

The “inside arm, outside arm, and wide grip” drill

By readyallrow July 5, 2016

This drill is one we do fairly regularly as part of our warmup so I wanted to quickly go through it and differentiate between all three to explain what their individual purposes are. The overarching purpose of the drill itself is to teach the rowers how to distinguish between the functions of the outside arm and the inside arm, which you can see in the video posted at the end.

How they’re done is self-explanatory … you row with just your inside arm, just your outside arm, and then with a wide grip. If you’re not sure what constitutes a wide grip, you can go one full fist over from where your inside hand is normally positioned (so instead of two fists between your hands now there’s three) or you can just put your inside hand on the far end of the handle either where it meets the shaft of the oar or just past it.

Inside arm

This is the version with the most variety in terms of what it aims to work on. One of the things we work on with it is catch placement. Rowing with just the inside arm puts the emphasis on placing the blade and finding an immediate grip on the water and takes the focus away from muscling (aka forcing) it in, which some rowers have a tendency to do. This usually happens because they’re lifting with their outside hands to get the blade in instead of unweighting the handle and/or they’re carrying a lot of tension in their shoulders.

Another thing rowing with the inside arm works on is keeping the inside shoulder relaxed and loose. It’s common for rowers who are switching sides to pull too hard with what used to be their outside arm, which creates a lot of tension in the upper body. (Rowers on their normal sides can do this too.) Your inside arm doesn’t have the leverage to yank the oar through the water though so this allows you to focus on keeping the inside shoulder loose and the body controlled as the wheels change direction.

When you’re first learning to row a lot of emphasis is put on learning which hand squares and feathers the blade and which one actually draws it through the water. The inside arm is the one doing the feathering and squaring so if you’re coxing a younger crew, this should be a point of emphasis throughout the drill to get them used to rotating the handle with just their inside hand. Once they’ve got a good understanding of this, you can have them add the outside hand but keep it flat (i.e. just their palms resting on the handle) throughout the recovery so they can focus on keeping their outside wrist flat while the inside one rotates. It’s also the one that guides the handle during the recovery so if set is an issue, this is another opportunity to work on keeping it level without the influence of the outside hand.

Outside arm

Whenever you talk about hang or suspension, this is the arm that’s doing it. Rowing with just the outside arm emphasizes this and gets the rowers to use their body weight to hang off the handle in order to move the boat since, similarly to rowing with just your inside arm, you’re in a weaker position to get the blade through the water when you’re trying to do it with just one hand.

This drill, because it slows the drive down, also gives you plenty of time to focus on your body position at the catch and throughout the drive. When you’re coxing them through it you should be emphasizing what should be happening with their body so that their weight is being used efficiently. (Check out the “what to look for” section in the post on suspension that I linked up above for more on this.)

In terms of bladework, the outside hand is the one applying vertical force to the handle so handle/blade height is a point of emphasis on the recovery, as is blade depth on the drive. If you see the blades going deep on the drive you’ll want to point that out and remind them to draw through horizontally with the outside arm and feel the connection in their lats, not their shoulder.

Wide grip

For the most part this is essentially the same as rowing with just the outside arm but with better balance since you’ve got both hands controlling the oar now. Similarly to the previous drill, it puts the focus on suspending your body weight off the handle while keeping the outside shoulder just slightly higher than the inside.

This is a good drill to do to work on rotating around the pin and keeping the outside shoulder up on the recovery. If you visualize a line between your shoulders, it should be parallel to the oar handle when you’re at the catch, which is a good reminder if you have someone in your boat who has a tendency to lunge.

Image via // @rowingbrad

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 36

By readyallrow June 30, 2016

University of Washington 2008 San Diego Crew Classic Mv8+ Grand final

Washington lead for most of this race but going into the 1000m Cal had a two seat advantage before UW took a move to retake the lead. They finished first in 5:39.9, two seconds ahead of Princeton (5:41.8). Harvard finished third and Cal fell back to fourth.

There are two things of note to pay attention to in this race (as well as the others in this post). Note the balance in her tone between being calm and being aggressive. There’s an awareness there for when to employ each that is a huge advantage for her crews. Also, you’ll see me say “awareness” a lot in this post and that’s because it’s one of things she excels at. It’s a crucial skill for coxswains to have and there are several great examples in here for where it can/should be applied.

At 1:06, I love how she called the stride here and that she said “you know how to do it together”. The start of the stride is executed really well – the change in her tone is great when she calls “striiide power, hold the knees…”. Another call I liked was at 2:41 when she says “bend now…”. There’s nothing groundbreaking about it but it’s simple and her tone makes the call work.

At 2:45 when she says “You’ve got good water, take advantage of it. Row smart Roko…”, which is a good reminder to the crew (and individuals if/when necessary), especially if the conditions aren’t perfect. When you see good water in your lane make sure the crew knows so that you can sharpen up and take full advantage of it before you hit the next gust or batch of chop. This is another instance where awareness can give your crew a huge advantage.

The 3rd 500 is almost always one of the toughest parts of the race which is why your energy has to be high here. How she called “3rd 500 now” at 3:25 is a good lead-in to this section and through her tone you can tell that she’s not fading which is going to help keep the crew from fading.

Most of the time when I hear coxswains call 10s they get super overly ambitious and say “power 10 to get even” when they’re a length down on the boat they’re trying to walk on. At 4:08 they’re taking a 30 for inches. Inches. I also like the added call to lengthen both ends of the slide. You guys know this but the further you get into the race and the more fatigued you become the more likely you are to start shortening up – this was a well-timed call to get them to get their length at the catch and hold on to the full stroke through the finish.

Related: All about Power 10s

The last minute (starting around 5:07) shows how you can call a burst, in particular a long one like this 30, and not count every single stroke. If it’s a well practiced move like this was then the rowers will know, not just because they can count but from muscle memory so to speak, how long the 30 lasts. What I like about this is she tells them when the last 10 is instead and then when the 30 is done instead of starting the 30 and not saying anything else about it, which is something I hear a lot in recordings.

Calls like her “up two for 10 with power” one at 5:23 that emphasize something rather than just saying “up two for 10 in two, one … two …” are smart. Whether it’s awareness on your part because you want to remind the crew of something, you see something starting to fall off, or it’s just part of your race plan, this is a much more effective way of calling your build strokes, especially as you get into the last 300ish meters.

Another example of her awareness of the race evolving around her was that she saw Princeton start moving early at 5:40 and made the call to go with them. This shows how important it is to not just be focused inside the boat but to keep your head on a swivel and be aware of what’s happening around you so crew’s don’t sneak up on you like Princeton tried to do here.

Other calls I liked:

“Strong Husky rhythm…”

“Splits are dropping and you are in the fucking lead!”

“Those are your fucking jerseys!”

University of Washington 2009 San Diego Crew Classic MV8+ Heat

I think my new goal when I get time to go on the water is to work on refining how well I balance my calm/aggressive tones. She does it so well and it just makes me want to do it better.

The defining part of this recording for me was at 5:25 when she said told them to “stay in time … stabilize at the 38” then recalls back to builders they did the other day and how their directness at the front end then was what they needed right now. Sit up, loose shoulders … now they’re connected, now they’re walking, now they’re moving. Again with the awareness thing but that’s really all it comes down to. Knowing what your crew is working on, knowing their strengths, weaknesses, etc. and knowing just what to say to them to snap them back into rhythm.

University of Washington 2009 San Diego Crew Classic MV8+ grand final

Listen to how she calls the move at 900 and then carries that energy over into the third 500, in addition to what specifically she’s saying. All listen to how towards the end of the race (when the pack is tight) she’s keeping the focus on her crew instead of making a lot of calls about where the other crews are. She still tells them where they are but the primary focus is on getting her boat rowing well and maintaining it because without that, the moves they make won’t be as effective. Again … awareness is what helped give her crew the edge.

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

Coxing Teammates & Coaches

Qualities of a Varsity Coxswain

By readyallrow June 29, 2016

One of the last questions on our coxswain evaluations asks the rowers what skills and qualities they believe a varsity coxswain should have. What follows in this series (going up every other Wednesday throughout the summer) are some of their responses to this question from the last two years. Consider these food for thought as you start thinking about your goals for the upcoming year.

Coxing How To Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 23, 2016

Hey! I have a couple questions.

1. I’m not very good at taking criticism. Mentally I don’t mind it and I try to use it and everything, but for some reason emotionally I seem to take it as an attack and always feel close to crying. I’m not sure why this is and I was wondering if you have any tips.

2. We just got a new coach and he’s doing a summer rowing program, which is great, but he’s trying to completely change my style of coxing. I understand that repetitiveness is something I need to work on, but he’s telling me that while I was coxing the rowers on the ergs that I was “singing” to them. He expects me to be much louder (which I can be when I choose to be- I prefer to save it and use it as a “wake up” call kinda thing to change the pace of the race) and also be more direct and short (which I understand that part of and agree with). How should I deal with this? Should I try to explain my ways (I did a bit) or just go with what he says? And how do you work on being less repetitive ?

Thanks!! (Sorry if the second one is kind of a loaded question. Today was the first day with the new coach and tomorrow is the first day on the water)

So this is always a question that I genuinely don’t know how to answer and always struggle with when people ask for advice on how to work through it. I think my initial thoughts on it tend to come off kind of flippant (unintentionally) which makes it hard to give legit feedback without sounding like an ass. My take on it though is that if you can acknowledge the value in what’s being said and are able to use it … I don’t see how at the same time it can be construed as an attack. You’ve gotta be able to separate you the coxswain from you the person, which I talked about in the post linked below. If someone says “you’re a bitch” then yea, that’s clearly a personal attack but if they say “you need to work on your steering”, that has absolutely nothing to do with you as a person. One of the things I learned early on in coxing is that you have to – have to – look at everything objectively. As soon as you start letting emotions cloud your judgement or how you interpret situations you’re shooting yourself in the foot and limiting your growth potential.

Anyways, moving on. It kinda seems like you’re contradicting yourself a bit here by saying your coach wants to completely change how you cox … but you acknowledge that you could do XYZ better. Normally in situations where a coach is at odds with a coxswain’s style I’d advocate for them to, at the very least, explain their approach so the coach can better understand why they do things a certain way. In most cases I think that as long as your approach isn’t completely ass-backwards to the way things should be done (which some coxswains try to pass off as “their style”) and you’re able to clearly communicate how/why coxing this way works for your crew, most coaches will take a step back and let you do your thing. I’ve had to do that before (not even with new coaches either, with my coaches that I’d worked with for 3-4 years) and one of my coaches who was a coxswain said that even though he didn’t necessarily agree with how I was doing it, I presented it in a way that at least made sense and he could see that the crew responded well to it.

Related: Words

In your case though, I think you should just go with what he says for the time being (give it a trial period of a week or two) and see how it goes. Tell him that you’re going to be working on XYZ and ask if he can give you some feedback over the next few days about how you’re doing. After your trial period is up, compare and contrast the changes you made with how you were coxing before. What improved, what stayed the same, etc. Whatever improves, based on his and the rowers feedback, incorporate it and do it from now on. With whatever stays the same, explain that you tried doing [whatever] the way he suggested and the rowers didn’t really respond to it or felt kinda “meh” about it so you’re probably just gonna stick with how you were doing it before, at least for now.

With whatever suggestions you don’t use or incorporate, I’d at least keep them in your back pocket to use if/when you need to try something new. There have definitely been times where a coach has suggested something to me and I’m just like “lol no” because I know it won’t work or sounds ridiculous but other times, even if their suggestion doesn’t work at the time with whatever boat I’m coxing, I’ll try to remember it so if a time comes when I’m feeling burnt out or the crew I’m with is hitting a mental plateau, I’ve got something on hand that I can try. Why create extra work/stress for myself by trying to come up with new calls/strategies when I can just re-try or re-purpose ones that have already been suggested to me?

As far as how to work on being less repetitive, check out the post linked above. A good place to start would be to listen to your recordings and identify which calls you use most frequently, that way you can then think about what you’re actually trying to say and come up with more specific calls from there. If you’re one of those coxswains that says “let’s go” or “now” every 5 strokes during a race then working on creating a basic race plan would probably go a long way in helping cut down on the repetitiveness. The less room you give yourself to make seemingly random calls like that (outside of where they can/should be used), the better you’ll be at communicating effectively with the boat.

Coxing Q&A Recruiting

Question of the Day

By readyallrow June 23, 2016

Hi! I currently am a female rising junior in high school, and I am hoping to be recruited for college for coxing. My normal weight floats between 105-110lbs without me doing anything special or extra to hold it there (ex. dieting, working out, etc). However, I am very tall at 5’7″ and I am worried that coaches will overlook me because of how tall I am. Do you think that it is possible for me to cox in college knowing that I can healthily maintain sub the minimum weight, but am really tall for a coxswain, and that I don’t fit the short 5′ coxswain stereotype? I have been a girls’ coxswain for the past two years. This summer I am doing two coxswain camps and am coxing the men’s’ team (they do not have enough girls to fill a boat) for a club that practices in the same boathouse that my school does for about half of the summer.

Shortest/simplest answer ever – nobody cares how tall you are as long as you can make weight.