Tag: coxswain

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 13, 2014

My coach has started setting boats and she didn’t place me in one. I am a novice coxswain but am the second most experienced on the team due to other coxswains going to college. Another girl that joined about a month ago has been set to cox the guys varsity boat and girls JV 4+ of our club. She does weigh less than me, (she weighs 110 and I weigh 120), but I was originally set with the lightweight girls boat so I don’t think weight is a huge concern. My coach switched some lineups around and I have been left without a boat. I have talked to her and my team has talked to her about placing me in a boat but nothing has changed. It seems as if she is trying to avoid placing me in a boat. Any ideas why this may be or what else I can do to be placed with a boat?

I honestly couldn’t tell you. I don’t know why a coach would purposely avoid putting someone in a boat unless they felt that they had a legit reason to. The only thing I can really recommend is talking to your coach again and asking why you’ve consistently not been placed in a boat and if there’s something you need to be doing in order to get put in a lineup, could they at least tell you what it is because right now you’re kind of at a loss.

Other than that, I’d suggest trying to make the best of your time in the launch (assuming that’s where you are when you’re not in a boat) by picking your coach’s brain about what they’re doing, what they’re seeing, any technical corrections they’re making, etc.

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.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 8, 2014

I’m a first-year varsity rower in high school and am going into the fall racing season. I am the smallest rower on my team (5’3″ and 122lbs) and I know I want to become a coxswain later in my rowing career, such as in college or later in high school. Would it be better to make the transition to a coxswain as soon as possible or wait for a year or two?

Personally I think that if coxing is something you want to do in college then it’d be beneficial to have as much experience as possible going into it before you graduate, mainly because you don’t want to have to learn all the ins an outs of it while trying to get adjusted to what is essentially an entirely new lifestyle. There are obviously plenty of successful walk-on coxswains but if you’ve got the opportunity to start doing it now, why not do it? If you’re currently a sophomore then you could finish out the fall season and switch to coxing in the spring or just row for the full year and switch as a junior. It’s up to you. I would talk with your coach though and let them know that becoming a coxswain is what you eventually plan on doing but at this point you’re just trying to determine when would be the best time to make the transition.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow September 8, 2014

Our assistant coach is not here this season and won’t be back until winter training so our head coach introduced a new assistant coach earlier this week. Every time she tries to correct someone’s form she says it in a way that sounds really mean and negative. After our last piece today our head coach gave us some feedback and told us what he thought was good and what could be improved. After he went to the other 8 she came over and told us we were “ridiculous and mediocre”. The other coxswains and the rowers on my team feel like she’s being way too negative and it’s making everyone feel awful. Sorry that was really long, I just want to know how to handle that kind of coach.

This is a situation where the team captains need to have a one-on-one meeting with the head coach. (If you don’t have team captains work something out so you have one or two varsity coxswains and rowers (each) that can meet with them.) The biggest thing that I’d have an issue with is her saying that you’re “ridiculous and mediocre” after the coach had already made his comments, which sound fairly positive from how you described it. That’s just not cool. I get how two coaches can see things in different ways but this is far from being the best way to address that and she should know that.

From the perspective of the rowers and coxswains, there is no “handling” of it on your end. Leave that to your head coach to deal with once you’ve spoken with him. I know it’s easier said than done for some people but don’t let her attitude get the best of you. I’ve had coaches like that too and usually my stroke and I would just look at each other, roll our eyes, and get on with whatever we were doing. Your head coach already gave you constructive feedback and that’s what you have to internalize and go with. Stupid comments like the one she made are the ones you brush off and ignore because they don’t mean anything. I’m not saying that you should always ignore the assistant’s comments in favor of what the head coach says, rather you should prioritize the comments that offer genuine feedback rather than the ones that just say “you suck”.

As far as everyone feeling awful because of it, this is where the coxswains have to step up and maintain the focus by reiterating the positives and rewording the overly-harsh negatives into something that the rowers can actually use. Negative feedback isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it’s gotta be delivered the right way for it to be effective. Plus, you have to know your audience too. If the coxswains can take what the coach is saying and give it to the rowers in a more constructive format then that’ll do a lot for how everyone feels. Granted, I can’t imagine the morale is going to be THAT great after dealing with this for awhile but that’s why I said the captains, seniors, whoever need to talk with the coach one-on-one and let them in on what’s been going on and how everyone is feeling.

Coxing Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: “The Turn”

By readyallrow September 8, 2014

I’ll probably do an actual post on this a little later in the season but just putting it out there now that it might be worthwhile to talk with your coaches now or soon-ish about the regattas you’ll be attending this fall and which, if any, courses have hairpin turns like this, that way you can hopefully practice doing them before you’ve actually gotta do it during a race.

College Coxing High School

Defining the role of the coxswain: The type of coxswain you DON’T want to be

By readyallrow September 4, 2014

We always hear about the types of coxswains you should aspire to be like but rarely, if ever, does anyone ever tell you about the coxswains you don’t want to be like. Part of the problem with no one pointing them out ahead of time is that by the time someone thinks to say something about it, you’ve already got two or three of those coxswains on your team.

I know people are always like “oh we can’t say anything negative otherwise no one will want to join crew” and I get that but at the same time, why wouldn’t you want to just get everything out in the open and say “here’s what we’re looking for, here’s what we’re not looking for, if the former applies to you then you might be a good fit and if the latter applies you might not be a good fit”? It would probably save the team a lot of headaches down the line if that’s the way things were done, at least in my opinion. At the very least it’d save a lot of you the time spent writing me emails asking how to deal with your coxswains who fall into one or more of the categories below.

The incompetent one

This one literally has no idea what they’re doing. One of two things tends to prevent them from asking for help (either their ego or their shyness) and as a result, things are done incorrectly, inefficiently, or not at all.

If you’re that person: Suck it up and ask for help. Do your own research and educate yourself on the things you’re unsure of and/or don’t know how to do. Don’t assume that you’re the only one that can see that you have no idea what’s going on because, trust me, it’s way more obvious than you think.

The wallflower

This one is shy, quiet, and unauthoritative. The only time they say anything is when they absolutely have to and even then it’s hard to take them seriously because they don’t take themselves seriously. It’s unknown why they joined the team but the reason they got stuck coxing probably has everything to do with their physical stature and nothing to do with their actual personality or potential.

If you’re that person: Not everyone is outgoing and in-your-face and that’s fine … but if you’re gonna be a coxswain you’re going to have to adjust a little when you’re at the boathouse. Being authoritative and sometimes loud (OK, most of the time…) are requirements of the job. If those aren’t things you’re used to being that’s fine when you first start out but you need to step outside of your comfort zone and be a little more bold.

The basket case

These ones are the ones that freak out about everything, constantly say “I don’t know what to do, what do I do, I can’t do this, OMG I can’t do this…” and in general just get on everyone’s nerves due to their sheer inability to just get. a. grip.

If you’re that person: Assess the situation and why you’re freaking out. If it’s because you aren’t sure what to do, ask yourself how freaking out is going to make things any easier for you and the eight other people you’re on the water with. If you know that you’re a relatively high-strung person in general, figure out the best way for you to become calm and maintain a more level head when you’re at practice.

The indecisive one

This one is non-committal about pretty much everything, regardless of whether it’s what warm-up to do with the crew, who they want to row, how many strokes they need to take, or how much distance they have left to cover. Usually this coxswain is a combination of the incompetent one and the basket case – they don’t know what they’re doing so they panic and then can’t process or decide what the next course of action should be.

If you’re that person: The first thing you need to do is figure out is what you should be doing and how it should be done. Ask someone if you don’t know. If you start to feel overwhelmed or unsure of what to do next, take a deep breath and make a decision. Don’t debate with yourself. Either it’s going to be the right one, an acceptable one that works for the time being but could be done better next time, or the wrong one. Just pick one though and at least pretend that that’s what you were planning on doing all along.

The dictator

These are the ones that let the power go to their head, take themselves way too seriously, have an “I’m better than you” attitude, and/or think that their sole purpose is to run practice like boot camp. What they were either not told or selectively chose not to hear was that being given a certain amount of responsibility and power doesn’t mean that you’re exempt from being coached or given feedback.

If you’re that person: Contemplate the definitions of “boss” and “leader” for awhile and consider how your style of “leadership” is coming across to your teammates.

To be clear, none of these have anything to do with any amount of coaching they may or may not received. I know I talk a lot about where coaching falls short when it comes to coxswains but a lack of instruction can only be blamed for so much – at some point it’s going to come back to the person behind the mic and that is what this post is getting at.

Additionally, this post is mainly geared towards coxswains who are new to the sport or have only been doing it for a year or so, mainly as a way to say “don’t be that person and if you are that person, recognize it and do something different otherwise you’re wasting your time, your coach’s time, and your teammates time”.

Image via // @mlcsrs_17

College Coxing How To Recruiting

How to recruit coxswains

By readyallrow August 26, 2014

It’s that time of year again when teams are looking to recruit new walk-on rowers and coxswains. Advertising rowing itself tends to be fairly easy but coxing? Well, not so much. The simplest way to explain how to approach advertising coxswains is that you kinda have to have a “live by the sword, die by the sword” mentality going into it – the type of flier you create and the way you describe the team and the roles you’re looking to fill is going to dictate the type of people that show up to the meeting and that can either be a great thing or a really bad thing.

Trust me, I love a humorous advertisement as much as the next person but with coxing I feel like there’s a fine line that you have to avoid crossing if you don’t want to attract the wrong type of people (you know who I mean). For example, don’t say this:

“Are you small? Do you like telling people what to do? Are you obstinate, arrogant, and ruthless? Join us and we’ll treat you like a god.”

We all joke about coxswains having Napoleon complexes but have you ever actually met a coxswain that acts like that? If you have then you know it’s not a good thing so why would you create fliers asking for that kind of person to join your team, even if you’re just trying to be witty and humorous?

Here’s a couple tips for attracting coxswains to your program (and keeping them there):

Don’t try to reel people in just because you win a lot of races or anticipate winning a lot this year.

Winning isn’t everything. I mean yea, it’s cool, yaaay medals, but hopefully you’ve got a lot more to draw people in than just “we won more races this year than last year”. If that was the only thing you could offer me as to why I should join or continue I’d probably say “pass” and join something else.

Treat them like an athlete rather than part of the furniture

A Redditor said this and I cannot stress it enough. You’re likely pointing out all the things the rowers will get out of this (i.e. getting in shape, receiving stellar coaching from Coach McAwesome, etc.) but what can the coxswains expect to get?

Advertise something that gets to the core of what coxing is (such as leadership training, for example) and note that they too will receive excellent one-on-one coaching from whoever on your team is most well-versed in all things coxing (if you don’t have someone, a) hello get or train someone and b) come on, we’ve talked about this). Things like opportunities to learn about coaching via weekly rides in the launch with your coach or something like that could also be enticing.

Basically you want to make sure the people interested in coxing feel like they’re going to given the same amount of attention as the rowers, in addition to being valued just as much as the rowers.

Say what a coxswain is without being cliche or dumb

Things like “loud”, “short”, “like telling people what to do”, “chief motivator” (yea, I actually saw that once…), etc. are pretty “blech”. Most of you are in college so your vocabulary should be a bit more expansive than that. Consider getting a coxswain’s input on what they feel the most important qualities are for someone who wants to try it out and go from there. You can definitely say that a coxswain is someone who is a leader or wants to develop better leadership skills but be prepared to detail what kind of leader they are and the expectations your team has for anyone considering undertaking that role.

Follow through with what you advertise

This is probably the most important thing you can do if you want to retain the people you get to come out this fall. At your first interest meeting, make sure you spend an equal amount of time talking to the prospective coxswains as you do the prospective rowers. If you’re going to advertise that coxswains are equally important members of the crew, make sure you stand by that right from the start.

Here’s an example of a flier I made last week when I was talking with someone who asked for feedback on one they were making to try and attract new coxswains. I’m not saying its perfect or what every poster has to look like but it’s an example of something you could do if you’re struggling to get people to consider trying coxing.

Remember, the key to a good flyer is to have just enough white space to keep it from looking too crowded but not so much that the page is practically empty. Keep everything concise and to the point (just like a coxswain would!) but make sure you get across the important details too. You also want to have something that’s visually appealing so that it’ll catch their eye and make them want to read the rest of what’s on the page, hence the text on the photo.

When it comes to posting them around campus or handing them out, consider putting them up in strategic places rather than randomly up on a board in the student center where they’ll just blend in with all the other club sport, “roommates wanted”, off-campus bookstore, and 2-for-1 beer crawl posters. For example, think of the majors that require the students to possess strong leadership qualities or that aim to enhance them (business, political science, etc.) and post some near that department’s office.

If you know of any leadership organizations on campus, email their president and see if you could make a quick presentation at the beginning of their next meeting. Let them know the type of student you’re looking for and why you think their members might also be interested in coxing. Make it mutually beneficial and invite them to give one at your first team meeting too. At the beginning of the year I remember always having team and club presidents pitch their activities at the start of class and the ones that I was always the most interested in were the ones that actually put effort into learning/knowing who their audience was.

College Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow August 24, 2014

I have been coxing for 4 years in High School and originally loved it however the past years I have slowly started to dread the practices to the extent that I would fake sick just so I wouldn’t have to go. I find that as I am becoming a higher level coxswain (Junior National Team and now a University Recruit) that rowing is no longer a hobby for my fellow crew mates, that it is their life. I don’t think I would ever be able to have that level of commitment as rowing has started to lose all of the joy that it once brought me and has become more of a nuisance than anything else. I am now starting University Training Camp and don’t know whether I should quit or not. I have never quit at something before in my life however I just truly get no joy out of it anymore and it just makes me very tired and depressed. I also just cannot really relate with my teammates and their lifestyles as all of them are Arts students with light course loads while I am in a very competitive Commerce program and in addition many of them thrive on “rowing drama” and are rather catty and competitive. Don’t get me wrong, the thrill of coxing a race is still one of the greatest things ever for me however I don’t know if I can handle all the rest. What do you suggest? I wish to tell the coaches as early as possible if I am not continuing as I do not want to inconvenience them…

Short answer? Just quit. You clearly aren’t enjoying it anymore and what’s the point in doing something if it doesn’t make you happy?

Long answer? I felt the same way you do and was in the same position as you as well. I did it for four years in high school, was recruited, and then fell out of love with it pretty hard and fast. I had a couple friends on the team but the majority were way more into partying than I was so we didn’t really have a ton in common. I’ve talked about this on here before but for me it got to the point where my alarm would go off in the morning and I would instantly be so pissed off that I had to wake up and go to practice. Not really the best way to start off what frequently turned into 18-20 hour days. I was always tired, always behind, always miserable, and perpetually in a state of being “over it”. When I decided to quit it was a really hard decision because I’d never quit anything either. I actually considered staying with it just so I could say I never quit anything. That’s a really stupid reason for doing stuff though so I told my coach that I was quitting and that was that.

As far as crossing that line between hobby and it becoming your life, you’re going to find those people on every team you’re on, regardless of whether it’s a sports team, the people you work with, etc. However, I don’t think that means that you should have to conform or pretend to be super into something you’re not just to please other people. Personally, I need that separation. I love crew but it in no way is my life and I’ve definitely met other coaches who don’t like the fact that I refuse to be all about rowing 24/7. There’s also a pretentiousness about it that just makes me roll my eyes (although that could have been/probably was more about the people than the sentiment). The point is that it’s OK to view crew as a hobby as long as you still show up ready to give 100%. If you think nothing of crew before or after practice, who am I to care? I’ve met plenty of people like that and in my experience they tend to be more dedicated in the long run than the people who are all OMG CREW = LIFE. There needs to be a balance otherwise you’re just asking to burn yourself out (case in point: that’s why I quit, I had no balance because crew took up so much time and mental energy). It can be hard to be that person who is perceived to be less dedicated than everyone else, especially when they’re catty and competitive like you said, but if people are going to make you feel like shit because you’re trying to manage a heavy course load and whatever else you’ve got going on, at some point you’ve gotta ask yourself if those are the kind of people you even want to call your teammates.

I’d set a meeting as soon as you’re able with the coaches and then tell them that you don’t want to do it anymore. Don’t beat around the bush, just get straight to the point. Don’t let them guilt trip you into staying or anything like that either. That’s such an asshole move and I hate when people do that. You also don’t have to say everything to them that you said in your question regarding the reasons behind your decision. If you just want to say that you’d rather focus on school because you’re course load is starting to really pick up then say that. You’re not obligated to tell them every detail. If you want to that’s your choice but you shouldn’t feel like you have to.

Like I said at the beginning, there’s no point in continuing to do something that doesn’t make you happy. If it’s to the point where you’re faking being sick to get out of practice or you view it as a nuisance rather than a fun activity then quitting is probably the best option.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow August 24, 2014

Do you have any tips about getting back into the swing of coxing after taking the whole summer vacation off? I’ve had 8 weeks off and although I get back onto the water in a week I was wondering if there was anything I should do in advance?

Beforehand I don’t think there’s anything you really need to do. What is there to prep for? I’d just enjoy your last couple of days off, maybe go for a run or long bike ride, and that’s it. Once you get back on the water though, don’t try to jump right back into coxing like you were at the end of last season. Being quiet is so underrated but it’s pretty much exactly what you should be doing right now. Just like the rowers are trying to get back into the swing of things, so should you, which means instead of talking and trying to correct their technique, make (unnecessary) calls, etc. you should instead be focusing the majority of your energy on steering a good course.

Use this time to focus on your basics which are steering (priorities #1-10), observing and silently analyzing the blade work (i.e. do you notice anything “off”, if so what is it, how does it deviate from what it should look like, what’s causing it, what adjustments should the rower make, and what should you say to him to elicit a change?) and feeling the boat (what feels good, what feels bad, do you feel a change after the coach talks to a rower about something, what did the coach say that resulted in that change, etc.).

Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 23

By readyallrow August 21, 2014

Clips from practice on the Potomac, Head of Occoquan, and Head of the Charles

I like what he says at 2:22 – “Our bow deck is on 71’s stern deck, let’s go. 70’s gone, time to make the next move. You don’t pass one boat then stop, you keep pressing…”. That’s a great call to make after you pass a crew, particularly if you’re close to the next crew in front of you. Another call that I really like (from Pete Cipollone’s recording) that would work well in this context too is “do not sit, do not quit”.

2:48, “bowball on the Charles, nothin’ better, let’s go baby, enjoy it…” This is a motivational call. This will get your crew fired up and ready to shift into that next gear. Not every motivational call is “yea guys you can do it woooo”, sometimes it’s as simple as pointing out that you’re passing crews at Head of the Charles because that is cool and that should motivate you.

The reason I wanted to share this recording isn’t necessarily because of the coxing though, it’s because of how the video itself is structured. If you’re reaching out to college coaches you should be including your audio in your intro email and this is a good way to format it. I’d include some short clips from practice of you calling part of your warmup, a drill, some steady state, etc., as well as a clip from a race, whether it’s a full spring race or a clip from a head race. Ultimately though it doesn’t need to be more than 10-12 minutes total of audio.

PNRA 2013 Head of the Charles Senior Women’s Masters 8+

This is a pretty good example of how to cox masters crews. If I didn’t know this was a senior masters women’s 8+ I probably would have assumed it was a youth or club eight.

I like this “power train” thing they do at 3:45 where the coxswain calls a ten for each pair. How she draws out her numbers and says “thaaaat’s four … thaaaat’s five …”, etc. is kind of annoying and not really the best use of her tone (I feel like it translates to sloppy/soft catches) but I’ve found masters crews tend to be less inclined to care about stuff like that. Ten strokes for each pair seems too long though so I’d probably cut it back to 3-5 per pair max.

At 10:27 when she’s telling Style Driven to yield it sounds like they’re not yielding so her telling her bowman to tell them to move is a good call on her part. Make sure you talk to your bow beforehand so they know you might ask them to do that and let them know that all they have to do is yell over at them “[Team name], yield!!”. Saying “yield or you’ll get a penalty” like this coxswain did can also be pretty effective since it’s like a 30 or 60 second penalty for not yielding to the faster crew. That’s a lot of words to get out though in the middle of the race and a lot of coxswains don’t do it effectively (they kind of just shout into the wind and fumble over their words) so it is something you should practice so you can establish beforehand what you want to say if the situation warrants it.

At 11:39 when she tells them she’s going to make a tight turn she does the smart thing by telling her starboards to be prepared to lift their handles up to counterbalance the boat (since it will naturally tip the side she’s steering to, which is port). I definitely recommend doing this so that the boat stays stable throughout the turns.

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