Tag: coxswain

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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We have a coxswain and all she does in our races is call pieces and count the strokes. It is ridiculous. Like she will call a piece of 30 and then about halfway through that she will call a piece of 20 then count out the strokes and it isn’t helpful at all and just frustrates the rowers. How can we approach asking her to change what she’s saying without sounding bitchy and like we know what she’s doing better than her?

You should never feel like you can’t ask your coxswain to do something differently. Sometimes the way we call things just doesn’t work and you have to have enough respect for your crew to understand that you need to do something different, not only for the benefit of the boat but also so your rowers continue to respond to you. If you’re unapproachable about stuff like this all that’s going to do is bring the boat down.

The issue where it comes off like the rowers know more than the coxswain is when you start telling them how to steer, how to call drills, how to take the boat out, etc. Anything regarding calls relies on communication between both parties because the coxswain needs to make good calls that the rowers will respond to and if the rowers find that those calls aren’t working for them, they need to let the coxswain know so they can figure out a way to call it differently. As long as you’re not straight up attacking her and saying that her coxing sucks or something, there really shouldn’t be an issue.

Before your next practice I’d have your stroke and maybe one other person talk to her (privately to avoid the “ganging up” feeling) and ask if she’d mind calling a few things different during practice and your races. Tell her that the power pieces are helpful but you think the boat would respond better if they were spread out more and used strategically rather than sporadically.

Related: When do you call power 10s, both on the erg and the water? Would it be like when you see a girl’s split dropping and staying down on a 2k or during a race if you’re close and want to pass another boat? Or could it be any time just for a burst of energy? I don’t really know the strategy, I just know at some point I’ll have to sound like I know what I’m doing and call a few.

For now, just ask her to work on that. You don’t want to overwhelm her with a ton of requests and you also don’t want to piss her off. After practice, assuming she listened to your request and tried to do things differently, tell her thank you for making the effort and then give her any feedback you have. If she didn’t listen to your request and doesn’t want to do things differently, talk to your coach and explain the situation. Tell him/her that you asked her to try something different and that, for whatever reason, she didn’t do it. From there, hopefully your coach can have a talk with her and explain why communication back and forth is critical to having a cohesive boat.

If things went alright though, like I said, tell her thanks and then maybe in a few days or so talk to her about what you guys want to hear as far as additional calls for motivation, technique, etc. Maybe have each person in your boat write down one motivational and technical call each and then give her that list. I only say wait a few days because you don’t want to throw all of this on her too quickly because it is overwhelming having your rowers say they want to hear a million different things and trying to remember everything and figure out the best places to work those calls in is a little daunting at first. Give her a day to get used to calling the bursts differently and then talk to her again.

Coxing Q&A Racing Rowing

Question of the Day

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I’m a coxswain but since I’m the only available freshman they’re having me row this Sunday. I’m replacing a girl who’s going to a family party. Anyway, I feel like I can’t push as hard and I’m letting the rowers down! I’m so stressed out that I’ll catch a crab or something!

Whether anyone has told you this or not, no one expects you to go out and pull as hard as the girl you’re switching in for. What they do expect is for you to go out, try your best, and row as hard as you can. You know what to do since you’ve been telling the rowers how to do it while you’re coxing…now’s your chance to do it yourself. Use it as a learning experience. Even though you’re going to be focused on the rowing, take mental notes on your rowing – what seems harder than you expected, what is your technique like, etc. and then remember all of that the next time you go on the water and cox. Use what you learned to help you cox the girls in your boat.

Don’t worry about catching a crab. If it happens, whatever, it’s not the end of the world. Recover as quickly as possible and get right back into it. Watch your timing, make sure the blade is completely square at the catch and finish, and only bury the oar as deep as you need to in order to cover the blade. Don’t stress out either! That takes all the fun out of racing.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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I’m the coxswain who doesn’t push her rowers. I think the reason I can’t say what I would like to say is my rowers don’t exactly like me because I am a goody two-shoes. Whenever I tell them in practice (races are different) that they should push themselves for these ten strokes or don’t get lazy on me, power through it, they tell me that I have no idea what they’re going through and I can’t say anything because I’m not doing anything.

I have zero – ZERO – patience or respect for rowers with attitudes like this. None whatsoever. It’s arrogant, obnoxious, rude, and unsportsmanlike. I truly think it’s hilarious when rowers are all “you have no idea what we’re going through” and treat the coxswains like crap because our jobs are “so easy”. What I really want to say to them is “um, you have no idea what I‘m going through right now having to deal with you and your attitude”. It’s like they can’t see things from the perspective of the coxswain and worse, they won’t attempt to. I have issues with that and sorry not sorry, it pisses me off.

Related: My friends don’t really understand coxing and think I just sit there and do nothing, or it’s a ‘wimps job’ (this girl’s not my friend) and I was just wondering if you have an eloquent way to describe the importance/difficulty of coxing and how it’s not actually an easy job?

I don’t care if your rowers don’t like you, whether it’s because they think you’re a goody two-shoes or because you like the color blue instead of neon orange. It doesn’t matter. No one said rowers and coxswains have to be BFFs. What has been said though and what should be common sense is that you respect each other, and that’s clearly not happening. From my experience when I’ve seen coxswains get called “goody two shoes” it’s because they’re trying to do what the coach has asked them to do or they’re trying to actually get the rowers to do something and the rowers don’t want to do it. If you don’t want to do it fine, but get out of the boat. Don’t be an ass to the person who’s job it is to run practice and make sure things get accomplished efficiently and correctly.

If they say to you that you can’t say anything because you’re “not doing anything” then don’t say anything. Let them figure it out on their own. When your coach asks why you’re being silent you can tell them that your boat doesn’t think you have the authority to tell them what to do because you’re not making any contribution to the boat yourself. (If you really want to be passive-aggressive, which may or may not help, say this to your coach on the water over your microphone so the rowers hear you say it.) At this point your coach will hopefully have a talk with the rowers and tell them to get their shit together and take their egos down a few notches. You should talk to your coach though before it gets to this point. The first time someone said something to you is when you should have gone to your coach. Explain the situation, tell him/her what they’ve said, and then say that if that’s how they’re going to act you either want to be put in a different boat or you want a boat meeting held with you, the rowers, and the coach(es) present. The kind of dynamic you’ve got going on right now does. not. work. and it needs to change.

I don’t necessarily condone stooping to their level but I also tend to think rowers should treat their coxswain the way they want their coxswain to treat them. If the rowers are going to treat the coxswain poorly and not respect them or what they bring to the table, why should the coxswain make any effort to do anything for the rowers? And vice versa too – if the coxswain is power-tripping and treating the rowers like a bunch of slaves, why would/should the rowers respond to that? There has to be a mutual understanding between all nine of you that everyone contributes something and just because one person’s contribution isn’t physical doesn’t mean that they’re any less valuable to the crew. Their job, LITERALLY their responsibility as a coxswain, is to tell you what to do. Either suck it up and accept that is part of our job description or get out of the boat and go scull.

You need to stand up for yourself. Don’t be intimidated by them and don’t say “oh they’re older than me, I can’t say anything to them, etc.”. YOU ARE THE LEADER OF THE BOAT. Act like it. If they see you as someone they can walk all over, believe me, they’ll do it. Go out there with a determined, confident attitude and don’t take their shit. Discuss this with your coaches, get their input on the situation (since they know you and your crew better), and let them deal with it. It falls under their list of responsibilities to deal with these kinds of situations so once you’ve alerted them to the fact that there’s an issue, hopefully they’ll do their part and have a serious talk with the rowers. Like I’ve said before though, they can’t help you or do anything about the situation if they don’t know there’s a problem.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

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As a novice coxswain, I find it hard to ask for more of the rowers. I feel like I can’t push them other than asking them to stay at their stroke rate. All I say is, “great job,” “beautiful” “catch them” and other things about proving ourselves. How can I remedy this?

This is one of those instances where you just have to do it. There’s nothing else I can say other than get over whatever is holding you back and cox them. Your rowers are expecting you to tell them what their individual technique looks like, what they’re doing well, what they need to fix, what the boat as a whole is doing, how it feels, what’s happening in race situations, giving them general reminders on body positions, catch/finish technique, slide control, etc. and if you’re not doing that, you’re hurting the boat and your chances of improving as a coxswain. “Great job” doesn’t mean much if they didn’t actually do a great job, “beautiful” doesn’t mean anything if their technique is all over the place, and “catch them” is ineffective unless you specifically tell them how to do it.

Related: So, what did you see?

If you don’t know what you should be looking for or what to say that’s fine, but you need to go talk to your coach immediately and figure out what you should be observing when you do your drills, warmups, steady states, etc. and then determine how to translate all of that into effective calls for your boat. If you’re overwhelmed by all the responsibilities, that’s fine to admit too, but you’ve got to know that that will probably mean the coach will take you out of the boat in favor of a coxswain who has it under control and can push the rowers to their full potential. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though – it’ll give you an opportunity to sit back in the launch and observe while talking to your coach and finding out what exactly he sees and wants.

Navigating the Charles River (Boston, MA)

Coxing

Navigating the Charles River (Boston, MA)

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Below are a few maps that I found very helpful when I first started coaching on the Charles last spring. If you’re racing here in the spring, are around in the fall for HOCR, or just starting rowing here, check them out and familiarize yourself with the bridge arches, which ones you can use, which ones you can’t, etc.

Related: (Head of the Charles) Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges || Landmarks along the course || Steering around the turns || Race plans || My general race plan

CHARLES RIVER TRAFFIC PATTERNS (You can download a copy of the map in PDF form here.)

CHARLES RIVER BASIN 2K COURSE (You can download a copy of the map in PDF form here.)
Pay particular attention to the arches that are available to use on the Mass Ave. bridge – you’ll see there are upstream lanes on the far right Cambridge side and on the far left Boston side (the Union lanes). The Union upstream lanes are typically only used when the basin is horrific because of wind or there are races happening.

In terms of the 2k course, note where the starting line, finish line, and each 500m marker is. To see them more closely, download the PDF and zoom in. The starting line is at the end of the Memorial Drive ramp just off the Longfellow Bridge, 500m is just before the MIT sailing center, Mass Ave. is 1000m, MIT’s boathouse is 1500m, and the finish line is right before the Hyatt Regency Hotel. There’s a white pole in the ground on shore that marks the finish line and obviously, there will also be a race official with a flag to let you know when you’ve crossed. At the end of the course and across from BU are some large neon markers that give you your points to aim for.

In addition to all of that you’ll see the small blue arrows in the water that denote the traffic pattern on race days (and most other days too). Pay close attention to those and make sure you follow them.

To read up on how to navigate the river during HOCR, check out the posts linked at the top of the post and follow the “Head of the Charles” tag to stay up to date on all future HOCR posts.

Image via // @dosdesignsltd

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Should I make corrections to my point (using bow pair) while the coach is speaking? I always feel rude but the boat sometimes drifts off!

You can as long as you’re not distracting everyone else. Most coaches won’t have a problem with this (and the ones that do are clearly clueless) so if you see that you’re drifting or being blown by the wind, go ahead and make the correction. Speak just loud enough to be heard but not so loud that you’re talking over your coach. Keep whatever you say short and to the point as well. “Bow, gimme two strokes…” gets the job done. If your coach is talking to your bow pair or bow four, wait a minute until he’s done so as to not distract them unless you’re in a potentially dangerous situation (drifting onto some rocks, being blown by a strong crosswind into shore, etc.). If he’s having a long conversation with them about something, speak loudly into your mic and say something like “hey coach, I’m drifting into the rocks so I’m gonna row it out…” and then have your bow 4 or whoever take you out and away from whatever the issue is. Do this quickly so as to not waste time and so he can get back to coaching.

Another thing I’ll do if my coach is talking to bow pair is have either stroke or 7-seat back it, which will accomplish the same thing. This is really the only time I use them to get my point though and it’s only if we’re in open water, not right on shore or anything. If I need a stroke from 2-seat then I’ll have 7-seat back it and if I need one from bow then I’ll have stroke back it. Sometimes this is the easiest way to do it because you don’t have to use your mic to talk to them, which means you won’t distract everyone else in the process.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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What do coxswain seat races entail?

I think the same thing as regular seat races … do a piece or two, switch, repeat.

Personally I think coxswain seat races are a waste of time because I look at every practice as being a seat race. They should be going out and practicing like the coach was making the decision on who was going to cox the boat based on how well they did that day. It’s also impossible to do a seat race for coxswains. Some coaches might have come up with a way but nearly every coach I’ve ever had or talked to about this has said it’s just not possible. There are too many variables that can’t be controlled, unlike with regular seat racing. You’re getting switched into a boat that you’re not used to and who isn’t used to you.

In addition to that, you could be a not-so-great coxswain who gets switched into a good boat that can function fairly well regardless of the coxswain they have whereas the coxswain who is normally with that boat gets switched into a boat that isn’t as good, isn’t usually coxed very well, and is in a mental and physical hole before they even start the piece. The “good” coxswain is at a serious disadvantage and the “not good” coxswain is at an advantage. The only thing that I can even think of that would be worthwhile is seeing who steers a better line but you can do that anytime and even then it can be affected by who’s rowing, the weather conditions, the boat itself, etc.

Related: Coxswain evaluation tag

Instead of seat racing I’d suggest coaches do formal evaluations, listen to recordings, get feedback from the rowers, maybe actually coach the coxswains and pay attention to what they’re doing on the water from time to time, and then make a decision. There are a lot of things that go into coxing that can’t all be displayed or summed up in one practice 2k.

Coxing High School Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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I’m a varsity coxswain for my high school team and we have 4 coxswains and 3 boats to race, so the younger girls are in competition for the 3rd seat. For the last 4 races, I won the “coxswain seat race” and raced the important ones. Today she coxed at an unimportant medals race and I was given the important one for next week and I’m so nervous and I know I’ll cox well but I need the boat to move faster then it ever has before so that it’ll guarantee I get to cox at Mid-Atlantics and Stotes –  HELP.

I get what you’re saying, I really do but I’ve gotta caution you on something. Don’t ever say you need the boat to do something in order for you to be able to cox. They have their job and you have yours. Neither person is obligated to do anything for the other. Obviously you want to row hard for each other but you can’t say “row hard so I get this boat” or “row hard because I want this boat” … that makes it all about you and SURPRISE it’s not all about you. As long as each person does their job to the best of their ability, that is what makes boats move faster than they ever have before.

Don’t be nervous or too cocky. You’ve clearly been doing something right if you’re consistently winning seat races and being given boats to race at the important regattas. Keep doing what you’re doing, work with your crew to come up with a solid race plan, and work your ass off during practice this week. Push your crew to work hard and let them push you as well. Stay calm, be confident, and let your goals motivate you to be the best coxswain for your boat. If you do all of that you’ll be making an undeniable contribution to the boat that will most definitely help it go fast this weekend.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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What do you usually bring in the boat with you? It’s hard to bring a backpack when you’re in a bowloader and you can barely move your arms…

I coxed a few bow loader fours in high school and my bag then consisted of a drawstring Nike bag, which was easily contorted to fit whatever space I was in. I’d take a wrench or two, some extra spacers, one rigger’s worth of nuts and bolts, my recorder, my phone, a pen/pencil, a small notebook, Hot Hands (depending on the weather), sunscreen, and a LOT of band aids and tape. I’d generally sit in my lap so it wasn’t getting totally crushed and to prevent it from getting wet should any water get into the boat.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I need advice. I am a novice coxswain for my school’s rowing team but apparently the captains think I have a natural talent for it so I am not that bad. The boy’s first boat have expressed interest in having me as their coxswain next year and I’m really happy about that. However, I am studying abroad for 3 months in the fall and will not be able to cox during fall season. Do you think that will be a contributing factor in choosing me over other coxswains for the spring?

Do they know that you’ll be studying abroad? If they already know that and are still saying they want you to cox them, they must think you’re worth waiting for. If you haven’t told them yet, tell them as soon as possible so they know. If they have another coxswain in the boat for three months and then kick them out as soon as you get back, that could cause some unnecessary tension on the team, which obviously no one wants. I wouldn’t necessarily make any decisions now though as far as who’s coxing who next year. I’d wait until you get back and then do some kind of coxswain evaluation between you and whoever coxed in the fall, that way it’s at least fair to the other coxswain.