Tag: lineups

Coxing Q&A

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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.

Q&A Rowing Training & Nutrition

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So I’ve been rowing for 6 months now and I work really hard and do extra coaching sessions and am super passionate about it, but I feel as though I’ve recently stopped improving. Is it normal to plateau for a while in terms of your rate of improvement with rowing? Also, when rowing a double scull what does each seat mean? I was put in bow seat. Thanks!

I got an email about this the other day that asked a similar question. I think the plateau is fairly normal, to be honest. It’s very much like losing weight. First the weight loss is rapid and then it starts to gradually slow down as you continue to lose more. Eventually it gets to a certain point (i.e. those last five pounds) where you level off and it feels like you aren’t losing anymore. After a period of time you’ll find a way to jump start your system, either by ramping up your exercise, changing your workout routine, or making additional tweaks to your diet, that will get the process going again. When the body gets used to something it tends to become desensitized to it to the point where it stops responding, essentially because it’s bored. If you’re going out and doing the same workouts on the water over and over and over day in and day out, your body is probably thinking “eh, been there, done that, I’m over it”.

Talk with your coach and see if you can change up what you do during practice by throwing in some different drills and pieces than what you’ve been doing. After a week or two of going that you’ll probably start to notice some changes because you and your body will be excited again. Also make sure you’re recovering properly in between sessions.

Related: Hey, as a coach you might be able to tell me, in a quad how do you decide who goes where? And the same for an eight? Where you’re placed in the boat, should this tell you anything about where you “sit” compared to the rest of the crew?

Check out the post linked above – I wrote it awhile ago in response to a question about who goes where in the boats. This person asked about where people go in a quad and an eight, but the responsibilities of each seat are the same regardless of what kind of boat you’re in. The only change is that as move down towards the smaller boats, people tend to pick up more responsibilities. Your best answer to this question though is going to come straight from your coach since he/she is the one that put you there. If you’re curious as to why you’re in a certain seat, always ask!

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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I’ve just been dropped from my coach’s 1st boat after 18 months of loyalty & hard work. He did it by email (coward!) so I haven’t spoken to him yet. Is it OK not to want to? Would you expect your rowers to come to you & ask why? I was so angry at first, but I feel like I’ve found peace with it now & in that peace I’ve sort of concluded for various complex reasons that I don’t want the 8+ back, I’d rather move into smaller boats & try to move on that way. Do you think it’s OK to admit that to him?

Hmm. I think it’s OK to not want to talk to him but I still think you should, if only to get clarification and insight since he’s the one who made the final decision. Once you know and understand his reasoning then you can bring up the subject of maybe moving to smaller boats, provided your reasoning is legit and not just because you’re pissed you got taken out of the eight. As long as you aren’t rude, immature, bitter, etc. towards him or the other rowers, I think you’ll be fine. That’s where problems arise when people get taken out of boats, they develop bad attitudes that essentially start to poison the rest of the team, which obviously has a lot of negative consequences.

Be mature about it and say that you accept his decision but after 18 months you feel as though you deserve at least a little background information as to how he came to the decision to move you down. Ask what you can improve on and regardless of whether or not you agree with what he says, make an effort to work on those things. Just because you got dropped down now doesn’t mean you’re going to stay out of the first boat forever. Don’t burn that bridge just yet.

Q&A Rowing

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So … why in an eight is 3 seat considered the “worst rower?” Technically they’re still in middle 4 and I just don’t get it. Thanks!

I touched on this in a similar question about 5-seat – it’s linked below. The middle four has ONE job – row hard. They’re usually the bigger rowers of the crew so their only responsibility by being put in the middle is to generate power. That’s not a bad thing. Three seat just happens to be the seat where you have the least amount of impact on the balance of the boat (due to the boat being more stable in the middle since it’s wider), so theoretically you could put your weakest technical rower there and it would have as much of a negative effect on the boat as if they were in one of the other seats.

Related: So what’s the deal with five seat? I’ve heard a lot of jokes where people say five seat is the strongest but one time I was rowing five and another girl on my team goes “hey isn’t five seat the fat person?” Is that true or is it just kinda the same thing as “threetard’?

I think the only reason people think three seat is the worst rower is because they read those boat personality things and take them way too seriously. And by people, I mean novices (sorry guys) who sign up for crew, do some Googling to find out more about the sport, and then get it in their head that that’s the worst seat in the boat and they must suck as a rower if/when their coach puts them there.

Related: Hey, as a coach you might be able to tell me, in a quad how do you decide who goes where? And the same for an eight? Where you’re placed in the boat, should this tell you anything about where you “sit” compared to the rest of the crew?

Assuming your coach actually put some thought into the lineups, each person was probably placed in their specific seat for a reason. Unless you coincidentally display the same kind of personality traits as the ones listed in those boat personality things, they don’t actually mean anything.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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We don’t seat race coxswains on my team so our boating is based mostly off of what the coaches think, which normally is fair and just, but recently rowers have started voicing their opinions and a coxswain who just moved up to varsity this spring season has the V8 because the stroke seat said she liked the coxswain after one day. Is there anything I (a third year coxswain) can do about this? Or should I just focus on myself?

I definitely think you have a valid reason to talk with your coach but as I’ve said to everyone else that has had a similar issue, the goal here is to not prove why the other coxswain is unworthy, it’s to prove why you are worthy of the V8+. Talk yourself up instead of talking her down.

Ask your coach what they consider specifically when deciding who gets which boat. Ask them what they feel your strengths and weaknesses are and where they’d like to see improvements. If and when they ask you why you’re asking you can tell them that you’re a third year coxswain, obviously the V8+ is a goal (I’m assuming…?), and seeing a first year coxswain get it is motivating you to work harder. Simple as that. Keep the pissed off bitterness to yourself and let it come out in your coxing – I swear this is the whole reason why they let us yell and give us a microphone to do it into.

Also talk to the V8+ and ask them what they like about that coxswain. What does she do that resonates well with them? Talk to her as well. Just because she got the upper boat doesn’t mean she’s a crappy person or someone you can’t learn from and/or be friends (or at the very least, friendly) with. Even if/when you’re friends with each other, coxing is very much all about “keeping your friends close and your enemies closer”. There’s nothing wrong with that either, as long as you don’t get bitchy or catty about it.

Coxing High School Novice Q&A

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Hey! As a novice cox for a highly competitive novice high school team, in a group of overflowing (double the amount needed) sophomore/junior coxes, would the coach give the lowest boat to the youngest? I am in eighth grade and everyone says that I am better than a lot of the others yet I always get the lowest boat. Do you think it is because I am just so young? Our boats (in order) 11, 10, 10, 11, 10, 11, 9 , 8. And I can’t do anything about it anymore since my spring season is over and I am repeating novice year in 9th grade and I am not racing again until fall season. What do you think? I am probably not as mature/responsible as them though (I MUST CONCEDE…). Is that why? Any advice for me trying to improve? Is it still worth it coming 6x a week for nothing? I’m not quitting! Just for the rest of this season, I am not racing again and won’t even get boated and if I do, the worst boats. What should I do? Thank you so much!

It’s definitely because you’re the youngest. Don’t take it personally though. Logically, no matter how good you are, there’s no way they’d give an 8th grader one of the better novice boats because like you said, the older girls are (hopefully, given their ages) more mature, responsible, and trustworthy. That’s great though if you’re already getting complemented on how well you’re doing.

I would keep going to practice but maybe on an abbreviated schedule, like only on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays or something like that. Talk to your coach and ask if you can come in the launch with him/her to observe on the days you go and if/when they might need a substitute coxswain, you can fill in. You will learn so much just from observing, trust me. I know it sounds boring but when you’re out there and have the chance to ask the coach questions after he’s told someone to do this instead of that or has said we’re doing this drill to work on this part of the stroke, etc. it’s a really invaluable learning tool. It’ll also show your coach how dedicated you are to learning the sport and making improvements, which will be really favorable for you next year when he’s trying to decide who to put in which boat.

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hi, I’m a novice coxswain for a men’s collegiate team. We have 3 8+’s and 4 coxswains so one person always has to sit out. During one of our races, the other novice coxswain got to cox 2 races while I had one. I don’t understand why the coaches picked her over me. She shows up to practice hungover, misses at least one practice a week, and has crashed the boat 5 times. The coaches keep commenting on how impressed they are with me but she always gets the better positions. Do I confront her? My coaches? Or should I shut my mouth and deal with it?

I wouldn’t confront her directly about it but I wouldn’t stay quiet about it either. If all those things have really happened your coaches have to at least have an idea about it – there’s no way they can’t tell when she’s showing up hungover or haven’t seen/heard about her crashing the boat.

Related: What’s your opinion on rowers smoking/drinking? Do you think there can ever be a balance or should athletes just avoid it?

This is a tricky situation because it’s hard to confront your coaches about a decision they made regarding a teammate without sounding petty. I would find time to sit down with them just to talk about your progress so far. What have they seen you doing well, what would they like you to keep working on, what have you been working on, what your goals are for the season, etc. Talk about your race and casually ask them what went into the decisions on who was boated where or why some coxswains got to race more than once. It’s vague enough that you aren’t saying “why was she in that boat?” but it’ll also give you the opportunity to hear their rationale for why which coxswains were in which lineups. You can also ask if the coxswains will rotate in the future between who does two races and who done one should a situation like this arise again.

If they ask you why you’re asking, you can bring up that when you look at yourself vs. the other coxswains and take into account what the coaches are telling you about your performance, you’re confused because the boats/races you’re being put in don’t seem to measure up to the feedback you’re getting. Hopefully this will initiate a conversation and give them a chance to tell you why you are where you are.

I have to imagine that they’d want to know about this other coxswain showing up hungover, crashing boats, etc. if they somehow don’t already because it’s a safety issue at the very least. The issue is finding the right time to bring it up, which there hardly ever is one until it’s too late and then it comes to “well, if you knew, why didn’t you say something?”.

Do the varsity coxswains know about these issues? One thing you could do is talk to them first and then they can talk to her from an upperclassmen/team leader/fellow-but-more-experienced coxswain standpoint. If they feel it’s necessary to go to the coach, you can go with them or you can have them come with you, whichever makes you comfortable. That way you can say that you weren’t sure how to handle it because you know it’s not your place to do so so you wanted to talk to someone with higher standing first but they thought it’d be best to go  directly to the you, the head coach. From there you can let them deal with it.

Q&A Rowing Technique

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For the first half of our last practice, the boat was wayyyy down to starboard; the coxswain kept telling ports to drop and starboards to raise oars, so as a starboard I was forcing my oar against the water all the way through the recovery. (Made for a nasty palm blister!) When that didn’t fix the set, I leaned to the port for the second half of practice. This worked but there must have been a better way to do it. My coach said her lineup was bad but was there anything I could’ve done?

In that instance, I’d say probably not since your coach admitted her lineup wasn’t very good. The set is a byproduct of a lot of different things happening at any given time but sometimes the biggest factor is the group of people in the boat. Leaning to one side, even though it fixes the problem in the short term, is never a good idea because it makes the other seven rowers think “Oh, whatever I’m doing right now fixed the set, so I’m going to keep doing that forever” and then they end up ingraining new bad habits because it’s likely that they didn’t change anything and only felt the change you made, which wasn’t really a change at all.

Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing

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We have our last big head race this Saturday, and then it’s regatta season. Our crews will probably be mixed up but I don’t know how much. I was wondering what you’d look for in a rower/crew in regatta season as opposed to head season? It’s my first regatta season and I’m loving my crew so I’m in a bit of a pickle.

I think most coaches look for the same things in both the fall and the spring. Technique, strength/power, etc. If you’re asking in terms of lineups, I don’t think coaches have a lineup they race specifically for head race season and one they specifically race for during sprint season, so my guess would be that unless people in your boat(s) made any drastic improvements over the winter that would warrant them being moved up a boat, they’ll stay mostly the same. Best suggestion though is to talk to some of the varsity rowers and/or your coach to get an idea of how they do things in the spring.

Q&A Rowing

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What’s the difference between a JV8 and a 2V boat? Or are they the same thing?

It probably depends on each team and what races are available at the regattas you attend, but sometimes yes, they can be the same thing. Below I’ve listed how my team always did it. If we went to a regatta that didn’t have a novice eight but they had a freshman eight, we’d take the one or two freshmen from the JV boat and put them in the novice boat. (Novices are first year rowers regardless of what year they are in school.) If there was a 2V race but not a JV race, we’d enter the JV boat as the 2V “B” boat. Same with the 2V – if there wasn’t a 2V race, we’d bump them up to the varsity race and enter them as the varsity “B” boat.

Varsity 8+/4+

Comprised of rowers with a solid combination of high erg scores, stellar technique, a good attitude, and a strong sense of dedication to the team – those last two things were very important to my coaches. Typical makeup was usually six or seven seniors and two or three juniors.

2V 8+/4+

The second set of rowers below the V8, with times and technique just a little bit off the V8’s (no change in attitude or dedication though). Typically six juniors, a senior, and a sophomore. Sometimes it was all juniors, other times it was four seniors and four juniors, but for the most part it was the first combination I mentioned.

Junior Varsity (JV) 8+/4+

This boat was usually made up of sophomores, a junior who might not be as strong or technically advanced as the other juniors, and one very good novice.

Novice 8+/4+

All novices, obviously. Usually about six or seven freshmen and two sophomores. On occasion there might be a junior or senior in there, but it was almost always completely comprised of freshmen.

Freshman 8+/4+

Different from the novice boats in that freshman crews can only contain freshmen.

Hope that helps clarify things. Like I said though, each team does things differently so the best way to figure out how your team classifies things is to talk to your coach.