Tag: notebook

Notebook “hacks”: Post-practice affirmations

By readyallrow February 21, 2017

I’m only calling this a “hack” because I couldn’t think of a better title.

I think I’ve talked about this before but it’s come up a few times over email lately so I thought I’d write a quick post going into a bit more detail about a trick I used in high school to keep me from being too hard on myself if/when my confidence was taking a hit.

When my coach initially suggested this to us, I thought it was so cheesy. Rather than seeing it as a practical tool, it just seemed like a way to put yourself in a bubble and make it easier to block out any sort of criticism and ignore the mistakes you were making. If you have the wrong attitude it can absolutely be both of those things but if you use it the right way, it’s a great way to help you figure out processes that work and develop your confidence, objectivity, and self-awareness (all of which are, obviously, critical traits for a coxswain).

My approach to this exercise admittedly started off pretty weak. I’d occasionally write down “steered a good line today” or “were the fastest ones to launch after getting hands on” but things like that never actually made me feel better after a bad practice. I told my coach this and he basically said “well yea, no shit” (very nicely though, as was always his style). Everything I’d written down was stuff that I was expected to be doing anyways … so why should I get credit or be patting myself on the back for that? This was one of those critical points in my coxing career because it was when my coach pressed me to start asking “why” and “how”.

Why were we the first ones to launch? Because I’d spent time before practice figuring out what the plan was (drills, workout, were we going upstream or downstream, etc.) so I wouldn’t have to do it at the same time as the other coxswains after the warmup or while we were on the dock. Because I’d used my time better during the warmup to get my tools together and talk with the other coxswains about what order we wanted to launch in. Because I got over thinking that the rowers would think I was being a bitch if I more assertively said “let’s get hands on” instead of just waiting for everyone to make their way over to the boat.

How did I steer a good line today? I trial-and-error’ed the most effective way to hold the cables to minimize unnecessary movements of the rudder and put into practice the one I felt worked best. I held myself to a higher standard because we went out with the 1V and 2V and I was the middle crew when going three across. I was assertive and confident (and didn’t have to fake it!) when communicating with the varsity coxswains about our points.

The how’s and why’s were always the most labor-intensive because they made me think, which admittedly is sometimes the last thing you want to be doing after a long practice or a bad row. More times than not I’d keep it super simple (sometimes all you wanna say is “got a high five from the men’s V8 stroke after subbing in for them today” and leave it at that) but I know unequivocally that the few minutes I’d spend doing this after practice made me a stronger coxswain and helped me keep in perspective that even if I had a slip-up, I was still on the right track and doing a lot of things right.

To keep myself accountable and out of that bubble I mentioned earlier, I always acknowledged the less than stellar days when practice didn’t go well or I screwed up because, as I’ve talked about plenty of times before, there’s a lot to be gained from that, even if it’s just being self-aware enough to admit that you handled this situation completely wrong and now you know for the future that XYZ is a better approach.

Related: Keeping a notebook

This was always the messiest part of my notebook because it was just a season-long haphazard list of all the little things that I felt were tangible representations of the fact that I was getting better. When I started feeling like I’d hit a plateau or like my shortcomings were outweighing my strengths, I’d look through what I’d written and use that as a confidence boost to remind myself that I’m actually turning into a pretty good coxswain and one shitty practice isn’t the end of the world or as a kick in the ass to come up with the plan to do better. It also made assessing my progress at the end of the season with my coaches a little easier because I’d already subtly been keeping track of it over the past few months.

Like pretty much everything else on this blog, everything I’m telling you works … it just might not work for you. If you like the idea but not the method, by all means adapt it to whatever works for you. One of my friends had a very rigid approach to doing this (his was kind of bullet journal-y, if you’re familiar with them) whereas I recognized that if I wanted this to work for me, it needed to just be a simple, not over-analyzed list with the occasional expansion on topics when it was warranted. If you find yourself looking for ways to get better or feeling like you’re burning out or plateauing, don’t overlook little things like this as a way to help you through (or out of) those situations.

Image via // @dartmouthrowing

Coxing Racing

Coxswain skills: Evaluating races

By readyallrow October 25, 2016

Previously: Steering, pt. 1 || Steering, pt. 2 || Boat feel || How to handle a negative coxswain eval || How to cox steady state workouts || How to cox short, high intensity workouts || Race steering || Steering a buoyed course || Evaluating practices

Following up on September’s post on evaluating practices, today’s post is gonna talk about evaluating your race performance. Given that the biggest race of the fall season for most of us is now over and the hangover (either from racing or Ned Devine’s) has worn off, today seems like a good day to reflect back on how we did.

Related: Evaluating practices

Similarly to when you’re looking back on practice, there’s a lot of different variables you can look at to determine if your performance was up to par (and no, winning is not one of them – you can win and cox like shit just like you can lose and still cox a good race). There’s some carryover between the two but below are the ones I fall back on the most when talking with our coxswains, regardless of whether we’re talking about sprint or head races.

Did you execute the race plan effectively and if you had to deviate from it, did you do so in a way that was easily understood by the crew?

I’ve extolled the virtues of race plans enough times that you should know by now that there’s no excuse for not having one. Plan A, Plan B, Plan C … gotta have ’em all because you never know when you’re gonna need to make the switch because the race is developing differently than you’d originally planned. The better acquainted you and your crew are with the plan before launching for your race, the smoother the transition will be if you need to make that jump. Having to do this during a race is a good test of your composure, your ability to stay focused, and your awareness of how the race is developing around you and how you need to adapt to it.

Did you work towards and/or achieve your personal goals for that day?

Usually with our coxswains this involves something related to race management, steering, and/or communication with the crew. This is a big one for us because we’re always talking about what we did well during this race that we want to carry over to next week (and continue to improve on, implement more frequently, etc.), as well as what we didn’t do well that we need to work on throughout the week so that it’s done better during the next race. We discuss their goals before the race, immediately after, and then more in depth when we go over the video and having that conversation consistently throughout the week is one of the things that helps keep them on track.

Did you make technical corrections that contributed to an increase in boat speed?

This is a question that carries over from the previous post where I talked in more detail about how to determine if your technical calls are effective. Obviously during a race it’s too late to be coaching a rower or crew’s technique but you can/should still make simple, targeted calls that address issues if/when they pop up (i.e. “shape the finishes” if the blades aren’t coming out cleanly, particularly in rough water like we had all weekend). This is crucial during a race because if your technique is off just enough to slow you down 0.001 seconds per stroke, that’s 2 seconds over the course of 2000 meters, which at this level (collegiate men) can equate to nearly a boat length.

These post-race reflections are easily done without audio or GoPro but they’re so much more effective if you’ve got a recording on hand that you can go through, analyze, and get feedback on. GoPro is even better but the caveat, for you at least, is that your performance and execution skills will get scrutinized and critiqued a lot more because you can see your course, the bladework, etc. and how well you’re doing relative to each of those things.

The Wisco race from this past spring is good example of this. If we’d just had the audio I think we’d all agree that it was a solid performance by our coxswain but because we had the GoPro video too, there were a lot of things that stood out where if he’d executed XYZ better, attacked certain areas of the course with a little more fire, etc. that race could/would have been closer. And yea, I agree that it’s absolutely nitpicky as fuck but that’s also the nature of the game.

The great thing about going over that video with our coxswain (who was a freshman at the time) was that all the stuff I wanted to point out and say “we need to do this better”, he said first. I remember leaving that meeting and being so impressed because all I really had to do was help refine whatever plan he’d come up with to work on each of the areas where he felt he needed to improve. The one or two things that I pointed out that he hadn’t already mentioned, we discussed so that it made sense to him and then he followed up with “OK, how would you do it?” or “What should I do/say next time?”. That’s a HUGE sign of maturity in a coxswain and ultimately plays a big part in how effective these post-race (or post-practice) self-evaluations are.

Image via // @rowingcelebration

Coxing

Tracking progress in your notebook

By readyallrow June 7, 2016

Now that our season is officially over and presumably yours will be too by the end of this weekend, it’s time to start thinking ahead to next year. Specifically, what can we as coxswains do to make sure we’re holding ourselves accountable and contributing in the most positive ways to our teams. What I’ve linked to below should help with that.

Related: Keeping a notebook

Last summer one of our seniors was rowing at Riverside and put me in touch with his coxswain who was one of the Harvard heavyweight men’s incoming freshmen. While we were talking she showed me her notebook and it was so well put together that I knew I had to share part of it on the blog. Calling it a notebook doesn’t really do it justice either – it was a full on three-ring binder filled with notes on her rowers, practice, self-evaluations, etc. Her self-evals are what I’m sharing today – I’ve typed them up in a two-page Google Doc that you can find linked below.

The first page allows you to rate your performance on a 1-5 scale based on a variety of skills, responsibilities, etc. that you’re expected to be able to execute (examples include focus on the day’s technical objective, carrying out practice plan/drills, professionalism, collaboration with other coxswains, and facilitating improvement/progression of practice). The second page goes into a bit more detail and asks more introspective questions such as what you didn’t do well during practice, what specific things you noticed about the boat, what the objective of practice was, and what your short/long term focuses are.

What I like about these post-practice evals is that they force you to look at your performance objectively, which we all know can be tough to do … particularly if you’re not used to being held accountable for your actions, at least in the way that our job demands. A huge part of making improvements as a coxswain is doing some regular self-reflection and examining the areas where you’re doing well and the ones where you need to do better. That can be hard though without some kind of framework in place. Coxswain evaluations are, obviously, the best thing for this but those can be a hassle if your coaches/team aren’t fully invested in the idea of doing (or creating) them. With these self-evals though the only person you’ve gotta convince to do them is yourself.

Related: Coxswain evaluations part 1 and part 2

If you’re coxing this summer, particularly if you’re at dev camp or somewhere similar, that would be a great opportunity to start implementing something like this. You don’t need to use exactly what I’ve typed up either – if there are certain things you’ve been working on that you want to track your performance with or there are questions that fit your situation better, download the Google Doc and make whatever changes you want in order to make these work for you. That’s the key (#majorkeyalert) to making this a regular post-practice ritual and something that you can actually use to help you improve throughout the season.

Image via // @merijnsoeters

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 26, 2015

Hey there, I am going into my second year as a coxswain (I cox boys novice). I feel like I could be more enjoyable in the boat. Don’t get me wrong, the boys and I have fun all the time but I also don’t want to upset my coach by talking to the guys and having in with them and stuff. I feel like there is no way I can have fun and be an enjoyable coxswain for the guys while still getting my job done. Also I have started a note book to write things down in for practice and regattas, any tips about what to write in it and good calls to make?

I think it’s important to remember that you’re not really there to be their friend while you’re in the boat. I mean, obviously there’s no reason to be unpleasant but you’re not a cruise director … your job when you’re on the water is not to ensure that they’re having a five star experience. They have a job to do and you have a job to do and that comes first. You shouldn’t be talking to them when the coach is talking because a) that’s rude and b) you (and they) will end up missing something the coach says which ends up wasting time later when he/she has to repeat themselves. If you’re already having fun like you said then just keep doing what you’re doing but keep in mind that being “an enjoyable coxswain” is not one of your responsibilities.

As far as notebooks go, check out the post linked below. For the most part my notes are just a running list of phrases, calls, things the other coaches say, and miscellaneous thoughts based on whatever we’re doing. My best advice though is to figure out a system that works best for you and stick with it.

Related: Keeping a notebook

“Good calls to make” is pretty much one of the vaguest questions ever (sorry) so I’d recommend checking out the “calls” tag and some of the recordings posts where I’ve pointed out calls I like, don’t like, think are awesome or could be said better/more effectively, etc. to see if you find something in there that you like. Most of the time though the calls you make should be based off of what you’re seeing. The more experienced you get and the more time you spend educating yourself on technique the easier it’ll be to make good calls.

College Coxing High School

Keeping a notebook

By readyallrow August 19, 2014

There are three camps when it comes to notebooks. The first is full of the “psh yea not doing this too much work don’t care don’t need it” coxswains (usually guys), the second is full of “omg everything must look perfect” coxswains (usually girls), and the third is full of the normal people who don’t over-analyze the contents of a tiny book that’s most likely going to get wet, wrinkled, and torn five months from now.

Initially I started out in Camp Who Cares because I didn’t know any better and when my coach gave me my first notebook he failed to mention why he was giving it to me and what I was supposed to do with it. Once I learned its purpose I spent a brief period of time in Camp Perfection before moving on to Camp Normal.

If I’m writing stuff down, particularly stuff that I’m going to keep for awhile, I want it to be legible, organized, and visually appealing but when it comes to notebooks, especially when I’m coaching and scribbling stuff down from the launch, it’s just not possible to do all that. You’re gonna write your warmup down wrong, you’re gonna have last-minute lineup changes, you’re gonna remember some detail about practice that day after the fact … it’s not going to look perfect and that’s OK.

For the coxswains who are firmly planted in Camp Who Cares … why? Sure, it’s not required of you to keep a notebook and there are definitely coxswains out there that have been successful and not kept them but for something that is so simple and would take you maybe 15 minutes to maintain each day, why not just do it? If you’re serious about crew and are pursuing coxing in college, on the JNT, etc. then you really should be doing this anyways. In those situations (among a few others), we’re not saying you have to but you really should be and if you’re not, you’re getting judged for it.

Below are some of the common questions I get about notebooks, in addition to a couple I got last week. If you want to know anything else, feel free to leave a comment.

What notebooks work best? What do you use?

Anything small enough to fit in your pocket is going to be your best bet. The Rite in the Rain and Field Notes Expedition notebooks are great because the paper is waterproof so if you’re on the launch or something and are trying to take notes, you don’t have to worry about the paper getting all gross. A normal 3×5 notebook gets the job done too, just keep in mind that if it gets wet it’s pretty much done for. If you want something a little nicer, Moleskines are always a great option.

I use a combination of all three, for no particular reason other than I have them. I really love the waterproof paper and have acquired enough of those notebooks over the years that I’ve started using them as my everyday notebook whenever I’m on the launch. I keep a spare 3×5 (non-waterproof) one in my backpack though in case I don’t have my regular one on me. I have a nicer Moleskine that I use though whenever I go to conferences, to keep track of notes on the coxswains for when we go over evals, or to write down stuff that I wanted to remember long-term (i.e. things that might transcend the team I’m currently with). This is mainly for appearances though so I don’t show up in a “professional”-ish setting with a shitty notebook that’s ripped and scribbled all over.

When and what should I be writing in it?

I got in the habit in high school of getting my notebook out as soon as I got to practice so I could write down the lineup, drills, pieces, etc. that we’d be doing, along with anything else my coach wanted to work on or wanted me to pay attention to. This, as you might guess, requires actually talking to your coaches. We’d usually have a quick 5-10 minute meeting before practice started or while the rowers were on their warm up run so we could discuss all of this.

I rarely, if ever, take my notebook out on the water when I’m in the boat but if we’re sitting for a bit, taking an extended water break, or the coach is addressing something with someone then I’ll quickly pull it out if I want or need to make a note of something that I know I won’t remember once we’re off the water. Sometimes if we’re waiting for another crew or our coach is tending to something in another boat (like something with the rigging that will take a few minutes) then I’ll take that opportunity to talk about our race plan for the upcoming weekend and jot down some super fast notes on whatever the crew says. Like I said though, it’s rare that I do this and other happens if we’re sitting for 5+ minutes without anything else to do.

Immediately after practice I’ll quickly get down anything I want to remember for tomorrow (usually something we worked on that day to make sure the changes stuck) or something I need to make sure gets done before we go out (i.e. adjust the spacers on 4-seat’s rigger). Before I could drive I’d usually try to get this done while I was waiting for someone to come pick me up. Now I usually write it down while the rowers bring the oars up and the coach is giving his post-practice recap, that way I can also get down anything he says about practice that I think would/could be useful in the future.

Once I get home I’ll try to go back through the skeleton I wrote down before practice and fill in any pertinent details. I try to keep this pretty brief and to the point (very rarely are there full sentences being used). Those details might include:

More info on individual issues

If I scribbled down “Sam – finishes” then I’d elaborate on that by saying what was wrong (“wasn’t getting the blade out”), when it was happening (“consistently throughout practice”), and the possible causes (“posture – said low back was sore, probably not sitting up – or rigging <– likely because XYZ used this boat yesterday”).

Questions I have

This includes but isn’t limited to something we did, something I saw, or something the coach said that I either didn’t understand or want clarification or elaboration on.

Drills

Did they seem effective, did the rowers understand it, did I understand it, etc. and why or why not.

Pieces

How did they feel, what did I notice (third of four best overall – why?), any issues regarding stroke rate, technique, etc. – basically anything that stood out to me gets written down.

Miscellaneous things the coach said

I’ll usually get down a couple quick quotes from when he’s talking about technique or racing and then try to figure out a way to work them into a call. For example, one of the coaches I worked with last summer always said to the bow pair “everything’s faster in the bow”. What he was saying was that in the bow, if you think you’re on time you’re probably a hair late, which means you’ve gotta really anticipate what’s happening and almost set yourself up to be early so that you’re actually on time with everyone else. The way you’d use that in the boat is to make calls right to the bow pair about anticipation, staying quick and light on the seat, etc. if you see them falling off the timing a bit.

How do I use it at races?

Usually a day or two before when we’d find out all the details of the regatta I’d write down:

Time/location of the coxswains meeting

Time/lane # of my races

Who else was in my race

What time we needed to meet at the boat (i.e. 45 minutes before race time) and what time we needed to launch (i.e. 25 minutes before race time)

If anyone was going to be hot-seating

The boat and oars we’d be using if I was coxing multiple races with different crews

I’d also write down my warmup and race plan. Some people get way too into this and make full 8.5 x 11 pages that break down the race into 250m increments where you’re supposed to write down what you want the athletes thinking, all the calls you plan on using, etc. and personally I think that’s a huge waste of time. Races are way too fluid to be able to stick to something as rigid as that. If that works for you though, go for it. (I don’t mean that sarcastically either – different things work for different people. Find what you like and run with it.)

What I do is write down my full starting sequence, where our moves are, our sprinting sequence, what our starting, base, and sprinting SPM should be, and that’s about it. If someone asks me to say something in particular, call a specific burst, etc. then I’ll also make a note of that as well. All in all, it’s no more than one full page (front/back) in my small 3×5 notebook.

After the race I’ll do the same thing I do post-practice … jot down anything the coaches said (either pre-race that resonated with the crew or post-race that I want to remember), make notes anything that stood out with the warmup, the race, etc. (positive and/or negative), get quick feedback from the rowers on what they thought, and that’s it. I’ll also go through my cox box to double check the rates and see how close we were to where we wanted to be. Later on, usually on the bus on the way home, I’ll listen to my recording of the race (sometimes alone, sometimes with a few people from the boat) and take notes on it.

How should you keep a notebook when you can’t immediately write down everything you’re seeing?

If you’re on the launch you should always have your notebook with you and be writing stuff down. The amount of stuff that you write down in those cases shouldn’t be looked at as the “gold standard” though – you shouldn’t be trying to write down that much stuff every day. When I was on the launch last summer when we were doing two-a-days I could easily write down three or four pages, front and back, of stuff whereas when I’m actually coxing I’ll get maybe one side of one page filled with notes. If you’re in the boat though, you shouldn’t need to write down everything you’re seeing. You really only need to make note of the stuff that stands out (either in a good way or a bad away) and there’s a pretty good chance that you’re not going to forget it because if it’s that important, you’re probably already making calls for it.

If you can’t quickly get something down during a break then talk to yourself via your recorder and write it down later when you listen to it. I’ve done that before and yes, it looks and feels as weird as you probably think it does but who cares. I can either deal with my stroke laughing that I’m talking to myself for 10 seconds or I can forget whatever it is that I want to remember. I don’t always have my recorder on for the entire duration of practice but the times that I do, I always end up hearing a conversation I’m having with the rowers or the coach or that the coach is having with us that reminds me of something I wanted to make note of.

Don’t over-think this. Keeping a notebook isn’t some big project that you’re going to be graded on at the end of the season. It’s really only there to supplement what you’re doing and help you keep track of what’s working, what isn’t, etc.

How can I use it for myself? A lot of what I keep track of is stuff related to the boat…

I asked my coaches the same question because for about a year or so it felt like all I was using it for was to document the boat and not so much anything that I was doing. The thing they stressed to us was that it’s not a journal to write down every minute detail of practice. I’ve seen ones posted online where the writing is so small or so annotated that you can barely read it or there’s so much content crammed onto one page that it’s impossible to find anything of substance. This isn’t going to help you. Just like you do with all the other notes, keep everything concise and to the point. Short phrases are your friend here.

I don’t do this as much anymore but before what I’d to do keep myself accountable while coxing was write down a specific goal or two of something to work on over the next [whatever period of time]. Steering and technique-related stuff were the most common ones that I can remember, mainly because you can always be working on steering and learning to spot and correct technique issues is a huge part of coxing. After whatever period of time had passed I’d talk with my coach (and the rowers, on occasion) about my performance in those two areas and decide whether I should keep those goals for the following [however long] or if I’d met them satisfactorily enough that I could move on to something else. Sometimes I’d keep them even if I’d received positive feedback from other people though. It’s all about self-awareness … if I felt I could do better then I’d hang on to them for another practice or two until I felt like I’d achieved what I wanted.

Another thing I’d write down, mainly after races, was the positives and negatives of my coxing. Was I effective in communicating with the crew, was there a call the crew really responded to that I should keep using, was there a spot where I could/should have been more calm, did I control my nerves on the way to the starting line (something I was always working on), etc.

The other thing I’d write down was if something went wrong, how I handled it, and how I should handle it in the future if it happens again. These were rare (and never serious) but they usually revolved around how to manage traffic or weather-related situations. An more serious example of this is a weather-related situation a coxswain emailed me about this past spring. A storm came up on them pretty quickly when they were in fairly open-ish water and they ended up taking on a lot of water from the rain and waves which resulted in their eight sinking. He didn’t know how to handle it and said he wasn’t nearly as calm as he should have been. It wasn’t anything he could have controlled and it certainly wasn’t anyone’s fault but if he’d known what to do the whole situation might now have been as stressful for him and his teammates. Afterwards he talked with his coach, got some advice on how to handle that situation in the future (like, not letting people try to swim to the launch) and from there he went and wrote all of that down in his notebook. If X happens, he should respond by doing Y. If A happens, make sure B and C are taken care of before trying to do D. Stuff like that.

In addition to all of that, keep lists of your best calls or ones you heard and want to incorporate. If you listen to your own recordings or those of other coxswains you should have plenty on hand that you can use if yours start sounding a little stale.

Hopefully that answers some of the more common questions about notebooks. Like I said, don’t over-think them. They’re just there to help you out, not add more stress. If you’ve got any other questions feel free to email me or leave them down in the comments.

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Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow May 2, 2014

I’m a HS varsity men’s coxswain, but our club spends a lot of time sculling in quads and rowing small boats. As a result, I spend a lot of time sitting on the launch. However, I don’t exactly know what the best way to make use of that time is. Usually I just watch the rowers quietly and mention the occasional technique mistake if I don’t think my coach sees it, but I’m not really sure what the protocol is. Should I tell the rowers directly if I’m seeing something off? Should I try to talk to my coach about what lineups I think are working and what aren’t (he very occasionally asks my opinion on who should get seat raced and stuff like that)? Or is it better to just watch and note what’s going on so I can use it when we do row coxed boats?

I think the best way to make use of your time in the launch would be to do all the things you listed. If you’ve got a camera (an actual camera that you can zoom in and out on), bring that along too so you can get some video of each of the rowers. That’ll give you the opportunity later on to watch it and go over, either with your coach or that rower, the things you’re noticing. From there, you can use whatever you took away from those clips to help you come up with calls to use when you’re in the boat with them. The calls could be boat-wide reminders if you see several rowers doing the same thing or individual ones if you notice certain rowers have their own specific tendencies.

In that same vein, I’d also make sure you’ve got your notebook out on the water with you so that you can jot down anything you hear your coach say that you think would be pertinent for you to use in the boat. Usually when I do this I write down pretty much all the technique things the coach says (I’ll make a note if it’s directed towards a specific person but I tend to just write them down in an “in general” sense), in addition to any miscellaneous quips or phrases that I can turn into a call later on. If the crew is going through drills or doing pieces and he shouts something to them and follows it up with a “yea, that’s it!” (meaning the crew responded to what he said), I’ll also write down whatever it was and what he said it in reference to so I can use it in the future if/when necessary.

Below is an example of what my notebooks tend to look like when I’m riding in the launch as a coxswain. (If I’m actually coaching from the launch and trying to take notes it usually ends up looking like a dyslexic chicken wrote it. It’s hard to write, steer, and watch the boat at the same time.) It’s basically just a mix of lineups, whatever workout we did, any switches that were made, and individual and general comments.

Regarding talking directly to the rowers, I’d say eight times out of ten I usually say something to the coach first before I say it to the rowers. I still do this as an assistant coach just to avoid undermining their authority. I’ll usually say something like “Katie’s lunging at the catch again” or “Have you noticed how X does Y when we’re doing Z?” and if I’m coxing they’ll either reply with “good call” and then tell the rowers what I saw or if I’m riding along as the assistant coach they’ll let me tell them myself. The other reason why I run past the coach whatever it is that I saw is because there’s always the chance where what I’m seeing isn’t actually what’s happening (aka I’m misinterpreting what’s they’re doing or what the effect of whatever they’re doing is) or it’s not something that’s necessary to tell them in that moment. If the latter is the case then I’ll try to tell them during a water break or once we get back on land.

I would definitely use that time to talk to your coach about lineups, personnel issues, etc. and let him know in general how things are going in the boat. One of the things my coaches would frequently ask me is how I think the drills we’ve been doing are affecting our strokes – have they gotten better (meaning the drill was effective) or stayed relatively the same (meaning the drill wasn’t effective). This kind of information would clue them into how well we were using our time and if certain drills were worth continuing to do or if they needed tweaked or whatever if we tried doing them again.

Coxing Ergs Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow March 4, 2013

When we write down erg scores/times, I never fail to copy one down wrong. Ugh. Any advice? I know it’s SO simple but…

Trust me, you’re not the only coxswain to have a brain malfunction while trying to write down splits, times, watts, average stroke rate, etc. Multiply all of that by 25+ rowers and you’re bound to make a mistake. It happens, you’ve just gotta make sure to minimize the number of times it does so that time’s not being wasted and the data the coaches are getting is accurate.

My friends and I came up with a “system” in high school to make writing everything down easier, simpler, and faster. We had a similar system in college too that made the process a lot smoother, especially since there were twice as many rowers to collect data for. In addition to all this, another thing that helps is dividing up the rowers amongst the coxswains, i.e I’ll take the front row, you take the second row, and so on, that way you’re not rushing around trying to get everyone done.

Before

All the ergs are numbered, 1-x. Each erg must be full, meaning it can’t go someone on 2, someone on 3, no one on 4, someone on 5, etc. That’s what always trips me up when I’m writing stuff down. When they sit down, I write each person’s name down beside their erg number. Once I’ve written their name down, they can’t switch ergs. While they’re erging, each coxswain makes a “table” for whatever we’re supposed to be writing down so we can quickly fill it in when they’re done. (You can also input them directly into Excel if you’ve got a laptop on hand and a spreadsheet pre-made that’s ready to be filled in.) Also, if for example you’re taking splits and time, make sure the order you have them written down in is the same across the board, that way when you give your coach the numbers or they look at the sheets they don’t have three pieces of paper that have splits written down first and one that has their overall time down first.

After

#1 rule, no one is allowed to leave their erg until their stuff has been written down. This just ensures no one gets skipped or erg #5’s times are written down in erg #4’s place. I make sure the screen that displays everything is up so I can get time, splits, meters, etc. off of it all at once without having to waste time cycling though them. If I’ve gotta write down watts, which isn’t on the main screen, it’s always written down last and is always listed last on my table. All the info on the main screen I take down in the order it’s displayed. Time goes down first, since it’s at the top, then splits, then whatever else, that way I don’t get confused as to whether I just wrote splits in the time column or time in the splits column.

Also, take your time. Be quick about it obviously but don’t rush to the point where you’re being sloppy, can’t read what you’ve written, or aren’t looking carefully at what you’re writing down. Don’t let the rowers mess with their screens either. If they want to look at something just tell them to wait until you’re done so they aren’t in the way and/or slowing you down. Also, double check everything before moving on to the next erg. #1 rule of coxing, better safe than sorry.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow October 8, 2012

Do you recommend carrying a small pocket notebook or having a regular size notebook for notes? I currently have a pocket notebook during erg pieces to jot down splits and times. How do you organize all your thoughts and coxswain information?

Definitely! I always liked having two – a pocket sized notebook (that you don’t mind getting wet, wrinkled, or crushed at the bottom of your bag) that you can use to scribble down lineups, notes and reflections from practice, etc. and a separate (slightly larger) notebook to transfer all that stuff into.

The reason I suggest having a separate notebook is so that at the end of the day/week or after race day, you can spend some time transferring everything into a notebook that isn’t wrinkled and gross. (If you’re a fan of digital notes, keeping a running doc in your Google Drive, Evernote, OneNote, etc. would work great too.) This will give you the opportunity to not only re-read your notes from the day and reinforce in your mind what you did, but to also re-write everything so that it’s legible (not scribbled) and organized. When you’re rushing to get erg scores or taking a water break in the boat you don’t have time to think about how nice everything looks, which leads to scattered illegible notes. Taking 5-10 minutes on the bus back to campus, in between classes, during dinner, or whenever to transfer your notes to another notebook allows you to organize it as you please. You don’t have to do that (I have plenty of friends that didn’t care what their notebooks looked like as long as they could loosely make out what they’d written) but it was a strategy that also worked best for me.