Tag: practice management

Coxswain recordings, pt. 3

Coxing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 3

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Australian Men’s 8+ at the European Training Center

Not too much in this video since it’s only about a minute long but I wanted to point out how he gives them something to focus on (“length and power through the water”) even though they’re at the tail end of practice and taking it back to the dock. It’s really easy to assume practice is over when your coach says to bring it in but it’s not so you should be taking advantage of whatever time you have left to get in as many good strokes as possible so you can end practice on a high note. This is particularly important if the rest of practice was mediocre or didn’t go well.

Other calls I liked:

“With hips, this one…”

“Lets set ourselves up for the row home…”

“One continuous focus to the end…”

Texas Rowing Center Rowing Starts

One thing she says that I remind my crews of a lot is that you have to row well even when you’re tired, otherwise your chance of getting injured or tweaking a muscle goes way up. Another thing she does that I do too is the “BOOM” at the start of a shift. When racing, I would do it on the first stroke of our settle after our high strokes at the start. The aggressiveness in your voice helps to reiterate the fact that the “settle” doesn’t mean there should be a drop in power.

I like the authoritativeness in the commands during the tens but outside of those strokes she sounds bored (or annoyed), like this is what she’s been doing all day and she’s over it. That’s something you have to pay attention to because whatever energy you’re projecting through your tone will get picked up by the rest of the boat and that can either make a good practice better or a mediocre practice worse. You can keep your tone chill and conversational but it should never get to the point where it sounds like you’re just going through the motions.

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

Coxing Drills Q&A

Question of the Day

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Today during practice we just did 20 minute pieces of steady state rowing. My crew gets bored very quickly and their stroke rating goes down, so I decided to add in various 13 stroke cycles throughout the piece, but I regret doing it because it wasn’t steady state. I’m just confused as to how to get them engaged throughout without sounding like a cheerleader but at the same time keeping up the drive and stroke.

Steady states are kind of a catch 22 because while they have many purposes, rowers can get bored and complacent WAY too easily. Coxswains can also get bored – it’s something I’m definitely guilty of. Below is what I do to alleviate that and keep myself (and the crew) focused.

Best piece of advice is to break the piece into chunks. If you’re doing 20 minutes, break it into 5 four-minute chunks. Each of the first four chunks focuses on something different, such as leg drive/getting a good first jump, body swing, catch timing/clean releases, and lengthening out while maintaining a steady pressure. The final chunk focuses on combining all of those things to make the cleanest, most efficient strokes possible. During each chunk, spend 2 minutes talking and 2 minutes NOT talking. Before you start, explain the plan. “Guys, we’ve got 20 minutes ahead of us. We’re going to break it down into five four-minute chunks and focus on something different during each of those four minutes. I’ll spend a few minutes talking and a few minutes not talking. When I’m not talking, I want you to think about what we’ve been working on and try and apply the changes. Don’t use that time to zone out – stay in the zone and keep the focus in the boat, in your seat.”

(Note: all of this is a lot wordier – exponentially so – than I’d normally be in the boat. That’s just for the sake of explaining what I’m getting at here. It should be fairly obvious what you can cut back on and make more concise.)

1st minute

“Ok, so let’s spend this first chunk working on our timing at the catch and finish. Let’s clean it up and focus on getting our blades in at our longest points, not lunging for the catch, and keeping our hands, shoulders, and chins level. At the finish, let’s think about getting our layback, knowing where the proper layback spot is, and making sure we’re giving ourselves plenty of room to tap down at the release. This is going to rely a lot on our handle heights, so that should be a secondary focus of this first four minutes. I really want you guys to concentrate on just the catches and finishes. Let’s maximize that horizontal rotation out towards the rigger and minimize the unnecessary vertical movements coming into the catch.  Let’s go into this minute knowing what we need to work on, seeing how the boat feels, and let’s make some initial adjustments. We’ll go … on this one.”

2nd minute

Don’t talk. Take note of everything that’s going on. What were the immediate noticeable improvements? What happened to the set? What did you notice from the individual blades? What got better, what still needs work? Is someone getting their blade caught at the release? Why? Do you know how to tell them to fix it? Can you hear one sound going into the water or several? Ask your stroke if he/she feels any rush. How bad is it?

3rd minute

“Ok guys, our catches are at about 75%. They’re not perfect, but they’re not terrible either. We’re pulling over to port as we come to the finish – 4-seat, I noticed your blade is getting caught on nearly every release and that seems to be when the boat gets the most tippy. Lay back, make sure you’re not pulling into your lap. Think about where your hands are coming into on your body and try and hit that same spot every time. Let’s listen for the sound of the oars going in the water together on this next minute – one sound here. Let’s we squeeze into the finish, hold the blades in as long as possible, and keep the pressure on all the way through. Our stroke rate should be at about an 18, so let’s control our slides coming up to the catch and get a good press going back to the finish. Think about accelerating the blade through the water during the stroke – starting the catch at about 50% pressure, finishing around 75%. I want to feel the acceleration and I want to see the adjustments on timing. Let’s clean it up. Focus is really good guys. Let’s take another silent minute and really laser in on making these improvements. We’ll go … on this one.”

4th minute

Right away, what adjustments/improvements did you notice? Look at the individual blades you talked to during that last minute – are they better or worse? Why? What adjustments can you tell they made?

The last 15 seconds of the 4th minute and the first 15 seconds of the next chunk should be spent briefly talking about what you noticed on that last minute. Improvements you saw, what got better, individual achievements, etc. Be enthusiastic if there was a BIG change. “4, that looked SO much better – could you tell how much cleaner that was? Really nice adjustments, keep it up.” This shouldn’t be long and drawn out – you only have 30 seconds. Keep it to short, quick bullet points. Use this time for positive things, not negative. If you use that time for negative points, they’ll not only think they just wasted all that time, but they’ll also dread the next chunk because they’ll anticipate you being negative and ONLY harping on what is wrong or needs fixed. Be positive. You can throw in constructive criticism as necessary during your two minutes of talking time, but keep it to only one or two things. Focus on what they’re doing WELL. Play into their psyche – positivity breeds positive outcomes and better responses overall from your crew.

Begin the next chunk of time the same way. “Alright, we just spent four minutes working on clean catches and finishes. Let’s keep those adjustments in our minds, but transition our focus to our leg drive and getting a good press on the foot stretchers as soon as we lock on.” Repeat this process for each chunk.

When you get to the last four minutes, you can talk the whole time. Utilize the entire four minutes to praise the shit out of them and make note of all the adjustments. Say something like:

“OK guys, we’ve got 16 minutes down, 4 minutes left. We’ve made a lot of great improvements over those 16 minutes – now is where we apply all of them and really get this boat moving. Let’s sit up a little taller, get our chins a little higher, and hold our cores a little tighter. Keep the stroke rate where it is, but let’s bump up the pressure 10% – on this one – little more through the water. THERE WE GO, good! Now, let’s think about those catches and releases (one or two points that improved during the first chunk). I know you guys all felt the boat start to move a little better when we really focused on our swing – let’s keep that up. Think about our bodies, are we moving together out of bow, are we moving at the same speed, are we getting our bodies over or are we just hunching our shoulders? Relax the upper bodies, no tension. Keep the bodies calm and our minds aggressive. Get a good JUMP with the feet, press with the toes. Keep those toes connected to the stretchers the whole time. Don’t lose that connection. Push, send. Push, send. Can you guys feel the boat running? Let’s feel that impulse together now, pushing the legs down together – YES! – on every stroke. Let’s stay long, not shortening up our strokes – we still want to catch at our longest point and make sure we finish laying back, keeping the blade in the whole time. We’re at a 19 right now, let’s keep it here, no higher than this. Keep the bodies long, PRESS, accelerate through. Guys, I can really feel all the adjustments we made throughout the first 16 minutes. The boat’s feeling light, we’re getting a good run, catches are strong, releases are clean, feet are staying connected – this is where we win races, right here. THIS. This is why we do this. As our technique improves, we’re shaving seconds off our times. Nobody should be taking any strokes off – no passengers, everyone driving. Let’s keep the focus on for these last few minutes, make sure we’re all still breathing and watching our bodies. No slouching or sinking into our hips. Keep the core tight, sit up tall. Let’s laser focus in here … together … now.”

During the last few minutes, throw in some 10s or 20s intermittently to not only shave off the time you have left, but to also put EVERYTHING into play. Take a 10 for catches, 5 for clean releases, and then when you’ve got 30-40 seconds left, take a strong 20 to really lengthen out and finish strong.

If you know the day before that tomorrow is going to be a steady state piece, ask your coach what he wants to focus on. Ask him for a couple things and then write out a practice plan in your notebook of what you want to do, focus on, etc., that way you can remember everything you want to say/do during the piece. That kind of preparation not only helps keep practice efficient, it also shows your coach/teammates that you’re taking your job seriously which can/will earn you a lot of respect.