Tag: qotd

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 6, 2014

What was the best coxing/rowing advice you’ve ever gotten? And the best lesson you’ve learned?

Hmm, best advice I’ve gotten … it’s been a long time since someone’s given me good rowing-related advice. I think the one thing I’ve consistently heard from all the coaches I’ve had and worked with in the twenty years I’ve been playing sports is to never doubt yourself or your abilities. It’s cliche, I know, but the coaches who really mean it wouldn’t keep saying it if it weren’t true. It’s easy to let something insignificant crush your self-esteem and once you’re in that hole it takes way longer to get out than it did to get in. If you’re just starting out, it’s going to take time to learn how to do everything proficiently so you’ve got to trust the process and have the courage to be persistent. Once you’ve been at it for awhile you’ve got to remain confident in knowing that if you weren’t skilled, talented, etc. you wouldn’t have made it as far as you have. That’s the most basic fact there is when it comes to being an athlete.

The best lesson I’ve learned probably has to do with looking for coaching jobs (which I know doesn’t really apply to many people that read this). Without going into too many details, I’ve learned that if I have doubts about something, don’t say yes to it because I will end up bored and/or hating it. I’m definitely one of those people that needs to always be on the go and have active responsibilities or be in charge of something. For some reason people think I’m like, joking, when I say to pile on the work. The more work I have to do (that isn’t stupid trivial stuff), the better. I’m a very hands-on learner/worker so just sitting around watching stuff happen doesn’t work for me. I get bored very easily and once I get bored, I lose interest, regardless of how hard I try to stay engaged. It’s incredibly frustrating (indescribably so) when you’re given the impression that you’re going to get to do or be doing all of the things and then you end up doing none of the things. Consistently asking if there’s something I can do gets pretty old after awhile too.

Think of it like going to school where you expect to always be doing work, learning new concepts, etc. and instead you end up sitting in a quiet, empty room staring at the chalkboard day in and day out. Every so often the teacher will give you menial busy work to do but that takes ten minutes to complete and then you’re right back where you started. Going forwards, as more than one person has told me in the last several months, I need to just not be afraid to speak up and say exactly what I want and if that job can’t give it to me or I have doubts about whether or not it will, I have to pass it up because I know exactly how it’s going to turn out (even if that means turning down a really good opportunity or a paycheck).

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow January 5, 2014

I’m a sophomore in high school and this is my second year coxing. When I was a novice, my coaches would give me an outline of a race plan they wanted me to follow. Now that I’m varsity, I have a pretty good idea of how to make one on my own. But I want to make sure I have a really good race plan before the season starts. So I was wondering if you had a good race plan for a 2,000 meter race?

I wouldn’t spend too much time thinking about your race plan just yet because a) it’s only January and b) you most likely don’t know what boat you’re gonna have yet. Until you know your crew, their tendencies (what part of the race is their strong spot and where in the race they start to fall off), strengths, and weaknesses, you can’t really make one. Whatever you come up with now would more than likely change completely by the time April rolls around.

Related: Training: 2k test strategy

For me, my race plans were always skeletons until the day before the race. I always had the basic premise figured out well ahead of time but I wouldn’t fill in the details until the last minute because the specifics were usually based on whatever my boat and I had been working on during practice that week, as well as race(s) from the previous weekend. Typically it looked something like what’s below. Since I was part of a scholastic team and not a club team we primarily raced 1500m so that’s what this is based off of.

Start: High 20 @ 38-40spm, settle 10 to 34-35spm

500m: 10 for X

750m: 5 to sit up, refocus before the mid-race move

1000m (give or take 100m): High 20 to move on or away from a crew or the field

1250m: 5 to build into the sprint at 36-38spm

1400m: Take the rate up again if necessary and charge the line

Once I had an idea of who we were racing, what we needed to focus on, etc. I’d fill in the details and give myself an idea of where I wanted to call each technical 10 (if my coach and I thought it was necessary to have them – if we didn’t, I wouldn’t include one unless something I saw during the race that warranted it). Regarding bursts to take seats, I’d call them as I needed to since you can’t really plan that kind of thing. The rule of thumb that I always try to abide by is that you should stick to the plan until it has to change. The “plan” is more of a loose guideline than anything else anyways. Races are very fluid and you’ve got to be adaptable to that. There’s nothing more frustrating than a coxswain who goes into the race and is hell bent on rigidly following his/her race plan to the tee, regardless of what’s going on, and forgetting to actually observe everything that’s happening outside of the 3ft x 1.5ft seat they’re sitting in.

This is one of the reasons why I don’t think you should be formulating one 3.5 months before the season begins. It gives you tunnel vision that’s hard to break and you become less likely to absorb the things you’re hearing and seeing during practice. Wait a few months, spend some time on the water with your boat, and then put one together. Don’t forget to get input from your crew and coaches too.

Coxing Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 22, 2013

Hello Kayleigh! I was wondering how you view the relationship of a coxswain to rowers. My main problem is that I’m friends with a lot of rowers I cox and I don’t want to lose them as friends, but I also want there to be mutual respect. How do you deal with this? Thanks! AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

I was friends with a lot of the people I coxed too. In the beginning there’s always a weird period where they’re like “why are you being so bossy, calm down” and/or you tell them to do something and they just laugh it off because who are you to tell them what to do? Eventually though, provided they’re not total asshats and you’re not doing your best impersonation of your favorite dictator, they’ll recognize that you’re just trying to do your job which is lead them, give them instructions, etc. If they want to succeed it means respecting, listening to, and working with the coxswains. If you want to succeed it means respecting, listening to, and working with the rowers. Similarly to what I told the person in the post below, you’ve got to lead others as you would like to be led.

I don’t think the relationship between friends has to change just because one of you is a coxswain and the others are rowers. If you guys have issues, you can’t let it interfere with what’s going on at practice. That requires maturity on both sides, regardless of who’s “right” or “wrong”. You’ve also got to establish early on that if they’re doing something that warrants being called out (like goofing off, being a distraction, not putting in the work, doing something incorrectly, etc.) you’re going to say something, not because you’re being a bitch or a shitty friend but because the coaches expect you to keep the rowers under control and it’s part of your responsibilities as a coxswain.

If someone gets annoyed just because you asked them to do something, they need to grow up. On the flip side, you can’t get pissed at them if they tell you that you’re being overbearing, overly bossy, etc. This is part of the mutual respect thing you mentioned. In order to be able to give criticism, constructive or not, you’ve got to be able to take it in return.

College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 19, 2013

My transition from novice to varsity has been a nightmare. I was the top novice cox, but my coaches told me the highest they’d boat me was 3V b/c I’m a senior and they want to ‘invest’ in training younger coxes. My rowers from last year are on V8/JV8 & I never get to see them. I had a panic attack 2 weeks ago from being switched into the worst boat. There are too many coxes on the team & I feel like it doesn’t matter if I’m there or not. Is it time to quit? How should I tell my coaches/team?

Aw man, that sucks, I’m sorry. To an extent I guess I can understand the coaches wanting to “invest” in training the coxswains that will be able to race at the varsity level for more than one season but I don’t think that means you should just write off another coxswain just because they’re older. You should invest equal amounts of time in training all your coxswains, regardless of what year they’re in, and then decide what boat they’ll cox the same way you would any other time – evaluations, observations, etc. It’s really frustrating when it doesn’t work out that way. It doesn’t exactly put forth the message that “you’re a valuable part of the team”…instead it says “great, now that we’ve got somebody to throw in that boat we don’t really care about we won’t have to worry about putting any of our good coxswains in there”. Everybody needs to cox the 3V at some point, regardless of how good of a coxswain they are. It teaches humility and punches down the ego a bit, which is something that coxswains tend to need every so often.

If you don’t feel like you’re going to have any opportunities to compete for the V8+ or JV8+ and that your time isn’t being well spent while you’re at practice then I would say you have a good reason to talk to your coaches. If you think those reasons are good enough reasons to walk away from the sport, then that’s your choice. I’d think about the next few months, getting ready for college, all that fun stuff, and ask yourself if crew is going to be “good stress” on top of all of that or if it’s going to be something that causes “bad stress”. You don’t have to say anything to the “team” if you don’t want to. If you just want to tell your friends that you don’t feel like crew is working out for you, then do that. I’d save all your actual reasons for your coach(es) and tell them the same thing, although maybe elaborate a little more so that they understand that you have legitimate reasons for quitting and that you’re not just throwing a temper tantrum because you’re not getting the boat you want.

Coxing High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 15, 2013

Our team (high school varsity men) has two captains, me (the coxswain) and “Jim”, one of the fastest heavyweights. Our coach has a full-time job in addition to coaching us so a lot of the responsibility falls on the captains. I know that I was elected mostly based on my organizational abilities and so I expected to assume a lot of the work on that end, but Jim has barely done anything all year. I have to organize every captain’s practice and outside workout, even though I’m just a coxswain and honestly don’t know too much about weightlifting or whatever (Jim told me he would once but backed out at the last minute) and I’m always the one who has to manage everything at regattas, events, etc. The only exceptions are “fun” activities – gingerbread house, laser tag, team t-shirts are the only things he’s managed himself. His attendance is pretty mediocre too, which really undercuts the message our coach and I are trying to promote about good attendance and hard work at every practice.

I’m exhausted trying to juggle it all but I worry that if I don’t do everything myself it simply won’t get done. What could I say to him so that he’ll step up a little and take some of the pressure off? As far as I can tell he doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong.

Have you talked to Jim one-on-one at all? If you haven’t, I would do that as soon as you can and just tell him straight up that you guys were both elected as captains but it feels like you’ve been doing a lot of the work that should have been split between the two of you. I wouldn’t outright accuse him of not doing anything though because that’d probably end poorly. Instead just say that if he’s got a lot of stuff going on outside of crew that’s preventing him from helping you organize stuff then that’s totally understandable but he needs to tell you that so that you’re aware that he’s not just blowing you off. See if you can work something out where you equally divide up the things that need to be done so that you both have your own specific responsibilities. Write it down so that there’s no question later on in the season who’s in charge of what. That always works best for me. Also make it a rule/common courtesy that if one of you have to pull out of your commitment that you try and give at least 24-48hrs notice to the other person.

It’s possible that the reason why he’s not doing anything (and why he doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong) is because no one’s given him a specific responsibility and/or it’s not something the two of you have discussed. I’ve been in that position before and gotten screwed because I ended up looking lazy or disinterested when in reality I wasn’t aware that I needed to be doing anything. I don’t think people should always be expected to come ask/beg for some responsibilities so I wouldn’t necessarily hold this against him.

Plus, everyone has different strengths. He probably knows that you’re good with the organizational stuff and might think that everything that’s needed to be done so far falls under that category so naturally, you’ll handle it. I’ve done that before too – if there’s something that needs to be done that I don’t think fits with my specific skills set but looks like it might fit someone else’s, I just assume they’ll do it. Sometimes its plays out this way and they do it but other times it doesn’t get done at all because we never communicated about it. If you’re comfortable with the organizational stuff, you can be in charge of (for example) making sure everything is loaded on the trailers, dealing with team paperwork, and basic equipment upkeep. He can be in charge of talking with your coach about the workouts, setting up captain’s practices/outside workouts, and communicating the dates/times to the team, in addition to organizing team activities (which, since he’s been doing, might be something that he enjoys … or it’s easy to do but whatever, as long as it gets done).

It can be frustrating feeling like everything is falling on your shoulders but communication with the other involved parties is usually all it takes to balance the responsibility load. If you do that and still don’t see a change, try talking to your coach while avoiding completely throwing Jim under the bus. If he’s got mediocre attendance and your coach is aware of that, I’d bring that up. That isn’t throwing him under the bus, it’s more so just restating what your coach already knows. I’d even pose the question to Jim if he even wants to be team captain. Like, yea it’s cool to tell college coaches that you were team captain but if you didn’t actually do anything to back up the title, what’s the point? If things don’t seem to change after you talk to him, talk to your coach and say that, for whatever reason, it doesn’t seem like he’s embracing the role and that the things that you should both be doing you end up doing yourself and it’s getting on your nerves. Let your coach take it from there and deal with the situation.

I’d really encourage you to try to find a way to work with Jim though before you do this. Give it a month or so then proceed as necessary. If Jim does step up and start acting like a team captain, make sure you acknowledge it and say “hey man, thanks for all your help the last few weeks”. Little things like that can really motivate someone to continue helping you out. If he feels like he’s stepping up but not getting any recognition for it (whether it’s deserved or not), he might fall back into his previous routine of doing nothing.

I’ve touched on the “team captain” topic a couple times so you might read through some of those posts and see if they might give you some ideas on how to talk/work with Jim and be the best captain you can be for your team.

College Coxing How To Novice Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 11, 2013

Hi. I am a newly converted college coxswain. I have been researching like crazy about how best to motivate my rowers and I was wondering what you thoughts on this are. I have seen several videos and articles (probably some on here even) that say its on a boat-to-boat basis, but would you possibly have any bits of generic advice on how best to motivate my boats?

Interacting with the boats you cox is very similar to how you interact with your different social circles – you follow the same basic principles but you tweak it to fit the individuals you’re with. Once you start rowing with a boat on a regular basis and get to know the rowers better, you can start asking them what they want/need to hear during a piece. My default is to get one general thing from each person, something like a boat-wide or an individual technique issue (aka something easily addressed) and one personal, specific thing. Make sure you’ve got a notebook so you can write down and look back on what they tell you otherwise you’ll never remember.

My generic advice is less about the calls you make and more about you.

Be present, physically (obviously) and mentally. If you’re invested, they will be too. Even if you’re doing drills and are bored out of your mind (which you will be at some point), stay engaged and don’t let your tone convey anything else.

Be honest. If something isn’t going the way it should be, tell them. Don’t gloss over it in lieu of not hurting their feelings. They’re big kids, they’ll survive. If you see them doing something good, point it out. If it’s something that you’ve been working on for awhile and they finally got it, get hyped. Your enthusiasm will translate to them (just like your lack of enthusiasm will too). If something isn’t going right, point it out and tell them what they need to do to fix it while also throwing in a casual compliment on something that they’ve consistently been doing well. (You know the phrase “compliment sandwich”? Similar to that but less cliche.)

Don’t assume that you have to be the sole thing motivating eight individuals. You don’t. I tell every coxswain this but you cannot motivate someone who is not inherently motivated themselves. If they’re not already motivated by something internal to show up everyday and strive to succeed at the highest level, it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to help them out. If someone seems unmotivated to you, that should be your cue to take them aside and say “dude, what’s up” instead of doing the opposite and thinking “Well, if some motivation is good, cheerleader-level of motivation must be great! I’ll do that!”. The more you try to motivate them without finding out why they’re unmotivated in the first place, the more it’s going to backfire in your face. Each crew’s motivation is different so if you’re coxing multiple boats, make sure you’re not coxing your JV8+ the same way you’re coxing your V4+. One crew can find demoralizing what another finds encouraging so it’s important to recognize that motivation in general isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing.

Tone of voice is everything. I alluded to that in the first bullet point but it really is one of the most important aspects of coxing. How you say something is just as important as what you say. Know what tone is appropriate for what you’re doing at the moment and adjust as necessary. Do not be a monotone robot.

Always tell them what’s happening around them. Ideally they’re not looking around trying to figure out where they’re at, where the other crews are, how far they are from the line, etc., so in race or practice-piece situations, they’re relying on you for that information. It might not seem like it’s that motivating to hear their location and stuff but when done properly, it is. If you say “100m down, 1900m to go” you better hope your legs move fast once you get back on land because they will eat. you. alive. Something like “We’re crossing 750m now, this is where we dig in to make our move and take back that seat from FIT. I’ve got bowball on two seat, gimme their bow man…” would be more appropriate. Never underestimate the power of these kind of calls to motivate your crew. They are an essential part of your repertoire.

Other than that, the last generic tip I can offer is to not force anything and don’t try to do everything right away. Learning how to best motivate your crews, even in the general sense, takes a bit of time. Listen to some of the recordings I’ve posted and read what I’ve said about them (click the individual “parts” at the top to see this) too. I typically try to note what I think is motivating, what doesn’t, how it could be done better/differently, etc. so that should help you come up with some calls to try the next time you go out.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 7, 2013

Now that we’re deep into our winter training schedule, we’ve started rowing longer sets of things. My coach doesn’t call them “pieces” or anything but we’ll be rowing and doing drills and then he sends us off and is like “take it all 8 to X-bridge”. I never know how to cox that, it’s ~3k so do I cox it as a long piece or just like technique-y practice type stuff? The other two coxswains I go out with call 10’s and I do sometimes but not as often as they do. Should I ask my coach what he wants?

I would definitely ask your coach for clarification just so you know if there’s something specific that he wants you to work on. By default though I would probably try to focus whatever technical calls I make on whatever we were just working on with the drills. If you want to just row then I’d do something in the 18-24 range, such as half a pyramid (4′ at 18, 3′ at 20, 2′ at 22, and 1′ at 24).

I’d stay away from just calling 10s and stuff because that’s not accomplishing anything. You’ve got 10-15 minutes to work with so use it to your advantage. Don’t waste it just rowing and calling power tens every few minutes to make it seem like you’re doing something.

Coxing How To Q&A

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 7, 2013

Any tips on keeping a straight course in the dark when it’s hard to see things to point at?

I hadn’t coxed in actual pitch black darkness until I was in college. It was hard but as time went on what helped me the most was becoming very familiar with the water during the daylight hours. Doing this meant that I could stay on autopilot with my steering when it was dark out instead of forgetting about all my other responsibilities and constantly leaning out of the boat, looking around, etc. to see where I was (although I still did this on occasion if it was raining, snowing, or foggy). When I first started coxing at Syracuse, since I was pretty unfamiliar with the river, I’d pick out various markers along the shore, typically a light of some kind, a boat that was docked nearby, etc. and count the number of strokes it would take to get to a bend or turn. When we got to that point I’d know that in three strokes I’m gonna need to steer lightly to starboard. It was a pretty simple solution that didn’t require much effort or overthinking. In Boston I didn’t have to worry about this as much because there’s so much ambient light around that we were never really in the dark.

If you’re already comfortable with steering then you’re probably operating on autopilot the majority of the time you’re on the water anyways but you’ve got the benefit of being able to see your surroundings. When you lose that ability or it becomes harder to do you’ve got to use what you know of what the river looks like during the day to help you out. One of the big cons of autopilot is that you only focus on what’s directly in front of you instead of everything that’s surrounding you. The more you’re aware of your surroundings the easier it can be to steer, regardless of the time of day.

When you’re on a river, you might be tempted to get close to the shoreline (closer than you normally would) and follow it but I’d advise against that because you never know what’s under or hanging out into the water, how shallow it is, etc. and you risk damaging the boat or injuring a teammate. If anything, I’d say position yourself slightly closer to the middle of the river (provided there are no crews coming in the other direction) so that you’ve got more of a buffer against the things you can’t see.

If you’re on an open lake or body of water, the biggest tip I can offer is to just not steer. Hold the rudder straight and only make adjustments if your coach tells you to. Also talk to your rowers – let them know that it’s tough to see and you need them to work with you so that you can maintain the point you’ve got. This means rowing at the same pressure as everyone else and/or making immediate adjustments when you call for one side to come up or go down in pressure for a stroke or two. If you can see something far off in the distance, like a cell phone tower or something, use that as your point.

If you really can’t see anything though, you should say something to your coach. They can sometimes underestimate what our field of vision is like and how tough it can be to see as it gets darker.

Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 3, 2013

I have some questions, but first … at my school rowing can be done for 4 years, 1st two years competing is in quads and the 3rd and 4th years are done in eights or fours. In my first year I rowed in the top boat for my age with three other girls, one in particular was stroke (call her Daisy) and I was three seat. In the second year, I rowed with two of the same girls again, this time I stroked and Daisy was in bow. We are half way into our third season, again Daisy and I are in the same boat, although this time in an eight, Daisy is now stroke, and I am switching between seats 7, 5 & 6. Lastly, Daisy and I are very similar, the only real difference is our weight in which I weigh more than her. So my questions are, What does this mean about Daisy and I? Why I am no longer stoke? How do you decide who should stroke? If I wanted to be the stroke of our boat, what should I do? Thank you!

To be honest, I don’t think it says much about either of you other than Daisy is good at setting a rhythm and you’re good at translating the rhythm and/or generating power. I highly doubt either of your weights has anything to do with it. You not being in stroke doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a bad stroke seat – your coach probably just felt that you fit better in 5, 6, or 7 … or they have no reason at all and just felt like moving you guys around. If you really want to know why you’re in one seat instead of the other, talk to your coach. I really don’t think this is one of those things that needs to be treated like some super big secret so hopefully they can clue you in on their thought process as to why they like you in the seat you’re in now vs. where you were before.

I’ve previously talked about lineup positions in the post linked above so check that out. The fact that you’ve moved around a few times really isn’t a bad thing, although most people tend to perceive it that way. Over time I’ve come to conclude that in most cases, if your coach is doing it with purpose and not just randomly, it means that they think you’re an all around good rower who works in whatever seat they put them in. Some rowers, for whatever reason, only do well in certain seats, most often because they’re only able to row one side. If you can row both sides you can pretty much bet on being moved around a lot (at the very least within whatever four you’re a part of – stern, middle, or bow) because the coach knows you can function pretty much anywhere.

In terms of deciding who should stroke, I kinda discussed that in the post I linked to. The biggest factor for me is someone that has good technique and is able to set and maintain a rhythm immediately on the coxswain’s command. They’ve got to be a leader and have good communication skills because on the boat’s hierarchy totem pole, they’re right below the coxswain (in my opinion, at least), followed up by the bow man and then the middle six (sorry guys). As a coxswain I rely pretty heavily on my stroke to give me feedback on how they feel the boat’s moving, does it feel rushed, etc. so good communication between the two of us is key.

They’ve also got to be a leader because they literally have seven people following them at any given time. If their stroke isn’t good, bets are that a few other people’s won’t be either. If they’re slacking, other people probably will too. Knowing how important my relationship is with my strokes, I think it’s important to get the coxswain’s input too. If, for whatever reason, one coxswain and one stroke just do. not. get along in the boat, it’s going to take a lot to get me to put them together unless it’s completely unavoidable (like, if it’s our best coxswain and best stroke and they’re both 1V material). Bottom line, there are a lot of factors.

If you want to stroke the boat, again, talk to your coach and see why you’re in the seat you’re in and ask if that’s likely to be where you’ll stay throughout the season or is there a chance that you could try stroking again. My first question to you in this situation would be why do you think you should be the stroke? I’m looking for real, concrete answers here with some legit data to back it up. Saying you just want to be stroke because it’s the most recognizable position in the boat besides the coxswain ain’t gonna cut it. Saying you stroked the quad last year, won a decent amount of races, etc. also isn’t going to cut it. I want know whether or not you think you have a good working relationship with the coxswains (all of them, not just the one you’ve been with the most), how you feel your technique is, how comfortable you are with being able to go from one stroke to another within two strokes max, what kind of leadership you can bring to the boat, etc.

If you can give me good, well-thought, genuine answers to all of those questions, I’d probably consider trying you out in the stroke seat for at least a week to see how you did. After that, I’d get feedback from the coxswain, crew, and you, of course, and then decide whether or not a seat race were in order. Whether or not that’s the process every coach would follow, I don’t know, but I’d have answers on hand to those questions just in case.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By readyallrow December 3, 2013

The other day in our eight we were doing some pieces in which the coach didn’t think everyone was trying. She thought only two out of the whole eight was actually trying hard. She didn’t name, names but you could tell some people she believed weren’t doing anything. In the defense of the crew, the cox wasn’t saying anything, no motivation or anything. After the session I was talking to one of the ‘spare’ coxes who was in the speed boat with the coach. We discussed how she judged who was pulling and her main answer was that the coach was looking at peoples faces and at the puddles but mainly the faces. Personally, maybe I wasn’t trying my hardest (I know, but its hard when the whole boat seemed to be powered by only yourself) but I do not believe looking at faces would be the most accurate way of measuring who is trying as I can easily make faces, and I know some people whose face doesn’t change no mater how hard they are pulling. How do you tell?

Every coach has their own “way” but for me, the best way to tell is by looking for the bend in the oar throughout the drive. Assuming you’re getting connected at the catch, the amount of pressure you’re applying will translate into how much bend the oar gets. A good example is this photo of GB’s men’s four from the Olympics. If I’m not able to be directly beside the crew to look for this, I’ll look at other things like the puddles, the bodies, etc. (As a coxswain I’d go by feel and the puddles.) I hardly never look at the faces though, mostly because that never struck me as something that would accurately portray how much effort someone is putting in. Some people that I’m coaching right now can pull unbelievable splits on the erg but, like you said, don’t look like they’re exerting themselves at all. On the flip side, I’ve coached high schoolers who are barely pulling anything worthwhile but look like this guy every stroke. Can your facial expressions reveal how hard you’re working? Sure, but it’s not the most reliable way.

On a side note (and maybe a little off topic), I completely get what you’re saying about how hard it can be to row hard during a piece when it feels like you’re the only one doing something and/or the coxswain appears to just be along for the ride. This is why I find it so frustrating when I listen to recordings and the coxswain is either saying nothing or what they are saying is completely … stupid. As much as you might not want to pull hard in those instances, as a coach, I really encourage you to anyways. Not because that’s your job and what you’re there to do (even though it is) but because it shows me that you are stronger than the situations you’re put in. If you can tough it out through a piece like that it would make me think that you’re going to give 100% regardless who you’re rowing with and what boat you’re in. Having a not-very-good coxswain isn’t a 100% ironclad excuse to not pull hard because even though they should be talking to and motivating the crew, you, the rower, have to have some kind of inherent motivation that keeps you going if/when the coxswain stops talking. If for some reason you can’t think of something, use the standby of “my coach is watching me, this could be the piece that moves me up to (whatever boat you want to be in)”. When you’re seat racing, coxswains typically aren’t allowed to say anything other than time and the stroke rate which means that it will be silent except for the voice in your head telling you to keep going. If you don’t have that voice going when the coxswain is talking you most likely won’t have it going when they aren’t, which is when you need it the most.

I don’t know how supportive most coaches would be in this situation but I also wouldn’t be afraid to tell the people in your boat to start doing something once you’ve finished a piece. Typically I would discourage rowers from saying stuff like this because it’s more of the coxswain’s responsibility but if the coxswain’s not doing anything either, I think that opens it up for someone else to say something. (Please don’t all go and mutiny on your coxswain now…) I wouldn’t point out individual people and say “Yo Annie, PULL HARDER” but rather make a general statement like “come on guys, we were moving the boat really well earlier/the other day/whatever and now it feels like we’re dead in the water…”. Something that gets your point across without putting the blame on any one person. Even if you feel like you’re the only one pulling, avoid saying something like “I’m the only one doing anything” because that’s not going to help you out at all because it’s likely that the other seven people feel like they are the only ones pulling.

If your coxswain isn’t doing something that you need him/her to do, say so. Tell them that the boat as a whole feels unmotivated or whatever and that you need them to really get into it on the next piece. If there’s specific stuff you need to hear, tell them. (It might be best to do this before or after practice though.) Typically when coxswains aren’t talking it’s because they don’t know what to look for or say. If there’s something you’ve been working on over the last few practices tell them to focus on that and maybe two or three other things. For example, say you’ve been working on going into the water together – tell her to watch the boat’s timing at the catch and also make sure everyone is coming out together (finishes). In addition to that, have him/her watch your stroke rate (especially if it’s a capped piece) and communicate that every minute or two while also saying the usual motivational stuff, like where you’re at on other crews, what looks good, etc. (Reading all that might make it seem like I’m saying do their job for them but I’m really not. Hopefully everyone knows that by now…)