Tag: qotd

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I’ve always been that insecure person but according to my rowers and coach, I’m a “good coxswain.” Problem is that I always find fault in whatever I’m doing. I’m positive towards my rowers but negative towards myself. Any tips on how to be more self confident?

Most people are really surprised when I say this but I’m the same exact way. I’ve been told I’m a good coxswain and a great coxswain but I will never fail to find fault with at least 10 things I did during practice. When my rowers or coach ask me about it and I tell them whatever is bugging me they basically tell me I’m insane because I’m the only person that notices stuff like that and it’s not even anything that has any effect on the boat. I get very OCD about my coxing, how I call things, etc. and after we finish a piece I’ll think of something to say and get so annoyed at myself for not thinking of it earlier. I wonder if that could have been the call that resonated with the rowers or if waiting another 50 meters to call a burst would have made the difference in the end. It’s stupid, trivial stuff but I really do beat myself up over it. There have been times where we’ll have had a great practice but I’ll leave furious because I feel like I did terribly, even though I know deep down that I didn’t.

I think you just have to accept the fact that you ARE in fact, a good coxswain, and if you ever do mess up to the point where someone other than yourself notices, they’ll say something. I try and make it a point to be as routinely perfect as possible so that when I do make a mistake or someone asks me to adjust how I call something, I know they’re calling me out because what I did was out of the norm, not because I actually am terrible at coxing. I don’t know if that makes sense (it does in my head – everything always makes sense there) but it really has helped me to be less hard on myself.

After Head of the Charles I was beating myself up for days about the race because so many things went wrong but it finally took one of the women in my boat sitting me down and drilling it into me that the unpredictability of it all is unavoidable. Shit was BOUND to happen and it just so happened to occur during our race. I did everything right and that showed when I was the only coxswain to not be penalized during said mishaps. You have to realize that there are things you have control over and things you don’t. Focus on what you do have control over and let everything else go. The stuff you do focus on, focus on it the necessary amount…if you feel yourself getting really wound up over something, take a deep breath, look at the situation neutrally, and ask yourself if this is REALLY something you need to concern yourself with or are you just being overly-sensitive to the issue?

I’m a perfectionist at heart when it comes to rowing and coxing so not having things be “perfect” can really drive me nuts. I started to realize though that all my over-thinking was making me miserable, which obviously is not something you want to be as a coxswain. I’d already gone through the period of hating rowing and I didn’t want to do it again, so I decided one day that the next practice was going to be different…better. Instead of beating myself up over something I didn’t do or could have done differently, I made a serious effort to do whatever it was on the next stroke or the next piece. It wasn’t anything that anyone but myself noticed but it made SUCH a huge difference. Letting the anger of not doing something fuel you to actually do it is a wicked good stress reliever.

Don’t ever let anything get in the way of you enjoying being in the boat. I’ve been there and I’ve done that and trust me, it’s not worth it. Whatever you’re finding fault in, instead of letting it bother you, do something to fix it. Even if it’s something only you will notice, it does make a difference. Ultimately you can either CHOOSE to keep being hard on yourself or you can CHOOSE to make yourself better, but whatever option you go with, in the end it’s always your choice.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Because there are so many aspects in a coxswain’s job, what do you think is the one thing that is hardest for you?

For me personally, the hardest part is maintaining a calm demeanor on the inside. I think because I’ve been coxing for so long I have a pretty good grasp on all the skills required of a coxswain, but with that comes a heightened sense of awareness that can drive you insane if you let it.

On the outside, I’m very good at maintaining my composure and calmly communicating to my crew what needs to happen, regardless of the situation, but on the inside I’m going 234902 miles a minute, taking in everything around me, and questioning everyone on the river. I’m not so much worried about what I’m doing so much as I am about that other coxswain out there … do they know what they’re doing? I get extremely nervous when I see another coxswain blatantly messing up on the water simply because I know how dangerous it can be for everyone else on the water, including that coxswain’s own crew. In hectic situations, even though on the outside I’m calm, I have to close my eyes and take a few breaths to calm myself down internally. Coxing is very, very, very much a trust-based discipline and I have to remind myself to trust that the other coxswain knows what he/she is doing even if at the moment it doesn’t look like they do. If I want other coxswains to trust me I have to extend the same courtesy to them, even if it’s at the sake of my own sanity.

Outside of that, the other more literal aspect of coxing that I find to be the hardest has been and always will be steering. There’s no denying that it’s a hard thing to do for any coxswain. Even though it was something I made a concerted effort to pick up quickly when I was a novice, I’m always practicing my steering skills so that every time I come off the water I can say that my steering was a little bit better today than it was yesterday. NOT steering while still steering is a tricky thing to master. One of the things I do to physically prevent myself from oversteering is only using one hand. I hate wearing my mic so I always hold it in my left hand and steer with my right. Only using one hand forces me to make very, very, very small adjustments. I put all that to the test on race day when I have to actually wear my mic and steer with both hands.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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In the boat, when you’re calling a rower out to make a change, is it better to call them by their seat or name? A rower told me that by using a name it puts them on the spot – but isn’t that the point to make a change?

If I know specifically who needs to make the change, I always call them out by name. The only time I say their seat number is when I’m with a new crew and don’t know everyone’s names yet. I make a serious effort to learn everyone’s name as soon as possible though because I think the rowers listen to you more if you call them by name vs. by number. Plus, I think it’s the height of laziness to call rowers you’ve worked with for longer than like, a week, by their seat numbers.

Related: I have been told by my rowers that I need to call them out directly more, rather than general corrections to the boat as a whole. I cox collegiate men but I’m not afraid to push them around. My problem is that I am having trouble actually seeing what the problem is. I can tell that catches are off, someone is rushing, but I can’t always tell exactly who it is. Any suggestions for improving this skill?

Regardless of whether you use their individual seat or their name, they’re still being put on the spot … and yes, in order to get the change you want, you have to tell specific people what change to make. Some rowers get pissed when you call them out, to which I respond to with an eye roll and a “shut up”. How else do they expect you to tell them what you want? I think they’re more likely to make a change when they hear you specifically talking to them. Even though everyone should know their seat number, they don’t always associate themselves with that number, so if you say “5, lift your hands at the catch” they might not do it, whereas if that rower hears “Sarah, lift your hands at the catch” they’re more inclined to do it since they know exactly who you’re talking to.

Coxing Novice Q&A

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As a novice rower, I’m just wondering: are coxswains supposed to talk at you all the time [erg or boat] or leave you to get in your own zone?

In the boat, it depends on what you’re doing. If you’re doing drills, most of the time talking consistently is required in order to execute the drill properly. Whether or not you talk outside of executing the drill (i.e. giving them feedback/reminders – normal coxing stuff) depends on whether you’re with your coach or not. If I’m with a boat on my own then I’ll cox them normally while executing the drill but if our coach is with us and he’s actively coaching the rowers then I’ll only talk when it involves executing the drill and save any other comments for later. During long steady state pieces, you can interject some periods of silence to let the rowers focus on their rowing.

Related: 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.

During races and other hard pieces, in my opinion, coxswains should always be talking just because there’s so much information that you should/need to communicate to the crew.

Related: Interesting question: How often do you think a cox should talk during a race? I feel really awkward and useless if I stop talking for more than a few seconds, and when I rowed our cox would talk almost constantly during races. However, at a regatta briefing the other day the OU Captain of Coxes implied that coxes should only be talking every few strokes. I guess it depends on the standard and nature of the crew, but what do you think?

 On the erg it’s a little bit different. I frequently tell coxswains that for a 2k or other erg test they need to ask the rowers before the test begins if they want to be coxed or not. Rowers often go into bubbles during the test and having someone coxing them can throw them off their focus. If you don’t want your coxswain talking to you when you’re on the erg, that’s fine, as long as you let them know ahead of time.

Coxing Q&A

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I was reading on a rowing forum a commenter said that good coxswains are born not made. They can be guided to be successful but not much more than that. Is there any truth to it?

This is definitely a matter of opinion but I personally think that’s a true statement. Some may argue that the phrase “leaders are born, not made” is false but in the majority of my experiences in playing sports (bordering on 20 years) and working with other people I’ve never found it to be so.

With coxswains, as with any leader, there are certain personality traits that you inherently have to have in order to be successful and not having those traits puts you at a real disadvantage. Most coxswains are, by nature, strong leaders, organized, calm in the line of fire, a little pedantic, stubborn, cocky (in a good way), strong-willed, assertive, outgoing, extroverted, confident, persistent, creative, proactive, competitive, goal-oriented, adaptable, conscientious, observant, meticulous … I could go on and on. Those traits aren’t something you can be taught. I think you can pick them up over time but I can’t teach you how to be any of those things. If someone already possesses them, they can be nurtured and built but they can’t be taught or explained to someone who doesn’t already get it. There’s a mindset that comes with being an athlete and there’s no way you can possibly understand that mindset unless you are one – it’s the same way with coxing. Based off of what I know about myself and nearly every good coxswain I’ve ever met, we were all born to cox. Passion for the sport aside, it’s what makes sense based on who we are as people.

Like I said, it’s all a matter of opinion. There are always going to be anomalies but like I said, a lot of the traits that make coxswains can be nurtured but it’s hard to teach them to someone who’s passive, shy, quiet, etc.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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This is probably a weird issue but I’m a coxswain and a few outings ago I accidentally spit on my stroke seat during a piece. The stroke screamed and demanded to be removed from the boat because she didn’t want to be in a boat with such a gross coxswain. This is the only time it’s ever happened to me but now the rowers are purposefully rowing poorly when they are in my boat and when out coach asked for input about coxswain placement for the next race, they trashed me and I was moved down a boat.

I’m assuming that this wasn’t on purpose and was just a result of you getting into the piece. Yea, that’s pretty gross and I definitely would have been like “…ew, seriously??” if I was your stroke but she and the other rowers took it way too far. If you’re feeling particularly passive-aggressive I would refuse to take their times down after their next erg test because rowers are disgusting and sweaty and covered in snot, vomit, and god knows what other bodily fluids after an erg test and nobody wants to be near such gross shit after an erg piece.

The solution to this problem is to talk to your coach and explain that it was an accident. Ask yourself though if you really want to cox a boat where the rowers evaluate their coxswain on something stupid like this instead of your actual abilities. I sure as hell wouldn’t. I’d tell them to go fuck themselves and stick with the boat you were moved down to. If your coach knew that that was why your evaluations were so poor, I’m sure he’d have something to say about it to your stroke and those rowers.

Rowers, if you treat your coxswains like this or see someone treating a coxswain on your team like this and say nothing about it, I have no respect for you. None.

I did something similar in one of my boats in high school and my stroke just busted out laughing and said “now you know how we feel!”. I had a cold at the time when we were doing a really intense race piece and I sneezed but tried to hold it in so it wouldn’t interrupt my coxing. That resulted in me choking which led to me coughing up a lot of nasty crap in my throat, which then led to said nasty stuff flying towards my cox box and my stroke’s feet. It was disgusting and I was like … omg … did that just happen … but my stroke was cool about it and laughed it off (although she wouldn’t let me live it down for at least a year after that).

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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How are coxswain evaluations conducted?

What is asked and how they’re conducted will vary by team, but in general, they’re usually a survey (either paper or online) that your coach gives the rowers to complete. Some coaches have both practice and race-day evaluations but most stick to just general coxing skills without going into specifics.

Common questions that rowers are asked to provide feedback on include:

Something the coxswain does well and should keep doing

Something you don’t like that they do and think they should change or stop doing

Something new or different that they should incorporate

Who is the most/least motivating coxswain and why (or why you find/don’t find your coxswain motivating, if you’re not given the option to choose)

Who is the most/least confident and why (or why you find you find/don’t find your coxswain to be confident)

Skills regarding coaching on technique, how good the feedback is that they give you, etc.

One call you like and one you don’t like, and why

How’s their steering

What level of respect do you have for them, on a scale of 1-10 (or whatever) and why is it at that level

How efficient they are at giving directions – are they clear, concise, understandable, etc.

Do you think safety is a priority and why

Overall contribution to the boat – good, bad, etc.

Are they prepared or running around like a chicken with their head cut off

Do they work well with the coaches, other coxswains, and rowers

Sometimes the evaluations require written explanations from the rowers and some just ask for a number on a scale of 1-10. I think the more feedback you can get the better, so written responses are preferable. I’d like to say that the evaluations are free from popularity contests and personal like/dislike for the individual but that’s not always the case. Evaluating someone on whether or not you like them as a person instead of evaluating their overall skills is pretty immature in my opinion and is something that I feel the need to stress to everyone who reads this – don’t.

Check out the “coxswain evaluation” tag too, there will likely be a lot of information in there going forward on how to do them, what to include, etc.

College Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

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Our novice team has been shrinking by the weeks! There’s only 7 of us left. All but one rower and me are bent on quitting before trying to make varsity. One of the rowers who has high school experience was saying that our coaches don’t really know how to properly prep the varsity team for spring even though we’re a D1 team. 2x6k test today sounds more like a fall test strategy to me, but being a novice cox I’m not about to diss our coaches, you know? Help?

Has your coach not noticed or said anything about the drastic drop in numbers? What have been the other rower’s reasons for quitting? Why do the girls still on the team want to quit? If you know that your goal is to try and make varsity, don’t let the decisions of the other girls, no matter how legitimate they are, affect your decision. It sucks that your team is dwindling like it is but there’s really nothing you can do about it.

I wouldn’t say a 2x6k is entirely abnormal for winter training. If they’re still having you do 2x6ks after spring break, yea, that might be a little out of the norm. As far as not knowing how to prep the team for the spring, as a D1 team that sounds … odd. Has your coach been with your team for very long or is he/she new to coaching? I feel like winter training is pretty straightforward so there shouldn’t be any confusion surrounding how to go about setting up a training program. I get what you mean about not wanting to question them, but there are ways of going about it without sounding like your interrogating them. You could just ask out of curiosity, since you are a novice, and inquire as to what the benefits of long steady state pieces like this are and how they prep you for spring. Assuming your coach didn’t just pull a 2x6k out of his ass, he’ll be able to give you his reasoning. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with questioning your coaches as long as you’re respectful and conversational about it.

Like I said, if you’re intent on coxing the varsity, stick to your guns unless you have a good reason not too. Everyone else quitting isn’t a good reason … although I would offer up the argument that it is a reason, assuming they all had a legitimate team or coach-related reason for quitting. I would see if you could sit down and talk with your coaches or even with some of the varsity coxswains and get an idea of what the spring season is going to look like and what role you will play in it. Getting a grasp on the bigger picture can sometimes help make sense of how things are now. As far as everyone else that’s quit … it does suck, but you have to let it go and focus on the people who are still on the team.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hi there, I love your blog! Some of my rowers were talking about coxing personalities. They said I am the happiest person on the team and I’m the “positive cox” while the other cox is the “kick your ass” kind of cox. We’re both competing for the same varsity spot in the spring. I don’t know if this is a weird question but do their comments mean anything? When I heard that, I got a bit deflated thinking that they take her more seriously as a cox. Am I being too self conscious? Thanks for the help.

Just like rower’s earn their nicknames (threetard), so do the coxswains. I wouldn’t read too much into what they said, especially since it obviously wasn’t coming from a mean place. I definitely don’t think it’s a bad thing that they consider you the happiest person on the team – you’ve basically shown them that regardless of the situation, you’ll always be the coxswain that has on smile on her face, which can be a really good thing for them when they have a shitty workout ahead of them and need to find some way to get pumped for it.

I would talk to them and ask them why they consider the other coxswain the “kick your ass” kind. Is she aggressive (in a good way) with them on the water? How does she push them? Does her “kick your ass” style actually kick your ass? What about it works for them? I think that’s all valuable information to have because it gives you more insight into what you’re rowers are looking for in a coxswain, which is something that can in turn help you get in the varsity boat this spring. Keep your bubbly personality but also try and take on a little bit of the edge that the “kick your ass” girl has. The combination is good, especially when you can flip the switch and know when you need to be in “normal mode” and “ass kicking mode”.

You have no reason to be self-conscious. Observe this coxswain and see if you can pick out what she does that has given her that nickname. Try and emulate that a little, in your own style. Don’t be deflated or any less enthusiastic. Each coxswain has their thing that stands out to the rowers. It doesn’t mean they take you any less seriously unless you’ve given them a reason to, which it doesn’t sound like you have.

Coxing Novice Q&A

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Hi! I love your blog, it’s really helpful! I’m a novice coxswain and our team integrates varsity and novices for the spring. Combined, there are 2 varsity coxes and 3 novices including me. We’re all competing to make one of the 3 cox spots for the spring travel team. Being on the west coast, we’re able to be out on the water once a week during winter. The problem is, I’m the least experienced cox. I’ve coxed for total 2 1/2 weeks before our last head race in the fall. Do you have any advice?

As a coach, right off the bat there are three things that I observe with coxswains: how you interact with your teammates, how interested/focused are you on learning (everything there is to learn) and what efforts are you making to practice what you’ve learned, and what kind of leader you are. One thing you do NOT want to do is to get in an obvious competition with the other coxswains to the point where there’s just an abundance of negative energy in the atmosphere. Competitiveness for a spot is fine to an extent – I touched on that briefly in the post linked below.

Related: I am in my 3rd year coxing and I’m fighting for the JV boat with another girl who is in the same grade as me. I was really, really bad my novice year and wasn’t really good until now. I really want to beat her so I asked some rowers what I could do better and they said that people respect her more, and that she is more authoritative. But the thing is when I try to be authoritative people just think I’m a bitch because I’m normally really friendly and nice. How do I earn their respect?

Focus on improving yourself and not what the other coxswains are doing. Take inventory of the two and a half weeks you’ve spent as a coxswain so far. What are the most GLARINGLY obvious things that you need to work on? (You should have plenty of stuff to choose from.) Was there anything you picked up quickly? How assertive were you with your crew and teammates? Would you consider yourself a leader? How can you continue to improve your leadership skills? In observing the varsity coxswains, what did you notice about how they did things?

Give yourself goals of things to work on so that you’re not just showing up every day and going through the motions. Be enthusiastic about being there and make sure everyone else is excited as well. They don’t have to like what they’ll be doing that day but they need to come at it with a certain level of “pep” if they want to do well. If the coach asks “who wants to run circuits”, volunteer. If he says “who wants to take down erg times”, volunteer. Don’t be that coxswain that slinks to the back and never steps up. Get to know everyone on your team, even the people you know and don’t like. Your role on the team is to be objective, so personal relationships don’t matter when you’re in the boat.

Related: Hey there! Basically, my team lost all of their coxswains for the fall season, so I got bamboozled into coxing the Varsity A boat at the Charles with only 2.5 weeks of experience. So now winter training is in full swing and the novice team found a coxswain who coxed all four years of high school. The varsity guys are thinking about “stealing” her as their coxswain instead. On one hand, I want the boys in my boat to win and if they could do better with her as their coxswain then I want what’s best for them. But on the other, I don’t want to lose them! I feel like I’ve improved so much over just one season and I’ve been doing tons and tons of research these past few months off the water to prepare for the spring. I don’t know what I can do to keep my spot at their coxswain. What are your thoughts?

Also spend time learning about technique, what calls to make, steering, etc. When you’re taking the boat out, take your time, especially if you haven’t had much actual experience with the boat (more on that below) – better safe than sorry. Talk with your coach beforehand and see what the plan is for when you’re on the water. If you’re not comfortable yet with steering, spend a practice or two figuring it out and getting comfortable navigating around your waterway before you start trying to talk to the rowers. Learn the calls you’ll make with your crew, what the warm ups are, how to transition, etc.

Related: How to cox a boat in and out of the boathouse

Basically, make an effort to show that you are just as committed as the other people on the team. Don’t skip practice or assume that your presence isn’t necessary. The respect you gain from your rowers is like currency … the more you have, the better off you are.  It doesn’t mean you should work any less hard but it does put you in a much better overall position.