Coxing is a completely different game to rowing. From the moment the boat is placed into the water, to the moment it is taken back off it, you have to be switched on, ready for anything that could happen. The nature of the cox’s role means that improving is a hard task. So, how do you go about it?
Tips and Advice
Keep talking. It seems like a very simple bit of advice, but in practice, it is a lot harder to do. The moment the cox stops talking, the crew begins to lose focus. Focusing on technical points of the stroke often gives the cox a lot of talking points. Another way to aid this is having go to calls which you go back to give yourself time to think. Make sure you do give yourself time to breathe, otherwise you will find yourself out of breath by the end of the race.
Changing your tone of voice. This is one of the best pieces of advice I have received from another cox. If you are constantly yelling, the crew may tune you out. Changing your tone of voice to a more serious conversational, less yelling tone, allows you to clearly ask for changes, and for the crew to clearly react to what you have said to them. It makes the change you demand more obvious.
Get feedback from your crew. They know what they want the best, and it will allow you to cater your coxing to whatever the situation. After a long piece, negative feedback isn’t exactly the thing you want to hear first, however, it allows you to reflect on what just happened, and think about what to work on over the next strokes. But, it isn’t just about the negatives. The positive feedback allows you to know what works with your crew, and allows you to continue to work with them to produce the best performance from them.
Listening to cox recordings. Hearing good coxing allows you to know what good coxing sounds like. YouTube is a great resource, making them easily accessible. Cox recordings such as Scott Cockle’s 2021 U23 World Championships (as linked below) come to mind. It allows you to find calls to try out on your crew, and gives you an idea of how to be a good cox for your crew as each one is different, finding out what spurs that boat on the most is where real motivation can be found.
What I’m working on
I have only been coxing for 3 years, and I have a long way to improve. Here are the three things I’m working on: Shorter calls. Though I have some good ‘trademark’ calls, I definitely think I can shorten a lot of them up. It makes the demand clearer to the crew, especially when they are thinking about a lot of other things at once.
More fluidity. Having the calls is one thing, but putting them together is another. Though I do have fluidity between different calls, sometimes they can feel disjointed, and it feels like more rhythm is required (bonus points if this can match up with the stroke rate of a boat, making calls feel more punchy and the crew more synchronised).
Racing lines. I can steer a course, but steering it with racing lines in mind is another. They don’t come naturally to me, and I’m definitely trying to work on finding the best lines for my crew. I’m fine on home turf, but when it comes to races, I’m not as good. I have definitely improved since my first head race, but I still have room for improvement.
Improving your coxing is a slow slog, and it won’t come immediately. Making small changes and improvements every session will aid you and your crew in the long term. Keep going at it, because it will get better. One day, you will be able to reflect back on your coxing, and see how much you have improved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RGu9kUolkE&t=325s&ab_channel=ScottCockle
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