WOX – The Winning Cox – was created to change the face of coxswain education. Six world-class athletes have joined forces to form a coxswain-specific mentoring team, for coxes, rowers, and coaches.
What’s the story?
Our aim at WOX is to create community, share resources, and encourage coxswains to find their authentic voice. We want to change the narrative around coxswain coaching, to set smart goals for development, to improve everyday skills, and to share our experiences with the coxswain community.
How did WOX start?
Morgan Baynham-Williams had been thinking about the idea for a while, and a conversation with Zoe De Toledo set things in motion. They called upon four more brilliant women: Autumn Mantell, Erin Kennedy, Matilda Horn, and Sasha Adwani. Morgan started a WhatsApp Group with an initial message of “This is not spam”, and as if by magic, WOX was born.
As individuals, we have trained together, competed for selection, and raced against each other many times. We have all raced on the international stage, with success at the Olympic and Paralympic games, and Senior, U23, and Junior World Championships. We have also picked up domestic wins at Henley Royal Regatta, Henley Women’s Regatta, National Championships, The Boat Race, and many more.
What do WOX offer?
A principal tenant for WOX is to make sure that our resources are easily accessible to all. We aim to provide all of our webinars and social media content free of charge, and will always continue to look for ways to make sure finances do not hinder anyone from accessing WOX information. We want to demystify coxswain education, and to us this means sharing knowledge, not gatekeeping it.
Our very first webinar in 2023 was ‘Redefining Success for Your Coxes’ as part of the British Rowing Coaching Week. This was a great opportunity to introduce our team and our coxing principles to the rowing community in the UK. Since this first session, we have run webinars on topics such as Steering the Tideway, Leadership Styles and Finding your Authentic Voice, and Drills and Skills, as well as interviewing the incomparable Robin Williams, available on our YouTube channel, @TheWinningCox.
What’s next?
Looking into 2024, we have big plans afoot, including a bespoke Tideway Steering Session before the various Head of the River Races. We’ll be providing analysis, giving talks on rigging and telemetry, and premiering our first in-person sessions.
We are also keen to hear from athletes and coaches about how we can best support cox development in the UK and further afield. Despite our different coxing styles, we have one common mission: to encourage as many athletes as possible to become The Winning Cox.
Find out more on social media @thewinningcox or email thewinningcox@gmail.com
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