Coxswains: Really listen to your Recordings

The winter can be a great time for a renewed focus on what I hope is a year-round activity—listening to coxswain recordings.

Maybe you groan with dread. Even if you detest the sound of your own voice, this is an essential part of coxing. Don’t just endure the recordings; really listen, preferably multiple times. Do your best to listen without judgment and do a true self-assessment. If you want to get better, you’re going to need to share your recordings to get feedback.

Enlist your coach and some of your fellow coxswains.

“Listening to them in groups is the best way to get everyone’s feedback,” said Kelsey Anderson, coxswain coach at Ready Set Row. “Listening on your own is fine, but otherwise we can get pigeonholed into what we think is good. Do it with the people who want to be vulnerable and share.”

Don’t be afraid to get and give feedback. When you get feedback, take some time to digest it. Make sure to ask follow-up questions and look for commonalities in the critiques you receive.

You’re looking for the same essential ingredients from any race recording, whether your own or someone else’s. You should be able to listen without prior knowledge of the field and understand what’s happening throughout the race.

This doesn’t mean you need to narrate what’s happening continuously throughout racing, but you do need to give basic information and updates about your opponents. Listeners should be able to understand what the boat’s race plan is and where they are in their plan. And the race should be compelling; not every recording will give you goosebumps, but you should want at least to continue listening.

Beyond these elements, you should also assess word choice, tone, clarity, the rhythm (or lack thereof) of your voice, and the frequency and intensity of your calls. You’ll find plenty of things to work on in your recording. Some will be as simple as switching a few words; some might be part of a larger theme of tone, variation, your execution of the race plan, and awareness of your surroundings. Ask yourself: What am I conveying both logistically, competitively, and emotionally to my boat?

Be a voracious consumer of coxswain recordings—the good, the bad, and the in-between. There is a temptation to listen only to the best of the best, particularly recordings from Olympic and world-championship coxswains. But you’re not going to be able to copy and paste the things those coxswains do well into your own boats.

“I’ve noticed a lot of coxswains trying to be Mary Whipple or Katelin Snyder, and that’s great, but your athletes aren’t there, and you can’t take your athletes there,” said Anderson.

You can, however, learn from the things they do well, particularly their economical use of words.

Most recordings, including your own, will have strong points and weak points. If you’re quick to categorize a recording as bad, make sure to identify what makes it difficult to listen to.

“Listen to a mix of the phenomenal ones and the bad ones and see where they overlap,” said Anderson. “Hearing different people, different ways of phrasing things, different verbs people use—it’s like getting 20 coaches in a room at once.”

It’s an opportunity too valuable to pass up. So get some recordings, gather some coxswain friends, and begin listening.

Hannah Woodruff is an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Radcliffe heavyweight team. She began rowing at Phillips Exeter Academy, was a coxswain at Wellesley College, and has coached college, high-school, and club crews for over 10 years.

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