Guildford head race 2017 - Wesley 1st VIII cox recording

Advice I got from coaches:
Sallie:
- Great calls! I like how you…
o Counteracted wind with handle heights
o Used repetition well
o Talked with the movement of the boat
o Sounded calm but engaged
o Used individual names (do this as much as possible, particularly when asking for more power)

- I had originally written that you could make a few more individual rower technique calls but you did this later on.
- Talk about the split a little more regularly; it’s a great tool for finding more when they think they’re on full weight.
- Use particular points in the race to set goals.
o You did this in the Guildford race when Christchurch were next to you but you tended to let of/get distracted from the goal (e.g. holding their coxswain).
o This is a hard one when you’re one of the slower crews as many goals tend to be unachieved (e.g. CCGS pushed away). For this, I’d challenge you start with goals they’re very likely to achieve. E.g. Hold Christchurch coxswain for three strokes. And talk about why. If the other crew is probably going to pass you anyway, it’s easy for your crew to give up. But if you ask them to hold CCGS for three strokes to sow a seed of doubt in their mind for future races, you’ll get a better commitment to the goal and it’s no longer pointless. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense and I’ll explain further.
o Another way of setting goals is for them to be internal. E.g. 15 strokes out from 500m post, call for the split to come down from 1.45 to 1.42 before they get to the post. This gives them a short time frame to achieve it and they’re more likely to attack with vigour. You can do the same with technical calls (“I want more catch rotation as we come through the spit post”)
- Further to this, make sure you follow up your goals. A few times you made a fantastic call for power etc but within a couple of strokes you’d stopped giving feedback on whether they were/were not achieving it as you’d changed topic. Hold them to account or your voice will become white noise.

- You were so encouraging, and positive, which is fantastic! Keep that quality about your coxing and you can start to insert a few moment of being really demanding/aggressive to work them harder. Demanding works best when you’re generally super cheery so you’re in the perfect position to nail that.

Catriona:
Guildford a difficult one to call with the crew losing touch with CCGS relatively early.
Great effort, with a few suggestions:
In last 300m, you called on individual crew members - you can do this earlier, eg middle four/power four, bring it on now; few strokes later - bow pair back them up
Instead of “stay consistent, stay relaxed”, sometimes just one word: relaxed, consistent
Call for contrast when ratio flags or rush develops
Experiment with calling “surge” or “send” as handle accelerates to body & call it for a few strokes: surge, surge, surge as an alternative to surge, now
Also experiment with sounds instead of words, eg sshhht into finish
Calling “in” just before catch for a few catches can help with freshening up catch
Good with calls for length, long, tall, breathe. For ratio also try hold & swing, tall & swing
For turning, try extra length at front for power side, shorten slightly for inside rowers
Also good if generally shortening up to call for 1cm extra at front, or 1 cm extra at finish or both
Lads were showing the affects of low kms, tough to do 6km pieces. Can see the crew generally willing but struggling. Good power up in final 300m