Club Committee

20014-2015 Manifestos

Seema Syeda - Coxing Captain

About me:

Hi guys, I'm Seema, a second year studying History at Trinity. I was roped into coxing this Michaelmas by my college husband, Barney - but after my first few outings I realised how exhilarating and fun coxing could be, and the many skills it could (and has) helped me to develop.

I started off by coxing W2, which has genuinely been awesome - I love my crew and coaches (who have been really great and supportive), and it's great to get to know some of the freshers. This term I decided to try a new challenge and am coxing M2, which has so far been an excellent opportunity to develop my coxing ability, and I've been getting lots of useful feedback from some of the more experienced rowers in my crew.

Plans for the role:

Recruitment:

As this year's head of recruitment at the Cambridge Union Society, I've learnt a lot about what the process of recruitment involves:

Firstly - I will make sure there is a lot of publicity around about the fact that coxing is a thing. In my fresher's week, I heard a lot about rowing, but had no idea what coxing was. Everyone was trying to get me to sign up for tubbing sessions, but no one attempted to ply me with alcohol to try coxing (perhaps with good reason). In any case, I will plaster posters around college and infiltrate all the fresher's facebook groups to attract as many potential coxes to the club as possible.

Coaching and Support: At the same time, I will work closely with LBCs to ensure that novice coxes are getting the right support and feedback on their coxing. I will try to encourage coaches to be sensitive to the needs of the cox as well as the rowers during outings. I acknowledge that coaches may still however, not always do this - and so I will do my best to cover all the bases with coxes by holding regular (but not too lengthy) meetings for novices. Having recently gone through the experience of novicing myself, I know what kind of anxieties and questions a novice cox may have, and will draw on the experience of other boat club members to augment this.

Socials: That said, I think it is also highly important for coxes to have fun whilst at the boat club, and this is key to retaining them into the Michaelmas and Lent terms. As coxes aren't automatically assigned to a side, they may get missed out in the swap arranging process. I will arrange swaps with other colleges and crews within the boat club in the first few weeks that freshers come up, and make sure that these continue throughout the terms. Swaps with coxes from other colleges may also be a good idea - helping to create a sort of coxing culture and giving coxes a larger pool of people to discuss experiences and tips with.

Senior Coxes & General Training - Rowing for all Coxes:

All good coxes need an understanding of rowing technique. Whilst it is a given that teaching coxes about safety, steering, coaching and posture are important, it is difficult for a cox to relate to a crew, and coach them effectively, if they don't accurately understand what rowing feels like. Many good coxes the boat cub currently has have rowed beforehand, and even continue rowing now. Therefore, alongside coxing, all coxes should have the opportunity to regularly row on the water. Getting coxes to try skulling may be a good idea - helping them to gain a deeper understanding of how a boat moves and how it can be controlled. This is something that I myself would definitely like to try, so if anything, I will lead by example.