Club Committee

2006-2007 Manifestos

Charlie Allen for Coxing Captain

I started coxing aged thirteen and have remained hooked ever since. At Radley I competed and succeeded at a number of major regattas - including the School’s Head, Head of the River Race and National Schools Regatta - and also coxed at a junior international level. This I believe has furnished me with a wealth of experience of racing and training unrivalled by any other cox in the boat club. However experience is not the be all and end all of being a coxing captain. Clearly being able to organise, administrate and coach novice coxes effectively is. As Captain of Boats at Radley I was directly responsible for making sure junior coxes were well briefed and confident before races. As a coach of the women’s club I have individually coached four separate coxes - one of whom went on to trial for CUWBC, and am acutely aware that coxes, senior ones in particular, are massively under coached. Even I have not made coaching the present cox of W2 a priority, preferring more time to be given to coaching the crew as a whole. This is a situation I would hope to rectify if I become coxing captain.

I am also aware that since I have not noviced on the Cam, many will say that I will not be able to empathise with the problems faced by a novice cox come next Michaelmas term. This I believe is incorrect: having seen novice coxes come through this term and last into the senior squad, I am highly conscious of the difficulties they face in trying to navigate, coach and encourage a crew on such a difficult and challenging river.

What I will do:

The role of any cox within a boat I believe is four-fold: steering, tactical (being able to control the crew effectively), motivation and coaching. The first two of these roles will be concentrated on in the Michaelmas term with novice coxes, the last two being added during the Lent and Easter terms. It is with this in mind that I have formulated the following plans

Novice Coxes - Coaching

Before stepping into any boat, every novice cox will participate in a coxing seminar explaining the basic terms of coxing, steering etc on the cam.

Coxes will then accompany a coach on an outing with a senior boat (but not cox at all at this point) so that they can see (a) how a boat functions in real time and (b) how the cam functions - i.e. where to cross over, where best to ‘go slow’ etc.

Coxes will then begin to cox tubbing sessions and use the coastal four so they can build up a glossary of coxing terms, enabling better control of a boat. On top of this they will begin to learn how to steer using both the rudder and rowers.

Once coxes have ‘found their feet’ and are gaining in confidence, then I will continue with the scheme set up by Magnus in allowing them to switch into a senior crew halfway through an outing, in order to gain more boat experience.

Novice Coxes - Recruitment and retention

One of the main problems with the boat club at the moment is a significant fall out rate of coxes after the Michaelmas term. I will work fully with the LBCs to make sure that (a) many coxes are recruited in the Michaelmas term and ALL are integrated into the boat club quickly and efficiently and (b) coxes are introduced to the senior squad effectively in the beginning of the Lent term and are made to feel like they could trial and make any senior boat for Lent and May bumps. I believe that the real reason so many coxes drop out is that they lose the security they have had of coxing with close friends and year group members in a novice boat when such boats are disbanded and all become part of the senior squad at the beginning of the Lent term.

Senior Coxes - Coaching

Specific coaches will provide coaching for coxes on outings at intervals during term. For example, if Russ Glenn continues to stay on as a coach next year, I will ask him to ‘tag’ onto other outings as a coach specifically for the cox.

I have been in contact with the present and the potential webmaster in providing a more specific area of the website for coxes, dealing with everything from how to de-rig to the most inspirational things to say mid-race (!).

Coxes will be given training in the use of the pace-coach - one massively underused piece of equipment with the boat club.

Coxes will be made aware of addressing ‘problems not symptoms’ when coaching a boat, and what to say/do when something is wrong with a given technique.

Coxes will be shown how to use the memory and training functions of the new ergs so they can provide rowers with the relevant information post ergo, and also assist the coach in writing said information down.

Coxes will be shown what the common problems are with boats (slides and feet slipping, riggers being set too high) and how to fix these.

Coxes will also be given guides to off-Cam events and how these are different - from the use of stake-boats to the specific problems of coxing on a river as complicated as say the Tideway.

If I am elected I believe I can transform the role of cox within the boat club from being a ‘ninth’ person, to being the core of the crew. I have also been in contact with my old school about the purchasing of second hand cox boxes and voxes at a massively reduced rate, so that if the boat club does encounter any more problems with such items and does not have the sufficient funds to buy new ones, they can be replaced without too much cost. Finally, I am a philosophy undergraduate. This year I attended four lectures in total. I do not intend to increase that tally next year. My availabilities tend to be a given: all day and every day.

Proposed by: Dan Jane
Seconded by: Jenny Lee