Club Committee

2009-2010 Manifestos

Sonya Milanova
Manifesto for Coxing Captain

I am a second year historian and have been part of First and Third for two years. I noviced as a cox in Michaelmas 2007 and have been coxing senior male and female crews since, lastly coxing M2 in Lent Bumps 2009. Apart from coxing I have also rowed, currently with W2 this Mays.

I am hoping to continue the good work our previous coxing captains have done in providing constant support to our coxes, taking care of equipment and facilitating ways to improve the standard of coxing at First and Third.

Specific plans:

Help the LBCs in novice recruitment in Fresher’s week and make sure we find a sufficient number of novice coxes for the term. Novice term can be very intimidating and overwhelming for coxes so I hope, with the LBCs and coaches, to help the coxes feel as an integral part of the club early on. Enabling them to have fun and enjoy coxing in this stage will hopefully encourage them to continue coxing after Michaelmas. Specifically, I plan for novice coxes to do tubbing sessions and outings with senior crews in the first few weeks to be familiar with the necessary safety on the Cam and the basics of coxing before taking out novice crews. After liaising with the LBCs to make coxes selection, I will continue preparing them for the main race of term - Fairbairns.

In terms of senior coxes I will encourage people to continue coxing at whatever level they want to commit and especially use them in the first weeks for taking out novice crews. Also I will help the Captains in providing and selecting the best coxes for their crews throughout the year. We have a strong pool of experienced coxes which I hope will stay on with First and Third next year. However, in case we lack senior coxes, with the Captains we can use promising novice coxes or ex-rowers who have some coxing experience to ensure senior crews can train and race.

An essential part of my job apart from assigning coxes to outings and crews as such will be to facilitate improvement of our coxes. My own experience should be enough to help novice coxes but I will also encourage coaches and the rowers to give more feedback and keep the novices on the right track. I will be always available to discuss issues, problems or just queries about coxing technique, race plans and outing plans. In terms of senior coxes there is little I can help them with myself but I will encourage Bufties and our head coaches to help with improving the abilities of our senior coxes as well as get help from outside the club in coaching.

Finally, I will encourage coxes to be careful with our equipment. Some of our coxboxes have been repaired this year and I want to make sure we keep maintaining them well to have functioning coxboxes for outings and especially races.

I have been involved with First and Third a lot not only coxing and rowing but have also been on the Committee as Kit and Social Secretary this year. I am passionate about our boat club and want to contribute as much as I can to its functioning and making sure we are the best boat club in Cambridge. An essential part of that is having high quality coxes.

Proposed: Mark McKelvie
Seconded: Liz Hill