There’s Always a Shortage of Coxes

With thanks to Henry Fieldman OLY and Harry Brightmore OLY for generously discussing all things coxing with me.

As entertaining (or disastrous) as I’m sure we’d all find it, to watch a bow seat try to foot-steer an 8+ around the HORR course, there are some things which just could (should!) not be done without a cox.

In 1724, a coxswain was described as “An officer of a ship who takes care of the cockboat, barge or shallop, with all its furniture, and is in readiness with his crew to man the boat on all occasions.” While rowing boats are seldom referred to as ‘cockboats’ nowadays, you wouldn’t have to look hard to find a coxswain taking care of their boat and crew on all occasions.

A cox’s job is multi-faceted. When explaining the role to younger members of the sport (or those who know little to nothing about rowing), I tend to stress safety as the main responsibility. This is quite simple on the face of it – steering, stopping and starting, all to avoid collision and capsize. As you dive a bit deeper, though, it’s far more than that – when then sun’s out, and the rivers/lakes/bodies of water of your choice become inevitably busier, a cox can often find themself falling into the role of a risk analyst, trying to work out when another boat might turn, stop or become and obstacle, and attempting to see round corners, behind them and to either side of the boat at the same time; picture Mr Brown from Paddington, calculating the risk of having a bear in the house.

Once the cox is convinced that they’re steering the boat safely, not head-on into danger, they can focus on the four or eight people who are sitting either in front of or behind them. In this respect, the cox has two real roles, depending on the situation. In training sessions, they usually at as an in-boat coach, delivering the session plan and providing technical feedback, both to the crew as a whole and to individual athletes. In a race, the cox’s role is to devise the race plan, deliver it through their calls, and motivate the crew into finding within themselves the capabilities to perform at their very highest level, all while steering a competitive, advantageous line (or just not hitting any buoys!).

Getting into coxing

It would be fair to argue that there’s no clear pathway into coxing. For some rowers, the idea of coxing can be the light at the end of a very long tunnel: long-term injuries are all too common in this sport, and, for some people, coxing offers a viable way of staying involved in rowing while on the road to recovery. I started coxing due to a long-term injury, which failed to quash my appetite for rowing, Henry Fieldman OLY found himself at one end of a height-order-based line at school, so was put into the coxing seat (a not-too-uncommon practice for a lot of coaches), and, in some clubs, coaches often rely on the good will of their rowers to get into the seat and give it a go. For some people, though, it’s not about having a bad back, or being the shortest in their squad, or doing the coach a favour: I remember, a few years ago, Alex Wenyon came to deliver a talk at her former/my current school, and reminisced that she first tried coxing at the recommendation of a friend, who thought her suitable because she was ‘short and bossy’!

As the title of this article suggests, rowing clubs are generally always on the hunt for coxes, and, whether you’ve coxed or rowed before, or have had no prior experience in the sport, it could be perfect for you. For me, as somebody who has rowed in the past, coxing was the perfect next-step when injury set in: having prior-knowledge of technical points, and also having quite literally sat where my rowers sit, allows me to ‘cox with empathy’, knowing to some extent how my rowers are feeling during races and hard work, and also being able to understand why and how they make the mistakes that they do. Even if your experience as a rower is limited, it’s still valuable.

Alternatively, though, if you’ve got no actual rowing experience yourself, it’s not a deal-breaker. When discussing this with Henry Fieldman OLY and Harry Brightmore OLY, I learned that Henry had never rowed a boat before coxing, and Harry was soon told that he would probably be too short for rowing, so should try coxing instead. Both, though, advocated occasionally jumping into a boat and doing some rowing every now and then; Brightmore explained that jumping into a 2-, 4x or 8+ while rowing at Oxford Brookes University Boat Club allowed him to explain things that he knew he should be talking about – he could practice what he was preaching, and then preach what he was practicing. Fieldman also jumped in boats occasionally, and would encourage coxes to do the same where possible, but stressed that lots can be learnt simply by speaking to rowers and coaches.

Coaching coxes

Coxes, as with other athletes, require coaching and training to foster development and progression. In my own experiences, the best way of doing this is combining one-on-one time with a coach with experience-based input from more-senior coxes. Be it tailored advice for a specific event of general pointers to improve your skills, guidance from somebody with experience doing what you want to do is always valuable.

Harry Brightmore’s view on this resounded well with me: ‘every cox will go through their own personal journey, they will create friendships in different ways, relate to people in slightly different ways. Every cox will be different , and to coach coxes well, you’ve got to put yourself in their shoes to give them the unique advice they need to push them forward.’ He stressed the importance of digging into individuals to work out how best to unpick their characters and use it to help individual athletes. This is a journey, requiring a great deal of communication throughout.

This was perhaps the perfect topic to discuss with Henry Fieldman. He has been running a cox-coaching business since 2014, having developed a way of thinking and coaching himself, which he’s trying to export to other people. Henry simultaneously helps coxes ‘avoid making similar mistakes’ that he made, while stressing the importance of a cox’s needs to ‘do the hard yards – build experience’.

What next?

I don’t envisage life-long rowers reading this article to immediately decide to switch lanes and start coxing instead. Similarly, I don’t expect people with no prior experience of the sport to dive head-first into coxing. But, if it’s something that you’ve thought about before, or if you’re a rower who might be injured, or just in-need of a change, give it a try, even if it’s just once; as I previously mentioned, clubs are usually looking for somebody to fill (at least one) coxing seat. It might take you to the Olympics, World Championships, Henley Royal Regatta, National Schools’, or it might just give you something to do at the weekend and perhaps offer the opportunity of some local competition. Despite being skeptical at first, I haven’t looked back since.  

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Joseph Murray

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