Hello, and welcome to something of a new venture for the Champs website.
Here at Champs, we’re very lucky to have a broad range of people from different backgrounds who want to try coxing, or who find themselves asked at the last minute to jump into the cox’s seat for a race. Nevertheless, it can be difficult for coxes to get specific coaching and advice of their own, especially when the coach has eight rowers to pay attention to; while learning by doing in this way is great, sometimes having a basic understanding of a certain aspect of coxing before you experience it can make the whole learning process that much easier.
That’s where this blog comes in. Coxing Like A Champ aims to be a resource for coxes, both those at Champs and further afield, to learn more about the very specific challengxe that is the ninth seat. Every couple of weeks, I’ll be writing a post about a different aspect of coxing, from steering, to safety, to how to start acting as the ‘coach in the boat’ on those occasions where there’s no-one following you on a bike. If you’re reading these posts, it’s likely that you have some basic experience coxing, but if you’re a novice cox who’s interested in some posts on more fundamental parts of the job, please do get in touch.
But who is this person hiding behind a veil of anonymity, writing pithy observations on the state of coxswain coaching? Well, my name’s Edward. Lovely to meet you. I’ve been coxing for a few years now, and while I really started at Clare Boat Club, I’ve also coxed regularly for Champs, Reading Rowing Club, and Wolfson College, Oxford. I love working with new coxes to improve their skills, particularly as it also reminds me that a good cox should never stop learning themselves, and with that in mind, I hope that this little series will be of interest to you; if you have any questions on anything, would like to make a suggestion, or just fancy saying ‘hi’, please do drop me an email and I’ll either reply to you personally or write a future blog post about it.
Happy coxing!