Could I be a coxswain?

Question

I am 5"5 or 5"6 and I weigh about 135 lbs. I am hoping to be down to 130 come spring. I am going into my sophmore year and I might do crew in the fall(its really just practice) and do it in the spring. I dont know if I sould do it though or tryout for baseball again. Should I focus on being a coxswain or a rower.

Answer 1

*[Haha good one nordic, heres another one,

Rowings a real sport,Other athletes just play games]*

no you can definatley cox for sure in australia the minimum weight for  cox is 55kgs, so your a good weight.

, i rowed from junior days in quad skull 4's which i also coxed for a year up untrill rowing sweep in 8's. Personally i found rowing much more fun and rewarding (despite the extreme pain) than coxing. Coxing is alright except if your in like year 8 (13/14/15) you can cope alot of c**p from the rowers as everyone is still immtaure and in a way envious of the cox not feeling the pain and always giving orders and problems. Its alright the older you get the easier it is, except it can be crowded in the boat, due to the small size of coxes but at 5"5 you will be fine.

Rowing has the benefits of Building up your muscles/fitness etc, more appreciation, greater satisfaction but the pain...............................oh god and 2ks, its a love-hate relationship.

Too be honest i have no idea what sophomore is as i live in australia, wait looked it up. Well i was that weight (55kgs) in year 10, and put on 10 kgs to 65kgs in the off season between yr 10/11 and the  15kgs in like 3 months before my final year to 80 kgs. So you might put on weight especially if your row. Personally i reccomend row.

Have you coxed before (in case you havent)

now the steering bits easy, the bit you have to get into is the motivation and analysis of the crew. If you can motivate and show that you can analyse the crew and make constructive criticism then you will be noticed by both the coaches and the rowers.

wow this is long, and sorry for the metric weights.

BUT

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING,

no matter whether you row or cox, now as i am in australia i can only guess,

but rowing takes up a ridiculous amount of time paticuarly as you progress through school. In year 11 i was training 5times a week (2 ergos[machine/weights/running etc] and 3 on water sessions and then 2 (2k) races on saturday)

So i can only guess that it is a big commitment to make whether you cox or row, so depends if you are prepared to commit row, but otherwise dont bother as it isnt worth it.

ps. stick through it (everyone wants to quit during the season, but you cant live without it and miss it when its over)

sorry its so long, none of its copied all my experiences pretty much.

Answer 2

ok, time to crack a little joke, i'm 5'6, while the rest of the boat is 6'5, as long as you have very good power to weight ratio, and you can lengthen your stroke to match the rest of the boats stroke, you'll be fine.  or, you could go for a small boat, like a single or double/pair.   by the way, baseball needs only 1 ball to play, crew needs 2.

Answer 3

You are small to row, and big to cox.  Your stroke would be short, and because of that you'd need to be nearly the strongest guy in the boat.  Even with lightweights, you're light by about 25 lbs.

But a great cox is worth some extra pounds.

A great cox steers a dead straight course, keeps the crew from overworking early, and can motivate them for a little more power without making the rowers want to kill him.