A typical day in the life of a coxswain starts with directing the rowers on carrying the boat into the water. They then run through warm ups and drills, and give the rowers the directions. Coxswains are usually given sheets with the workouts. Typically, they do the land workout with the team to begin.

Coxswains, however, practice differently from the rest of the team.

“[Training is] more mental than physical, so we do a lot less of the push ups and more of note taking and reading coxswain books,” said Michelle Sheffres, a Wayland-Weston coxswain for one of the girls’ boats.

“I work out with the guys during warm-ups and when they do work outs, but not when they are on the water, and I don’t erg,” said Melissa Kay, a coxswain for one of the boys’ boats.

Choosing coxswains has its own requirements: typically, coxswains on girls’ teams can’t weigh over 110 lbs and on boys’ teams they can’t weigh over 120 lbs. There are different coxswains for first, second and third boat.

“You have to be able to steer. The first couple of days I sat on the launch and watched the other coxswains, then they put me in the boat,” said Kay.

However, each coach differs in choosing the coxswain.

“We had a different coach last season, and every coach does it differently, but most of the time it is who has a lot of experience and who is motivating during races,” said Sheffres. “It is also how the rowers rate you, so we do coxing evaluations sometimes, in which they decide who is better at steering, workouts, preparing for practice.”

Just because the coxswains don’t row, doesn’t mean the coaches can’t push them to work hard.

“The hardest part is that it is really stressful because if you do something wrong, it is your responsibility,” said Kay. ” There are eight people depending on you because they can’t see where they are going. They are the muscle power and you’re basically the brain, so if you mess something up it is your fault.”

Junior Larry Guo, a coxswain for the boys’ team, has noticed differences between the coxswains on both the boys’ and girls’ teams.

“I hear that girl coxswains are a lot nicer to their boats than we are. Guy coxswains tend to give more negative reinforcement,” said Guo.

Without coxswains, the team would be left unguided. In all-weather conditions coxswains provide the leadership and responsibility of keeping the team safe, and leading them to victory.

“We motivate people, which is the most important and most fun part,” said Guo.